Travel Woes
They say there are two kinds of people in this world -- those who love to travel, and those who don't. I've always been the former. I enjoy the thrills of seeing new places and meeting new people, and usually go with the flow and do not mind the occasional hiccup of de-icing delays, snow delays, overbookings, etc because I do not always have a strict schedule to keep. For some, the pain of traveling begins before it even starts....the dreaded packing. It can be a chore. Traveling can also be expensive. There's often huge crowds, long lines, and managing logistics which can seem daunting. And last, but not least, the dreaded delayed or cancelled flights.
For me, traveling is usually easy and goes smoothly. But for my travel from Scotland to Italy to start my teaching program, to say that everything that could go wrong, did, would probably be an understatement.
Due to my own poor planning, I only had about two hours of sleep the night before traveling. My flight from Edinburgh to Turin was to depart at 5:50am so I had to wake up at 3:30am in order to have enough time to drive to the airport and get to my gate on time for departure. I arrived at the airport at 4:15am, went to the Air France counter and checked my bags in for the flight. I proceeded to security where my carry on was pulled aside and inspected thoroughly. At the initial screening, some extraneous liquids in my bag triggered their system. They took me aside and searched my bag for the possible cause. The agent removed some of my makeup as well as my contact solution which was in plain travel sized bottle that I hand labeled "Peroxide" so I could distinguish it from regular saline solution. But the agent seemed petrified by this label, so he tested the liquids and the machine read positive for something so he said he needed his manager to come over. I had to explain that it only contains 3% peroxide and is just contact solution. They ran it back through the original machine by itself and I was soon on my way.
We boarded the flight as normal and then we weren't moving at all, but no one knew what was going on. At 6:00am they said we were delayed due to the plane having technical issues and they were not sure how long it would take to fix. 10 mins later they announced it would be another 15-30 mins to fix it. Then they said because of the issue and to make up time in the air, the plane would fly lower than normal so they needed to add more fuel. As the clock kept ticking, passengers were anxious, myself included, because we were concerned about our connecting flights. They could not tell us about our connections until we were near our arrival airport. We did not take off until about 7am. Finally, while in the air and nearing Schiphol they announced the connections that were going to be missed, including mine, and said that we were already rebooked to a new flight. They said, "Do not run to catch it because you've already been rebooked." I was to arrive in Amsterdam at 8:25 (Europe is +1 from GMT) and then take a flight from Amsterdam to Turin at 9:30 that would have arrived in Turin at 11:10am. My teaching program requested we arrive to Caselle Airport from 11am-1pm to meet the rest of the group and transfer by train to the hostel for a 3 day orientation. I did not arrive in Amsterdam until 9:15 and I had to go through passport control and cross the airport, missing my connection and starting a day of travel disasters. I now had an additional flight because I was rebooked to Paris, and then from Paris to my final destination in Turin. Then, my flight from Amsterdam to Paris was delayed because Paris experienced the most snow it has had in 30 years, so lots of flights were delayed or cancelled. My new flights were:
Amsterdam 10:40am - Paris 11:55am
Paris 12:55am - Turin 2:30pm
But my flight to Paris was delayed until 11:30, and delayed again until 12:35 so now I missed my connection in Paris to Italy before I even left Amsterdam... Once I was finally able to board my flight, the flight attendant made me check my carry on at the plane, claiming that there was no room for it on the plane. Yet, when I arrived at my seat, there was an empty spot in the overhead bin by my seat. It is also annoying when other passengers place their coats in the bins, these aren't coat racks, they are meant for luggage. Coats and small bags can easily be stored at the seats. Anyway, she asked where my final destination was [which was Italy] but because I knew I already missed my flight she was confused what to write on the tag on my bag, nor was she particular friendly about it. I also had placed some mugs and other gifts from America for my hosts that were surely to get broken in the flight, but did not have time to remove them because there was a line of people behind me. The sad part is I was probably more upset about breaking the gifts for people, than I was about my missed connection. But the whole compilation of events made me quite upset, and made me stressed to the point of tears.
When I arrived in Paris, I a) did not know where my carry on bag was because the attendant said I would have to collect all my bags in Paris because I missed my flight to Italy and b) I currently did not have a way to Turin because I missed my flight. When I missed my other connection for reasons that were the airlines fault, I was rebooked automatically, so I wondered why did that not happen now? Is weather an exception? Without speaking French, I had a hard time finding my bags or a customer service desk, and agents kept sending me in conflicting directions, or dismissing me to the queue (For non-British speakers, that means "the line"). One agent advised me to exit security, retrieve my bags, and then go to the help desk that had a shorter line, HA so he thought! I went between the downstairs baggage claim and the upstairs bag drops multiple times to find someone who could help me. My goal was to avoid the ginormous line that every person told me to get in. "In the queue," they kept saying and pointing me to, and not in a very friendly manner. This line was at least 150 yards long full of people, and it wasn't even single file. It filled almost the entire second floor of the terminal. I wanted to avoid it at all costs. I even tried to ask the "Unaccompanied Minors desk" for help and tbh started crying so she attempted to help me. But she could not because the system kept saying my booking reference number did not exist, or "error retrieving passenger identification." Moments like these are when I wish I spoke another language. Even though the agents spoke English, there was still a significant language barrier in explanations and common understandings. At this point I would not even make the make the 4:20 flight to Turin, and most hope was fleeting.
I went back downstairs and finally retrieved my carry on from baggage services, but they told me my checked bag was "lost somewhere in the airport." I arrived in Paris at about 2:30 and entered the dreaded line at 3:45pm. To try to avoid standing in the line, at 3:52pm I called the Air France U.K. number while waiting in line. There were no more available flights to Turin in the day, all were booked full. The agent even tried to send me back to Amsterdam for the 9:00pm flight from there to Turin, but both also full. After an 18 mins conversation, I had her reserve a seat on a flight from Paris to Milan Linate [but this airport is 2+ hrs from my final destination], or there was a flight the next day to Turin at 12:55pm. After speaking with my program coordinators, they thought it was best to take the flight the next day so that I do not risk missing the last train from Milan to Turin. After barely advancing in line, I called Air France again at 5:36pm and spoke with another women. She was able to rebook me for the flight the next day, but could not aid in booking accommodation for the night or help me find my checked bags so I was to remain in line.
Periodically, an Air France representative would hand out water bottles to all the customers. At about 8:15pm, they handed out these boxes of food to each customer in line. During this time, I had the chance to check on the contents of my carry on bag that was checked into the plane earlier, and one of my mugs did in fact break, so I would be without part of the gift for my one of my hosts.
At about 9:50pm, I was within the ropes of the line and saw some agents handing out what looked like sleeping supplies to passengers. The man in front of me stopped an agent passing by to ask about these supplies. Due to the snow, all the hotel rooms were booked. By 11:15pm I had finally made it to the counter. My luggage was still "lost," so I still had to make sure it got on my flight tomorrow and the agent directed me to the room where customers spending the night could sleep. I essentially stood in line for 8 hours and was no better off.
At midnight, I made it to the "Salle des étoiles" [room of stars] where the counter agent directed me for all passengers who would be spending the night in the airport. He wrote directions to this room and to my terminal for the morning on my new [and hopefully final] boarding pass. Outside the room, there were little cots but it was noisy out here because all the sounds from people talking echoed on the tile and tall ceilings.
All day I waited in line behind one Nigerian man and also a couple from Bordeaux, who I happened to find again when I arrived in this overnight room. I wanted to beat the morning rush so I set my alarm for 5:30am because I needed to go back to the counter to ensure my luggage is placed on my plane, and then catch the bus to the other terminal for my flight.
At 6:23am, the counter confirmed my luggage would be on my flight so I was on the N2 shuttle to Terminal 2G at CDG airport. By 7am, I was through security which was a breeze. But my flight was not until 12:55 so I tried to sleep in the terminal chairs. At 11:30, I looked at the departure board and saw that my flight was delayed until 3:15. Then again to 3:35. :/
My bed for the night >>
Each passenger was given food, water, a mat, a blanket, pillow, eye mask
At 3:30 - I finally boarded! At 5:20, I landed in Turin! [Keep in mind I was meant to arrive on the day before at 11:10am] At this point, I missed two days of my orientation, barely slept, was stuck in Paris for over 24 hours, did not have a proper meal (there is very limited or expensive meal options at CDG). I got my luggage and made my way to the railroad. While waiting on the platform for my train to the hostel (which was late, of course), an older Italian gentleman with forearm crutches approached me and started speaking to me in Italian. Caught off guard, I muttered, "No parlo Italiano." He continued to speak and then said, "Grazie," with the biggest smile on his face. I don't know what he said, but it seemed like he knew I was American and was happy to have me here.
I reached my train stop, was bombarded with oncoming passengers while trying to disembark the train with all my luggage, and then made my way to the hostel a few blocks away. When I finally made it to the hostel doors at 7:30pm, it was a big relief, and although I was sleep deprived, I was no longer tired because I finally made it to my destination despite everything that had gone wrong. I had a half day of orientation at one of the schools the next day and this chalkboard welcomed us as we entered the school.
The best things in life don't come easy, but they are always worth the wait."
