Sunday, August 1, 2021

I will never fly to Greece again for sure...

...I hear a young woman in the queue behind me say.
But let's start from the beginning:

6:30 am - Wake up, get dressed, and wait outside with all my belongings.

6:50 am - A minibus arrives and a young, pretty woman gets out. Her name is Aria and she is my driver. I am the only one going to Rethymnon. She almost breaks her back carrying my big suitcase. I warned her that it was very heavy..... And yet she was surprised that it was really that heavy. smile

7:50 am - we stop at a bakery and I, and this will be the best part of the whole day, actually have another delicious Bougatsa for breakfast! YAMMMMMMY.

8:00 am - I am picked up by another minibus. It goes from hotel to hotel picking up the departing passengers.
On the way, one of the handles of my backpack's zippers breaks. The one where the big compartment with the laptop is. Where the handles are attached! Bingo! But I still have another handle. It's a bit inconvenient, but at least I can still open/close the backpack and, most importantly, hang it on my back!

9:30 am - Arrival at the airport.

9:31 am - Pure chaos! It's almost impossible to get into the building. Everyone is standing around not knowing which direction to go. People are running in all directions. Suitcases everywhere. Children being pushed through the crowd either in strollers or on foot. Phew.

First, I follow the sign "Wrap luggage". I have the impression that I can't trust the zipper of my big suitcase. And I definitely don't want to gather all my things somewhere! It costs 8 euros to wrap it in plastic film. Doesn't matter. Now nothing can happen.
Then I see on the display board the last listed flight is the one at 11:25 am. Okay.... and mine is at 1:30 pm. So 2 hours of waiting until check-in begins. Bravo. First, I stand against the wall to not get in anyone's way. Pha! Nice try. After the second suitcase pulled over my feet, I escape to the right part of the airport. There are shops and bars. And also a handful of seats. Yes, a handful. So, I stand there for 1.5 hours. In between, I ask my neighbors to watch my luggage. I have to go to the bathroom and buy water. Everything's okay. So far. I keep going to the display board to check when the Swiss flight will finally appear.

11:15 am - Finally, the flight to Zurich appears on the boards. I'm in an optimal position because check-in counter 13 is just a few meters away. The check-in counter opens. Immediately, a long line of passengers forms. I timed it right and I'm in position 7. So, very front. To the left of me is the line for business guests. There are mainly families with a lot of luggage and strollers and children......

12:15 pm - I'm still waiting. Position 5! And the worst part of it all is the heat. It's 31 degrees and neither a fan nor an air-conditioner provide relief. People packed closely together, everyone wearing masks, everyone sweating, everyone getting annoyed because it's not moving forward.... Why? Well, that wasn't really obvious. Later, I discovered that there was only 1 baggage belt available for the two queues! This already makes everything very slow. In addition, the families had a problem with the documents. And instead of taking the family aside and handling the others, everyone had to wait and wait and wait. In our queue, the conversation turned to the missing documents. From the couple in front of me, I learned that everyone entering Switzerland has to fill out a form. Oops. I didn't know about that. And believe me, not only ME didn't know about it! They gave me the link, so I could leisurely fill out the form. Because nothing was moving forward in front of us.....
The mood got worse and worse. The young woman, from whom my title quote comes from, got more and more annoyed. And when people started cutting in line (because they already had tickets and just had to check in their luggage), she was completely livid. Her boyfriend tried to calm her down. It wouldn't help and would just be a waste of energy, he said. But she attacked him and told him not to defend such idiots! All around, those who had a fan started fanning themselves with cold air. Sweat was running down my back and into my eyes. Very unpleasant, and on top of that, my hot flashes kicked in. Sometimes I really had to concentrate not to faint! Not everyone had that luck. An old woman collapsed and had to be taken care of. Since the queue hadn't moved an inch for a whole hour and people at the back started complaining and pushing, it didn't get any more pleasant up front either. If this continues, our flight will only depart in 4 hours or so!!

I've experienced a few things, but this chaos is unbelievable! We were not informed why it wasn't moving forward and no one thought of bringing us water or anything.

12:55 pm - I made it! First some back and forth with another airport employee in Greek and I only understood "standby". What, excuse me? But then everything seemed to be fine after all. Show the BAG form, the Covid test, and that's it. My pre-registered excess baggage was not an issue. So I assume they saw it in the system and that's why they didn't react to the 28 kilos instead of 23! I don't care. The main thing is that the luggage actually arrives in Zurich in this chaos!

1.5 hours from position 7 to position 1! Now just imagine what it's like if you're at the back of the line.
Now let's go to the gates. Then the security checks. They weren't very thorough. That's fine. And bam! The second handle of my zipper is also gone. So I can't close my backpack and I can't put it on anymore. Damn! Now quickly see if I can find a new one at the duty-free shop. Yes, they have them. Starting at 50 euros. Great. Well then. Buy, transfer, dispose of the old one, and finally go to the gate. There, they're saying something about "standby" for my flight and talking to a colleague! Hey, if I don't have a seat on this plane now, I'll definitely lose it too! And once again, everything seems to be okay after all.

1:05 pm - Transfer to the Edelweiss aircraft on the runway. Boarding and take my super seat. I was sitting in the first row after the business class. Where the legroom is extremely spacious. Yippee. At least a good seat. So far, the plane is almost empty.... but at least air-conditioned, so I could cool down and calm down a bit.

3:05 pm - We take off with 327 passengers! Instead of 1:30 pm. Okay, it's going to be a long day.

5:00 pm - After nearly 3 hours, minus 1 hour of time difference, we land in the 18-degree cool, wet Zurich. Walk to the baggage carousel and wait. With luck, I can catch my train to Sempach at 5:38 pm. Think again! My suitcase was one of the last ones!

5:50 pm - Through customs and to the platforms. Most elevators were out of order and it was not possible to use the escalator with all my stuff. So find an elevator, get a slot there (I wasn't the only one with a lot of luggage), and go down to platform 4.

6:15 pm - Train to Lucerne. Can't this go any faster! I want to go home.

7:25 pm - Arrival in Lucerne. Do some shopping at Coop (left luggage outside with security).

7:45 pm - Train to Sempach.

8:02 pm - Arrival home. Ringing at neighbors' door (because I couldn't find my keys anymore....).

Open apartment door: phew, you could cut the heat with a knife. Open the window immediately! Radio. I need music right now. Huh? Doesn't work. No power. Stove? No power. Bingo. I have no power in my apartment! Sh*t!
Judith had written something about a power problem and external blinds, so I knew it had something to do with that. Switch off everything in the fuse box and switch it back on. Yippee. It works. At least that.

Unpack, sort laundry, start washing, take a shower... I'm so tired yet so wired. This sh*tty day challenged and exhausted me.

Oh yeah, Happy August 1st, dear Swiss people!