Let's talk about airline delays.... I'm only 2 weeks in and haven't had a smooth travel day yet. Flight 1 BWI-FRA-FCO; Condor airlines from BWI to Frankfurt to Rome was delayed 1.5hrs which ultimately was more like 2 hours. We got to Frankfurt and of course the plane was parked in the lot which meant stairs to bus. The buses waited for the ENTIRE plane to deplane before they drove to the terminal and took us on a tour of the perimeter of not one, not two, but three separate concourses. After sprinting through passport control, then a second security checkpoint, we needed to take a train to the concourse we were supposed to be connecting out of. 12 passengers on the Rome flight; all missed connections and were rebooked. Three additional hours in Frankfurt = pretzels, nap, and a sandwich. In the end, not so bad as there were three of us in this together and Kaci was waiting for us with a bottle of wine!(Few notes about Condor - decent airline. I believe it was Thomas Cook before. We thought they were more of a discount airline however we did get a dinner meal (no choices) and breakfast. There were maybe 2 movies to choose from and virtually no leg room - and that's coming from me who needs no leg room. The connecting flight was Lufthansa which was a little nicer as expected and even came with a snack and free alcohol on the short journey from FRA - FCO.)Train 1 Rome-Chuisi-Siena: Generally a better option than flying since the train station is central in most cities. Our train from Rome to Siena was 10 minutes late which was a GODSEND. Two things new to Termini...1) they check your ticket at the major train station before you can access the platform. Good for security purposes and good to keep the thieves out. 2) there are two tracks WAY to the east... like about another 1/2 mile from when you enter the platforms. Really, really far. So, thankful for that delay or we would have not made it.... ok - maybe MegKep would have made it but I was sucking wind. Train 2 Siena-Firenze-Milano-Varenna: Having already navigated the walk/bus to/from the Siena station to the city center, getting to the station with plenty of time was no problem. Siena to Firenze was fine and I met a nice woman who in PR/ Marketing and we were talking shop about hotel development projects in Tuscany (a nice contact to have made). Got to Florence and had a ticket on the next FrecciaRosa - high speed train - that was supposed to be a quick 1.5 hour trip to Milan. There was a train leaving right as I was getting in, and in hindsight if I hadn't bought my ticket online, I could have probably gotten a ticket on that train and should have. As it happened, that was the last one on time for the rest of the day and mine was 80mins delayed. I missed my connecting train but thankfully still made the following one, and one of the last ferries across Lake Como from Varenna to Mennaggio. The fast train, though delayed, was kind of a treat since we don't have these very high speed trains in the US. 258km/hr if I remember correctly! The total journey from Siena to Varenna was about 6 hours and 65 Euro, and aside from the long delay wasn't "difficult." Some things to keep in mind about train travel:
regional trains are always cheaper but may not have AC, may involve several more connections, and generally do not have assigned seats unless you book 1st class (similar to US).
The high speed train tickets are train and seat specific. You need to pay more if you reserve online to have flexibility to change the ticket. Keep that in mind if you think there is a risk you will miss a connection!
They check you ticket now to access the platform in Italy, so you can't run and just buy online on the train or from the conductor.
Keep in mind - Fridays are busy! Summer trains get really full and it's a mad dash (think Jersey Transit at Penn Station) to get to the train once the track is announced and to get a seat.
Flight 2 Milan Malpensa - London Stansted; Ryan Air: After a lovely morning in Como (took the ferry from Mennaggio to Como for the night before the flight as Como had a few things to see and is an hour and half train to the airport) I had a successful train trip from Como - Sardonna (local train), then change in Sardonna - Malpensa (airport express train). Total cost about 11 Euros and under 1.5 hours. Great. Things were looking up! I got to the airport nice and early as I wanted to take advantage of my lounge access for food, a few beers, and free wifi. I ended up getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve and get an annual membership for Priority Pass (access to 1000+ lounges worldwide). Of course, I was there so early I didn't know which gate area to go to and the lounge was WAY at the end of the concourse. Of course... I chose poorly (I always channel the Knight at the end of Indiana Jones; the third one, when the bad guy drinks out of the wrong chalice when I say that phrase... but of course, I didn't drink poison and die, so, not that poor of choice). The hike back to the other lounge on the right side of the airport was about 20mins. That's when I discovered my flight was delayed...by 2 hours. I was already arriving late and my amazing friend and former coworker at CRP, Rachel had made arrangements with the front desk of her dorm (PhD candidate at University of London... wohoo go Rachel!!) for an access card so she didn't have to wait up for me. Good thing, since my original thought was that I'd be arriving around mid-night. Turns out, it was more like 4am. Stansted is NOT equipped to receive passengers after midnight. The whole place starts shutting down around 11pm and the train into central London also stops. AND even though you're already coming from Europe, that doesn't work for the English and you need to go through passport control, AGAIN. With two people working and multiple delayed flights, that line took about an hour and a half to get through.... and I even got to stand behind a very self-absorbed American girl who spent most of that time touching up photos of herself in bikinis and taking Snapchat filter selfies. If only she knew her extensions were showing on the back of her head... oh the horror! Finally through the checkpoint with maybe one scrutinizing question of "how many days will you be in London" and I was scrambling to get to the next bus. By the grace of GOD, I got the last seat on the bus to Kings Cross and in a speedy one and a half hours I was at Kings Cross and walking 20 mins to Rachel's sometime around 3:45am. Equipped with an eye mask and ear plugs I was tucking into bed as the sun was coming up at 4am (Summer in London 4am sunrise 10pm sunset or thereabouts). Welcome to London on the 4th of July.Flight 3 London Stansted - Bilbao; easyJet: Earmuffs kids.... what a fucking shitshow easyJet!! But before I even get to that, I'd like to reiterate how I will NEVER fly through Stansted again. In an effort to not spend a thousand dollars in 36 hours in London, I opted for the bus to return to Stansted. The National Express from Kings Cross (same bus I took in) is only 10 pounds each way IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TIME. Yes, many caps in that sentence. From Kings Cross, 3:10pm departure took 2.5 hours to get to Stansted, and apparently that wasn't at the height of traffic. Ba-nanas. Luckily(?) I knew my flight was delayed at that point but only 40 minutes as per the last time I had wifi. Ha. I laugh now. Check-in was smooth. I paid for a 15kg bag and was pleased to see my backpack is only 13.3kg (sidenote - I was also able to carry on both bags with the 2 cabin bag option on Ryan Air). I checked my larger backpack and planned to carry on my smaller bag. Security was a bit of a mess and little frustrating as I was separated from my passport and wallet for longer than made me comfortable due to lack of organization on their part, but in the end I've had worse experiences in security. Then off to the lounge. Well - the aptly named Escape Lounge in Stansted was just that. The terminal was teeming with people and nearly every seat was full. Different than in the US they hold everyone in the shopping area and only announce the gate about an hour before the flight. Until then you are stuck and are every retailers dream. Not me! Escape Room here I come, but wait, the sign said it's full unless you pre-booked? What? I have to reserve a seat in the lounge? Good to know for future visits. Fortunately, they weren't quite at capacity an I was able to share a table with two others. One woman who said nothing to other two of us, and another guy who of course... is an an architect. It's a small world folks. He was originally from South Africa but living in Vienna and looking for a gig.... and of course wondering if he really wanted to do architecture, or wanted to get into project management. Also a common theme. Anyway, he was nice company but excitedly, I saw the words "go to gate" for my now 2.5 hour delayed flight. Arriving at the gate during "boarding" I quickly come to realize, the plane wasn't there and folks around me were saying it was still an hour out thanks to some app research and absolutely no thanks to the easyJet staff. In fact the gate information went from boarding, to final call, to gate closed, all with a employee standing right there at desk not updating anything, and in fact telling us that she didn't have any info. As our 9pm rescheduled from 6:30pm departure time came and went, a plane finally arrived. Everyone got off, the crew got on, and a few people were even allowed to board... and then they came back up... and then they said sorry, your flight is now cancelled because the airport in Bilbao is closed for the night! Wha@!?! You're kidding. This was now around 10/10:30pm. People were upset. EasyJet made an announcement... there will be buses coming to pick you up and take you back to the terminal to get your bags then we will be putting you up in accommodation for the night. At least that seemed promising. Buses arrived and the three or so staff members escorted us to the buses and then up through the area for "returning passengers" to baggage claim, where they then left us for 2 hours without ever coming back to tell us anything at all. People started making their own accommodations, but of course at that point the 4 hours of free wifi was over and I wasn't about to start paying for data. Time to start the yoga breathing. After two hours of waiting and people stopping just about everyone who worked for another airline or for the airport, someone finally said there are a few agents at the easyJet desk and we should all go out through customs and go to the desk. As about 40 of us approached the desk en masse, the employees retreated to the back of house where they stayed until some of the more aggressive (funny - I was not included in this group) went up to the police and asked them to get involved and go into the back and find out what was happening and what we were supposed to do. It was definitely in their best interest to help facilitate this since they were eager to close the airport for the night! It legitimately took the cops to get easyJet to work this shit out. An airport spokesman, accompanied by the police came down to chat to us and told us that we were intimating them and they are trying their best. What?? This was the calmest, most patient group of disrupted people I've ever been a part of. This would have been a riot in NY, no doubt. They asked to wait yet another 15 mins as they got organized. Seriously, how hard is it to call a few hotels and book remaining rooms. Should this take 2 hours? Is it ok to not tell an entire plane load of people NOTHING for 2 hours? And then come out and blame the passengers that their scaring you and that's why it took so long? No - all of it is not ok. So, after all that time, they were also saying that everyone had to double up? What? Sorry, I'm not sharing a room with a random person from my flight because you can't bother to come out from your safe room to count how many people are even still left waiting that need to be accommodating. Thankfully the female cop was more reasonable than the easyJet employee. Mind you - they were both doling out the hotel rooms; not just the easyJet people. So - I ended up with a room for myself that was only a short 30 minute, 50 pound cab ride away. The positive - it was the Marriott Hansbury Manor Golf and Country Club; a lovely, massive, drippy old English manor house with a very comfy bed, a terrific breakfast on the terrace, and overall a charming place to spend 8 hours before returning bak to the airport all on easyJet's tab. As I am finishing this post, I'm landing in Bilbao, finally, approximately 40mins later than today's originally scheduled landing and about 18 hours later than originally planned. Time for some pintxos!
