Yeah, but I bet you didn't have Reg Dingle cramping your style...
Today's stuff nearly went into the Daily Moan thread, because it is a big moan, but I also had a breakfast and didn't know what to do.
In the end I decided that getting back home from work to pick up the daughter is all part of our oddysey, so I'm using it as a kind of 'one size fits all'.
I finished up work on Sunday so I could have relaxing trip back to Thailand, a couple of days in Bangkok and then up the road to Korat on Friday to get re-acquainted with the dogs and then meet up with my Welsh mate for a few beers. Flights are really busy at the moment and the connections weren't great, but what's 24 hours out of your life?
I left my hotel on the west coast of Norway around 10am to get to the local airport for my feeder flight to Oslo. No problem and arrived at Oslo around 12:30pm, ready for a long wait for my 18:55 Lufthansa flight to Munich. It was immediately noticeable that all Lufthansa flights had a small delay... and soon the Munich flight also had a 20 minute delay announce on the board.
I headed to the gate early out of boredom and then proceeded to watch regular delays come up on the board...
No personnel there of course to explain anything, just delays. In started to get a bit worried about my 22:45 from Munich to Bangkok.
This put paid to any chance of that... and we eventually departed at 21:50 with the assurance from the one Lufthansa person (dealing with a plane load of missed connections) that everything would be explained on the flight and sorted out at MUC.
The Storbaelt Bridge en-route...
There was an announcement on the flight explaining all re-bookings... including the mention that Bangkok bound suckers ad been re-booked on the Thai Airways flight the next afternoon, or for some poor bastards, the same Lufthansa 22:45 on the following evening. We were told to head to the Service Centre for re-bookings and hotel bookings.
On arrival at the Service Centre... it was shut. As they were closing they shouted to us to book our own hotels and charge it back... and sort out the new flights in the morning. Is it just Lufthansa who are so bad or are they all the same now? In 30 odd years or regular flying this was a new low for me. A delay I accept, the occasional night in a hotel... but there's always been some support.
A few people were receiving emails from Lufthansa with new flight details... but not I. By now I had a couple of friends... a Thai lady with no English but good Norwegian and a slightly simple Norwegian who, it must be said, had impeccable English. I decided to find a hotel (it was now around midnight) so headed off to the taxi rank, followed by my new friends. 'Sten' wanted to find a shuttle bus into town and look for a hotel... but I decided to find a reasonably priced place on Booking.com and get a taxi to take me there... well 'us'. I paid for the taxi... it will be on either Lufthansa or work anyway, and besides, Sten was offering the driver Thai Baht. I checked us in the three rooms I'd booked and Sten and Pon paid independently... all good. By this time Sten had had an email from Lufthansa telling him he was re-booked on the 22:45 flight to BKK... but Pon and meself had nothing... which gave me hopes that we were on the lunchtime Thai flight.
I said we would meet up at breakfast and head back to the airport around 10am to sort shit out. I was knackered, pissed off and had no bag. I needed a shower and some sleep.
In the morning I experienced a German breakfast.
Apart from that anaemic looking thing in the middle it was OK... but no beans and I couldn't even find any tomato sauce. The thin sausages were almost like proper English ones.
The seating girl at breakfast was very jolly, so I gave her my bottle of gin and bottle of Jador duty free... to save giving the security at MUC the pleasure of confiscating it. No way would that be allowed back through security after leaving the airport. Maybe I can back-charge that to Lufthansa as well?
Some wall-art in the hotel. I thought about a pair of these for the garden but I have my standards.
After breakfast Pon and I caught a taxi back to the airport. The driver asked which Terminal I wanted... to which I answered, "I don't know". So he asked who we were flying with... to which I also answered "I don't know". We decided on Terminal 2 which covered Thai and Lufthansa... although I was very much hoping it wouldn't be the night Lufthansa flight after arriving at the airport in the morning.
On arrival I headed to the Thai desk, but alas they hadn't heard of me, well, us. So it was off to the Lufthansa Service desk to find which flight we had been re-booked on. I say 'we' because meself and Pon have become travelling companions... despite only communicating via my smattering or Norwegian and even less Thai we seem to get along quite well. And to be honest she would have been well buggered if I hadn't helped her along... not being boastful but she didn't have a clue what to do and Lufthansa have been absolutely appalling.
Anyway, the Service Centre informed us that we hadn't been booked on any new flights because they were all busy today. I think the guy saw me starting to fizz as he went back to his keyboard, furiously banging away.... and found 'us' spaces on Emirates via Dubai. We had to head across to Terminal 1 to the Emirates office to sort out where our luggage has got to, but no worries, we were finally getting somewhere.
Reg Dingle was flying his new plane in the courtyard.
After a chat at the Emirates office we were assured that our luggage was located and tagged for Bangkok via Dubai. I kind of trust Emirates... I will no longer believe a word from Lufthansa. There's Pon in her baseball cap... it's really useful to have a travel companion to watch my bag during toilet calls.
And that's it. I have asked work never to fly me on Lufthansa again and will look into what I can claim. I appreciate that delays happen but their support has been absolutely non-existent. Shocking, in fact. I though the Germans were supposed to be good at this stuff?
Anyway, after security most people turn left through some automatic passport control gates, but of course EU types had to traipse about 15 miles to find the manned immigration booths. Thanks Boris, ya tosser... but at least it meant Pon had me to show her the way.
So yes, I am now 28 hours into my travels and still have two long haul flights to go. I'm pissed off, stinking and aching with tiredness. I'm just too old for this shit. Oh, and hungry as well. A spot of lunch while waiting at the gate.
And the money shot... reminded me of Ann, a girl with razor sharp teeth I met on Phuket many years ago.
An hour to go until departure... what can possibly go wrong?