Layover in Brussels and connecting flight to Manchester

Since the flight from Rijeka was delayed by over half an hour, I had a tight connection in Brussels. We landed at 16:50 at Brussels-Charleroi and the connecting flight was at 17:55. I hadn't checked any luggage, otherwise I would have been out of luck. I quickly made my way to the exit to find the arrival terminal. Thankfully, it wasn't far away.

At the desk, they didn't exactly offer me much hope: You need to go right to the security check, but do you see this long line? They are all waiting, you'll have to line up at the back. Great, this is going to take hours🫨

And now what? After asking nicely a few times and pushing ahead, some others said 'we also need to catch our flight' and still others wanted to get on the same plane. It didn’t take long before the word BOARDING turned green for my flight, only to switch to red CLOSED a few minutes later. Wow, and I couldn't even see the end of the line. So, I continued to push my way forward, maybe a little ruder... oh, the neighboring line ends 5 meters earlier. Good thing I can climb through the barricade with my carry-on luggage😬. Did someone just get upset because of me? I didn't hear anything and finally reached the security belt. So, take out liquids, phone, tablet, power bank from the bag. Tablet?! Where is my tablet??? Great, it probably didn't survive this layover - likely gave up due to age. It was already cracked, the glass was shattered and the case was torn. But I had really grown fond of it... But there was no time for long mourning now. What if I get through security and can't get on the plane? This was the last flight to Manchester for today...

So, which gate, where do I have to go? The great Ryanair app only informed me with 'Oops, something went wrong'!!! A real blockbuster!!! Well, at least the old-fashioned monitors are still hanging from the ceiling. 'Gate 22 (of 25) closed' sounds like it's pretty far back. So hold onto your luggage and start running - you really have to manage your energy. Good thing I'm dressed sportily and wearing sneakers instead of heels. And why do you have to walk through all the shops anyway? First in one direction and then down a floor in the other. In between, I was reminded again of Brexit, as we still had to go through customs.

Somehow I must exude a special authority or confidence, as I ended up with company. A young man joined me. 'You surely know where we need to go now?' he asked me when we suddenly stood in front of a locked door. (Something similar happened to me on the way to Palma - so it wasn't that stressful.) Well, there was another side entrance and off we went. And finally, we arrived at Gate 22. And what was the case? The desk wasn't even staffed. This flight was delayed too! Dripping with sweat, we found ourselves in a stairwell and on the tarmac until the landed passengers had disembarked...

The onward flight went smoothly. By the way, the cappuccino still tastes just as terrible as it did back then.