Nearly Stranded!!

Nearly Stranded!

Our flight was an hour late so we ran to customs as quickly as possible. As Hernan is from Argentina, he, unfortunately, has to play a game of twenty questions at customs. "How long will you be in the country?" "When are you leaving?" "What will you be doing in Germany and Greece?" The list of questions goes continues. 

Obviously, that slowed us down immensely! We were there for about 30 minutes. Although I didn’t have a problem getting through as I hold a British passport I wasn’t going to leave without Hernan.

Next we ran to security.  With both of us carrying cameras we had to show the security guards our equipment (three SLRs in total). Security checked the lenses to make sure we weren’t hiding anything inside them. 

One security guard even told us he had a Nikon D90. He wasn’t too impressed with my Canon EOS 400D.  The strangest thing was, he told us to stand together and took our photo using Hernan’s camera!! Who’d have thought a security guard would have taken our photo? 

Anyway, after security we ran to our gate which was the far end of the terminal. Of course, it would be at the opposite end of the terminal - sod's law. Just as we arrived at the gate we saw our plane taxiing up the run way. We’d missed it by 10 minutes.

We headed to Lufthansa customer services. After about an hour and a half we managed to get two flights booked. One to Athens and a connecting flight with Olympic Airlines to Rhodes. Our flight to Athens is boarding at 11.15 (05.15 Miami time). The flight the Rhodes is leaving at 19.00 and arriving at 20.00 rather than us arriving at 16.15. Four hours delayed in total. Hopefully it’ll be easy to get to the hotel. We’ve been travelling for a while now and our brains are simply going to mush!

We will arrive at the port tomorrow morning like planned but we aren’t 100% sure if we need to contact Image Group to let them know what’s going on. Neither of us want to call when it’s silly o’clock in the morning in Miami. Once I get online I’ll drop Image an email to give them a heads up.

I’m so pleased I have Hernan here with me. I’ve never missed a flight before, so missing one has left me out of my comfort zone. Neither of us knew really where we had to go or what we had to do, but at least you’ve got a friend with you stuck in the same boat (no puns)! Plus, we’ve been having a laugh and cracking jokes.

Thankfully Munich airport is littered with smoking rooms. They make you stink like an ashtray but they are keeping us sane!

I’ll update again when we get to the hotel and hopefully upload a couple of photos.

**UPDATE**

We missed another flight!! We were told to go to our gate at 11.15 by the lady at the customer service desk. So at 11 we got to the gate and were told that the flight had already gone. There weren’t any “last minute calls”. So another trip to customer services.

Now we are waiting for a flight to Sofia, Bulgaria which will go to Athens, Greece. From Athens we get another flight to Rhodes. We’ll (barring any more cock ups and delays) will be arriving at 22.00. Then we’ll have to take a taxi to the hotel and get some well-deserved beauty sleep. Hernan’s fallen asleep already.

Missing two flights in one day has really annoyed me. The first wasn’t our fault but with being so tired and zoned out we didn’t check the boarding tickets properly. That was our fault so I’m slightly pissed off at the moment. When I’m fully awake and with it, no doubt I’ll be more than slightly pissed!!! I know for sure I’m going to get a royal lecture from my Dad when he finds out. Maybe I should stay off Skype for a couple of days? I hope none of the others from our training group have any of these problems!!

**UPDATE**

It’s 20.15 in Greece… yes, we finally made it to Athens and are currently at our final departure gate to Rhodes. It’ll take us approximately one hour to get there.

Travelling from Sofia, Bulgaria was certainly an eye opener. The airport was dead. There was a tunnel (one of the tunnels you walk through to get from the gate to your plane) that had completely fallen apart! I’ve taken a photo on my phone and will try to upload it as soon as I can get an internet connection. After seeing the tunnel we really weren’t too optimistic or glowing with confidence! 

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, they did! We saw the plane we’d be flying in. It was a tiny, propeller jet that held no more than 60 passengers. It was so rundown, old and looked fit for a museum. During take-off and landing the plane was bobbing up and down, swaying side to side and I honestly expecting the propellers to just choke and give up all together! Hernan on the other hand loved it!! I’m glad someone did… I wish I had a pair of Huggies Pull-Ups in my hand luggage!!

This will be our fourth and final flight for a minimum of 3 months. I’ve never been to so many countries in such a short period of time: Miami, Germany, Bulgaria and Greece. Hernan has a stamp in his passport for each country… they won’t give me one because I hold a EU passport. I even asked for a stamp here in Athens and was told "No, you don't need one". Meanies.

We are about to start boarding so I’ll update again when we get to the hotel. Hopefully I’ll have an internet connection and can upload this to my blog and include some photos. 

Fingers crossed we get a plane that looks a little less like a death trap. For some reason I don’t hold out much hope. At least Hernan is getting a good laugh out of me crapping myself!

For Photos Please Go To: http://cruising-seven-seas.blogspot.com/2011/04/photos.html