In Lisbon…trying to get my writing brain fired up….motivated…rewired and inspired.

 

Shouldn’t be hard after being idle for a year and a half, enjoying family, friends and a more (or less) predictable life in a tighter circle to roam and ride on trails and roads well known.

The leaving was speckled with speed bumps. Starting with a canceled flight reservation to be found out the night before our flight from San Francisco to Lisbon. I had been wondering why I couldn’t find our e-tickets on line for check in. Phone calls to the airline (TAP) got us on an insane short tune music loop (first round) at 3 hours! 

3 persons (Coby, James and I) called 3 different # (customer service) which seemed to have us all in the same pool of whirl. But then one of us got lucky and a real, juice human being picked up……WOW!

She claimed the payment hadn’t come through (5 weeks prior) for our flight, though the money for our tickets (including payment for two extra bags for each of us at $124 - not including the bicycles) from my account was clearly gone - payment issued to TAP on the day I made the reservation. Puzzling pause on all sides….

Time (middle of the night) to take screen shots of my bank statements and send them to some email address given by the one who is supposed to safe us. “I’ll connect you to the person right now who will receive your email with your bank statements attached”

“How long will it take?”

“ I am connecting you right now!”

Isn’t that some form of torture when, in the middle of the night and tired …kept awake to listen to the same short tune starting over and over again in 1 minute intervals?  

(round #2) Another 2 and 1/2 hours waiting loop time! In bed, half asleep and worried I miss the connection I thought about keeping my eyes open with the next torture tool by using tooth pics or matches to prop my eyelids open. I didn’t…so I dozed..cats and dogs can do that and then spring into action when needed. Yes, I can and did.

“How can I help you” said a way too friendly voice

“What you mean, you don’t know….? I’ve been waiting all night to get my purchased flight reservation confirmed!”

Ok, she did have our names and info….no: “I am sorry…..somebody made a mistake….” nothing …put us on hold (round #3) and said we should be confirmed within the next few hours. No clue how long this one lasted…I lost track of time, but when she did come back between the loop tunes she assured us we were all set and our confirmed e-tickets in the email box. I kept her on the phone until the emails arrived. Not much sleep was had, but a confirmed flight!

The next speed bump was the Marin Airporter dropping us off at the ARRIVAL area, meaning we had to lug the bikes on and off (numerous times) from the luggage carts (2=$16) through narrow places and elevators. We have taken the Airporter many times but never experienced (and been told!) that the arrival area is the drop off for departing passengers. (Tipping and tickets was $57…just saying…)

Now we are 1 1/2 hour away from take off. When the ticket counter informed us that check in is closing in 1/2 hour but our QR code for prove of vaccination is not valid and we need to get a rapid covid test at another counter. ”Run” she said…it can take some time to get the test results. Check in counter #6 offered testing for $225 and 60 minute wait time. I told myself to JUST GIVE UP. We clearly are not supposed to leave at this time!

$450 (for two tests) later and a 30 minute (I guess money does the trick here) wait for the negative tests we finally were ready to check in our bikes and our luggage…..but this nightmare still continued…

Friendly, but firm the check in clerk announced we now have to pay $800 extra for our bikes (from the website we knew bicycles each cost $150), overweight fees and extra luggage. 

I was short of losing it …heat rising to my checks (and cheeks)……and the way back home seemed a lot more realistic than giving in to that much bullshit!

To this day I can not figure out where the sum of $800 came from (I think he just made it up! Hoped we were enough in a hurry to just pay?)

At the end we payed $325. I was able to confirm the prepaid bags through my emails, $150 for each bike and $25 overweight bikes (both) …news to me that bikes get weighed, but hey …..WE MADE IT!

A beautiful smooth flight across the big pond. Bikes, bags and us arrived safely in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and we have a host to dream of.

When the light at the end of a tunnel isn’t always a train.