The Time My Mom Lost Me In Belgium

In 2013 I had the opportunity to go to Europe with Girl Scouts. As our trip was coming to an end, we arrived at our last country, Belgium. After a long train ride from Paris, we wanted to get to bed and get up early to explore. That is exactly what we did, the next morning we got up early and we split up with chaperones to explore our day in the city of Brussels. Our group was small and no one else wanted to come with me so I went with my mom. We had an amazing day exploring all of Brussels that we could, we saw the Atomium (also known as the Brussels balls), had some AMAZING ice cream and saw super cute shops.

We were headed back to our hotel to catch our train back to Dublin for our flight home and that's when it happened. My mom and I went to get on the rail system (similar to the metro) and the doors closed in between us. I was trapped on the train and she was on the platform. I tried to open the doors, pressed the emergency stop button and nothing happened. Next thing I knew I was by myself in a foreign country. Our cellphones were in our suitcases back in the hotel and barely anyone would speak English.

Lost and alone, somehow I ended on the wrong train at a completely opposite station from where we boarded. I walked outside and looked around I realized I was across the street from where we boarded. I went across the street into that station and started walking around looking for a police officer or security of some sort. I walked and walked and walked, no one in sight, my senses were heightened from stress and fear of getting kidnapped at 13. I saw this woman up the hallway and could it be? It was! I found my mom walking across the station with a security guard. They were too far away to hear me call to them so I ran full speed and tackled her in a hug. We both kept crying and hugging. Once we both caught our breath she said her famous line of "We're not telling your father about this." To this day he has no idea, even though almost everyone else knows about it.