New Episode: Travel Nightmares
Up early, we headed to the airport to begin our journey to Europe. Barry’s first cruise in well over a year, we wanted to make this a nice getaway. With a tighter schedule due to his new job, we only had two days pre-cruise before boarding Adventure of the Seas in the Port of Barcelona. Our best chance for standby appeared to be: IAH>EWR>IAD>BCN. Not looking too promising, we ended up securing the last two seats to Newark! Both of us were shocked we made it!
Before we checked in, it became obvious that we would not make the EWR>BCN flight. It filled up overnight. Our best option was to land in Newark and take the short flight to Dulles. Well… you know what they say about the best laid plans… With a slightly late departure, a very long taxi out and an inconvenient gate change, we realized there was no way would make the flight to Dulles. Due to construction, the gate change included a shuttle ride from terminal C to terminal A. As expected, when we arrived to the gate, our plane had departed. Time for a new plan!
After searching many locations, our best bet to get a seat turned out to be Newark to Milan. Neither of us has visited Milan and the plan was not to stay in town… Shortly before leaving Houston, Royal Caribbean informed us that our ship would need two extra days in Dry Dock forcing our itinerary to depart two days late. Immediately, I posed a challenge to Jeremy… “if you knew someone who was planning a cruise out of Barcelona and they found out their cruise would start two days late, where would you tell them to spend their extra days? It should be a train ride away, be a walking town” He laughed and said, “That’s oddly specific” But he came back with a couple of amazing places under two hours away by train. Once in our seats, (again, we got the last two) I went online to quickly book Milan to Barcelona so we could carry on with our plans. Barry was one row ahead of me… I immediately got settled and turned on a movie.
After sitting on the runway for (literally) two hours, the pilot announced that we would have to return to the gate. It turns out, we had engine trouble that needed to be checked by maintenance. So, we went back to the gate… passengers were allowed to get off and stretch. That told us it would be a lengthy delay. After two hours, the pilot came back on and said everyone should get back in their seats because the issue had been remedied. When the doors closed, we realized the guy sitting next to me did not come back. So, Barry was able to move back and sit next to me! We spent another hour on the runway and finally took off. Oh, and by the way, I had booked a 10am flight to Barcelona… and purchased the flex package where changes can be made to the ticket. Smart right?
Finally in the air, it was time to watch a movie, eat dinner and get some sleep… when we woke up, we were on final descent into Milan. United provided free internet to track bags. Perfect, I will confirm that our luggage made it on the plane. Well… it was scanned to Newark. It appeared that we had luggage in Newark and Dulles but not our plane to Milan. It quickly became clear that had missed our luggage and we would undoubtedly be spending the night in Milan.
Stunning views of Milan as we landed. Beautiful snowy mountain ranges. We would be at our gate soon. We expected slightly chilly weather, but this may colder than we thought! With plans to quickly change our ticket, track down our luggage and move on to a warmer area, we weren’t concerned at all!
Slightly jet-lagged, our spirits were still high. Just happy to be out of the country together for the first time in forever! We went to baggage claim and as expected, our luggage was not there. Off to the “Lost Luggage” desk, we filed a claim. The agent said she could not send our luggage to Barcelona because it has to be dropped off in the same place you get off the United metal. Once our claim was filed, we went to Vueling to make the change to our ticket…. only to find out that in order to make a change, it has to be two hours before the selected flight (we were in the air). Frustratingly, we had to buy new tickets. Not knowing how many, if any, pieces of luggage to include in the reservation. It’s cheaper to add luggage before checking in…
No chance of luggage until the morning (if we track it down), we chose to book a room in the airport at the Sheraton Milan. Way too tired to explore, we chose to visit the restaurant/bar in the lobby area. Still not seeing our luggage scanned anywhere, Barry remembered that our friend Curtis has worked in ops for United in Houston for a gazillion years. We contacted his daughter (Jeremy’s girlfriend) and asked if she could ask him to check it out. He happened to be in Newark for work… within a short time, we had some resolution. All of our luggage would be rerouted to Milan on the next flight (the night after we left). It should be that we spend only one night in Milan. In order to know which way to proceed, I had to know that our luggage actually gets loaded onboard. So, as Barry slept… I obsessively watched the “Track My Bag” to see when/if it gets scanned. Then, I will know if I should add baggage to my reservation or book our room for another night. Lo and behold, at just before 1am, two pieces were loaded. Slightly delayed, the third piece wasn’t loaded until five minutes after boarding closed! What a relief! All luggage is on the way! Now, we have to decide what to do with our couple of days…
Up early, we walked down the ramp to the airport. Only I was allowed into the baggage area and had to go through a roundabout way to get in. Baggage claim is not open to the public as in the USA. So, the agent I worked with showed me how to get in and which area to look for our bags. She asked that I report back so she could update the claim. When I returned with three bag tags, she couldn’t believe it! She had no idea how they arrived because she had really done nothing to help us…
With the convenience of our hotel, we walked back up the ramp to our room for a few more hours of stress free sleep! Our three o’clock reservation meant that we could stay until noon checkout. First stop coffee, then check-in and on to the waiting area. Barcelona time!
Each in our assigned aisle seat, the Vueling flight was comfortable and only a couple hours. Before we knew it… we were in Barcelona collecting our luggage. What a clean airport. Very easy to navigate. Our decision after we thought it through, was to forego the small town of Zaragoza and spend our second night near the airport at a Best Western. We chose a nearby hotel with a free airport shuttle figuring we can stay until noon check out and finding our way to the two-night stay in the heart of Barcelona… compliments of Royal Caribbean.
In the information section of Best Western, it states that their shuttle runs until 10:30am, starts up again at 6pm and to call if you arrive at any other time. We walked across the airport to the hotel shuttle bus waiting area. It was virtually empty… we waited about twenty minutes. Only Barcelona Airport Hotel shuttle had already driven through twice, so I called our hotel. The response was, “it starts at 6pm and arrives at 6:15”. Well, why does it say to call? After a little bit, a lady asked which hotel we were going to and it turns out we both chose this hotel for the free shuttle. By the time our shuttle arrived, Mumbua (hope that’s the correct spelling) and I were fast friends… she is my spirit animal! We suffer from the same travel illness.
Upon our arrival, our new friend hurried to her room and then met us in the bar/restaurant. Hard to believe I didn’t take a picture of us together! So sad! Starting out with a pre-dinner Aperol Spritz, we moved to our table for a meal full of lively conversation. Mumbua (or Mombua? maybe) has had some incredible travel experiences. Something tells me, we will meet up on a trip one day (soon). Bedtime…
