Travel Issues

I know I haven't posted in a long time - I've been pretty busy! I went to London and Amsterdam Wednesday - Sunday and had to be incredibly flexible. Within just a few days, I dealt with te following:

1. Missed Flight Connection:
My flight to London on Wednesday went through Barcelona on Royal Air Maroc and then continued on to London on British Airways. My bag was checked all the way through, but I had to leave through immigration and customs in Barcelona, get my boarding pass, go back through security and make it to my gate - all in my 45 minute layover. It was almost impossible to do in that time period and then my flight was late arriving to Barcelona. By the time I arrived, the flight I was supposed to check into was closed.

2. Rerouted ticket: My next ticket was to Amsterdam the following morning, on a separate ticket. So, I wasn't going to make that flight. Luckily, I was able to convince the airline to just reroute my ticket to Amsterdam (even though they had no obligation to me). To do this, I had to fly to Madrid, stay in a hotel (at the airline's expense) and then fly to Amsterdam Thursday morning. I arrived in Madrid around 11pm. My flight to Madrid had only 11 people on it!

3. Lost Luggage: As I was dealing with rerouting my ticket in Barcelona, I found out that my baggage wasn't anywhere to be found. Someone finally found it and I had to go to a dark back room where security looked through my bad. I then checked it to Madrid so I would have clothes for my night there. When I arrived in Madrid, I was the only person on my flight to wait at baggage claim. I checked with Baggage Services and they told me to wait a bit. By midnight, still no bag. I filled out a lost luggage report and went off to figure out how to get to my hotel.

4. Free Food and Lodging: I arrived at my hotel around 1am. I was given free dinner (which included wine and I took advantage of that) at 1:15am and then free breakfast before I returned to the airport at 6:30am for my return flight. The hotel was beautiful! They had a wonderful spread for meals and toiletries included a toothbrushh (for which I was very grateful!)

5. Bag Still Lost: I checked in with the airline and they hadn't gotten my bag (it had only been a few hours), so I flew on to Amsterdam with only my backpack. I made it safely to Katie's soccer tournament by taking the train and bus to the American School of the Hague. My mum had toiletries and clothes for me to borrow, but her feet are so small that I was stuck wearing my heeled boots. My feet were killing me!

6. London: On Saturday, we flew to London. When I checked about my baggage, the lady informed me that the flight number in the tracking system was a flight to Miami! My bags were halfway across the world! Our flight was on time and we made it to my parent's house with no further issues!

7. Flight Delay on the Plane: I flew back through Barcelona with a 2 hour layover. However, my British Air flight was delayed. Once we were on board, we sat at the gate for 35 minutes, which worried me a bit since I was supposed to go through immigration again and get my boarding pass.

8. Another Closed Flight?: When I finally got to the check in desk, I noted that the screen for my flight showed it as closed. However, there was a long line of others getting checked in and I was able to get my boarding pass.

9. Flight Delay at Gate: My flight to Casa was also delayed! I sat and had a drink at the gate while I waited. We finally boarded and I was grateful to be on my way home.

10. Lost and Found: My story doesn't end there. I went to baggage claim in Casa to get my checked bag (which I had packed in London full of stuff my parents brought over to the States). It didn't come out. While I was waiting to talk to the Royal Air Maroc staff to fill in another baggage lost form, I went to check in on my bag that I'd never received. It was there! I grabbed my bag with clothes and the tennis shoes I'd been craving for days and headed over to fill out info on my other bag. They don't know where my bag is now. I will get a call and have to get back to the airport to pick it up when they do find it. I'm glad that the cheese I had been bringing back was in my carryon!

All in all, everyone I talked to was really helpful, despite all the issues the system had. I made it home safely and am looking forward to finishing this trip when I get my other bag back! Flexibility is so important when travelling. Good times!