Monday 19 February 2007
A journey from hell
Did you hear about the bloke who lost his Blackberry, his credit card and his hotel key? Well I've got another one for you.
Did you hear about the bloke who lost his Blackberry, his credit card and his hotel key? Well I've got another one for you.I got back from holiday today and the bit in the middle was excellent and I will write more about that soon but the travelling to and from was an absolute 'mare.
I was already in Miami and had a flight booked direct to Buenos Aries late two Thursday nights ago. I was out having lunch when my phone rang and was told by American Airlines that the flight was cancelled due to maintenance problems and we had to fly that afternoon to New York to pick up a flight there to Argentina. 1,300 miles out of our way.
The flight to New York was late and only a mad sprint to the international terminal got us onto the overnight flight to Buenos Aries. That flight was okay and we landed on time, albeit later than we'd planned after a 11 hour journey.
Then that dreaded moment. Standing at the baggage claim carousel and the last bag coming around and its not mine! I had been in the clothes I was wearing since breakfast the day before and my misery was met by indifference by the baggage staff at Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport.
Check into the hotel and spend the first afternoon of the holiday shopping for clothes and toiletries. My bag finally turns up at our hotel later the next day, 30 hours after I did.
Fast forward to this Saturday just gone, the last day of our holiday and we are at the port in Colonia, Uruguay waiting for the hydrofoil to Buenos Aries. The journey is about 40 minutes long, our flight to Miami leaves in 5 hours. Announcements were being made in Spanish, people around us were tutting and tapping their watches and we finally found out that the boat was late due to bad weather. The river had a tide that looked liked it was caused by someone farting in it. It was ridiculous.
Another two hours go by and no sign of the hydrofoil, so cue hastily made phone calls to see if there is any other way we can get to Buenos Aries 50 miles across the Rio de la Plata. Er, no. On the phone to the airline and mega $ to change our flight to a later one. We get onto a standby list for the later flight at 11.05pm but finally sail gently across the river 4 hour late. We get a car and a driver doubling up as Nigel Mansell to get us to the airport but our flight is well gone and we are apparently too late to board the last one. Great.
Back to the hotel, another night, more money and more still to change our flights and the connecting one back to Chicago 24 hours late.
¶ 19:54
