The Zenks are off on another adventure, this time from Barcelona to Athens. We have not had the best start.
The gate agent in Minneapolis at noon on Friday, June 3rd, looked at our bags and guessed that were over 50 pounds, so she ticketed them as such. She took them to the check-in desk, and they were under 50 pounds, so she had to print new luggage tags. She had given the old baggage checks to Darrell, but for some reason gave the new ones to me. That caused some confusion later. The flight from Minneapolis to Newark was uneventful, but when we got to Newark, all the gates were in use, so we sat on the tarmac for a half hour. Then, it was a matter of the hike to the gate for the flight to Frankfurt. It was only supposed to be a "short" distance, but I guess Minneapolis to Duluth could be considered a short distance, too. It is all relative.
Speaking of "Relative," we met our daughter, Brenda, and our granddaughter, Nicole, at the gate at Newark, They are traveling with us. Actually, I guess we are traveling with them. The trip is Nicole's graduation present from us, and since there are no 3 person rooms on the ship, and since we did not want an 18-year-old in a room by herself, we "had to" bring along her mother (our daughter.)
The flight to Germany had delayed boarding because the staff was hyper checking each person prior to boarding them; this went on for 268 passengers for a new Boeing 777-300 aircraft; then we sat on the runway so that we ended up being over 2 hours late into Frankfurt. Of course we missed our connecting flight to Barcelona. Airlines in Europe also have problems getting enough staff, and now everyone seems to want to travel. All the flights to Barcelona that day were fully booked. We got on the waiting list for the next flight and enjoyed the "Panorama Lounge" in the airport since we were traveling Business Class, The Lounge was different from any I have seen before. There was the usual room with food and beverages, but there were several other rooms with TV, lounges and comfortable chairs. There was even a place to take a shower! Recharging stations were available in most of the rooms. We ate lunch there and waited until it was time to stand in line for stand-by on the next flight.
We were told to be at the gate an hour before boarding time. At the gate, the flight was listed, but no gate agent appeared. After several of us waited for half an hour, they changed the gate, so we all trotted off to find the new gate. We were numbers 3-6 on the stand-by list. Then the sign said the flight was delayed for an hour or so. We were told that there could be 2 seats available if everyone who had booked showed up.
Now came the time for a decision. If only 2 could go and 2 would have to wait, possibly overnight, who goes and who stays. We decided that Darrell and Brenda would go and Nicole and I would try to get on the next flight at 9:00 that night, or have them put us up in a hotel and try for a flight in the morning. At the last minute, there was one open seat, so Nicole joined Darrell and Brenda. Of course, they were not seated together. Nicole got her first taste of flying alone on a plane where most of the people did not speak English.
I waited for a seat on the 9:00 flight. Back to the Panorama Club to eat and charge my phone, then back to the gate to get on the stand-by list and wait. Oops, the flight is going to be delayed by 45 minutes. No, it will be delayed for an hour, then an hour and a half, at a new gate. Finally a plane arrived and emptied its passengers. After the mandatory crew change and plane cleaning, they started boarding. At 5 minutes before scheduled take-off, I was called to the desk. There was one seat available in First Class. Did I want it? Oh, yes!! I got seat 1C. The plane I boarded had the B seat blocked off in Business Class. The man in 1A told me this is standard practice on inter-European flights. I do not know why.
I had planned to sleep on the flight, but the man in 1A was from either Hong Kong or Singapore, but lived in New York. He did something related to auto racing, but I am not sure what. Maybe I deflated his ego because he was someone famous, but I did not know who he was. We chatted for most of the flight about his travels in the United States,
When I did get to the Barcelona Airport, there was a crowd waiting to meet incoming passengers. Many were holding electric signs with the names of the people they were supposed to meet, None of the signs said Zenk. I kept waiting for someone to show up, but no luck. Finally I called the Viking "Flight Emergency Line." I listened to scratchy music for over an hour before a live person answered. He did not know about my arrival, but would see about getting someone to pick me up. More music, more "I'll see what I can do" for another half hour. Then a man walked up with a piece of paper with "Zenk" written on it. He had no Viking identification or any other credentials to show he was legitimate. Finally, I asked him how he knew to come for me. He showed me a picture on his phone of me with Brenda and Nicole from last Christmas, so I went with him. Brenda had shared the picture so he would recognize me. It is over an hour drive from Barcelona to Tarragona, so I took a nap! When I woke up we were approaching Tarragona, but had to wind through the shipping area of the port, We must have gone through 15 traffic circles, At each one, he hesitated trying to figure out how to go. He only had to backtrack once. Finally I saw a cruise ship in the distance. IT WAS THE VIKING SKY!! I had arrived, and it was only 3AM.
Checking in was no problem (no lines at that time of night.) I got up to our room to find Darrell sound asleep, but with only 1 of our 2 checked suitcases. That was Sunday morning, early.
It turns out that Brenda's suitcase and one of ours did not make it onto the planes. Today is Monday, and they think they have found the suitcases and might have them for us in Marseilles tomorrow. Lost luggage seems to be the "new normal." We have talked to many people who are worse off than we are. We learned a long time ago to put some of the clothing for each of us in each suitcase. One couple has been waiting for theirs for 6 days. They missed a connection somewhere along the line and came from Paris to Barcelona by way of Istanbul.
Such are the joys of travel in the post-pandemic days!!
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