45 minutes to spare
Yesterday was a frustrating day. I was scheduled for a 9:00 a.m. departure from Jerez (near Rota) to Madrid, to Frankfurt to Leipzig. That's already too many connections for such a short distance. But, of course, nothing goes as planned with me at work.
As soon as I stepped out of the hotel, I noticed it was kinda foggy. The whole way to the airport (about 25 minutes in a taxi) it stayed that way. When I got there, I spent most of my remaining Euro on a mediocre snack-bar breakfast and watched the fog out the window. They said the flight might be delayed 10 minutes when I checked in. I knew better.
About 45 minutes after planned departure time, they announced the inbound flight had diverted to Seville and we would be bussed there. Now I have to take a moment to be proud of myself. While some of the announcements were made in both Spanish and English, those announcements were only made in Spanish. I managed to understand all the important parts, though - diversion to Seville, and autobus. Ugh.
So we bussed over there, got on the plane and went off to Madrid. Obviously I had missed my connection, now being almost 4 hours late. While in Jerez, they rebooked me on the next flight to Frankfurt. When I went to get on the airplane, they wouldn't let me on, insisting that I needed to go to the ticket counter. After a few minutes of back and forth with the gate agent, off I went. Of course, I missed that flight. They rebooked me on the next one, which was on Lufthansa. After that, things got better.
Except... when I got to Leipzig, my bag wasn't here. I spoke to the baggage office and explained my situation. They said it would arrive this morning at 10:20. I'm planning to leave the hotel at 13:30, which means I'll need my bag no later than 12:30 to use anything out of it. That gave them just over 2 hours.
Much to my amazement, they delivered the bag at 11:45... Whew! 45 minutes to spare. I've never been so happy before about having a bag full of dirty laundry. Maybe I can get some done in Kuwait???
V-
As soon as I stepped out of the hotel, I noticed it was kinda foggy. The whole way to the airport (about 25 minutes in a taxi) it stayed that way. When I got there, I spent most of my remaining Euro on a mediocre snack-bar breakfast and watched the fog out the window. They said the flight might be delayed 10 minutes when I checked in. I knew better.
About 45 minutes after planned departure time, they announced the inbound flight had diverted to Seville and we would be bussed there. Now I have to take a moment to be proud of myself. While some of the announcements were made in both Spanish and English, those announcements were only made in Spanish. I managed to understand all the important parts, though - diversion to Seville, and autobus. Ugh.
So we bussed over there, got on the plane and went off to Madrid. Obviously I had missed my connection, now being almost 4 hours late. While in Jerez, they rebooked me on the next flight to Frankfurt. When I went to get on the airplane, they wouldn't let me on, insisting that I needed to go to the ticket counter. After a few minutes of back and forth with the gate agent, off I went. Of course, I missed that flight. They rebooked me on the next one, which was on Lufthansa. After that, things got better.
Except... when I got to Leipzig, my bag wasn't here. I spoke to the baggage office and explained my situation. They said it would arrive this morning at 10:20. I'm planning to leave the hotel at 13:30, which means I'll need my bag no later than 12:30 to use anything out of it. That gave them just over 2 hours.
Much to my amazement, they delivered the bag at 11:45... Whew! 45 minutes to spare. I've never been so happy before about having a bag full of dirty laundry. Maybe I can get some done in Kuwait???
V-