Gym had a wonderful trip planned. He and his lovely wife were going to start with a few days in Budapest, following which they would board a luxury riverboat and float down through Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. They then would have ended with a few days in Bucharest, before flying home. Everything was booked, including some of the ground transportation. This original plan unravelled in a matter of a few hours on August 12, 2022.
It started smoothly with a routine flight on Air Canada from Calgary to Frankfurt. Our intrepid travelers had made this run many times and had never had a bad experience. But then after landing in Germany, Gym's spidey sense was tingling when the big Air Canada jet, taxied around in a big circle and stopped on the tarmac. They were not unloading at a gate. Gym couldn't remember that happening in Frankfurt before. They needed a bus to come and take them to the terminal. That is when the bad karma began to play out.
Later, as the bus careened around the underbelly of the various terminals at FRA, it became apparent to Gym that German efficiency and organizational ability had eroded somewhat during the pandemic. Eventually, they dumped everyone off under Terminal A and the two tired travelers made their way past bewildered looking Lufthansa ground staff, to and through customs. Finally, they emerged into the departure level and needed to find a Lufthansa help center because they had no boarding passes for the next flight. When they found one, it could only be described as a bunker full of shell-shocked passengers jostling for a chance to talk to the strained and stressed out employees. Fortunately, our hero and his lovely companion were issued the boarding passes and would eventually board the airbus to Budapest.
That 90-minute ride was the worst flight ever taken by either of our travelers. They were seated in the 32nd and last row of the plane with enormous Danish men who were wedged in so tightly, Gym was worried they would never be able to get out. The diminutive flight attendants were barking out orders to the passengers that couldn't find space in the overhead luggage racks. They instructed everyone to stow their bags under the seats in front of them and sit down. It took forever but as the flight attendants got things under control, Gym reflected on what a great language German was for giving out orders. Finally, the aisles cleared and everyone relaxed a bit, the doors were then closed and the plane started moving. It took a while for the AC to kick in because it was very hot outside and the plane was packed full. Taking it all in from the last row, it was reinforced on Gym and Mrs. Gym why it's better to pay more and sit at the front of the plane. Normally, that is where they would be but they didn't have business class on this flight. They booked through Air Canada and were kind of second class citizens to those that had booked through Lufthansa.
After enduring a very bumpy ride over the Alps, our travelers landed in Budapest as the sun was setting. The long air journey was finally over but that is when the shit really hit the fan. A series of cruel circumstances began to unfold as our travelers watched every other passenger on their flight pick their luggage from the carousel and leave the terminal. Finally, with great consternation, Mrs. Gym resolved to go to the dreaded lost luggage desk. As his dear wife stood filling out the lost luggage form, our hero thought he should notify the hotel driver that was there to pick them up, that they would be late. He pulled out his cell and turned off airplane mode to send a text. That done, he noticed a voicemail had been left during the flight. He quietly read the transcribed voicemail. It was from the cruise operator. It described the bad news that their riverboat cruise had been cancelled because of low water levels in the Danube. Mrs. Gym was in a delicate state of mind and Gym contemplated withholding the news of this additional setback. However, it had to be done, so he amped up the stress hormone levels another notch with the cruise news. With increased heart rates and blood pressure levels, they left the airport in a beautiful Mercedes Maybach owned by the hotel. The the ground transfer to the Matild Palace hotel turned out to be the best part of the past several hours.
They checked in to a nice suite in the hotel and our hero and his dear bride realized that they had to undertake two colossal tasks. The first was to get on the blower with the riverboat company and see how much the cruise operator was willing to go, to compensate out travelers for their losses. The second major task would be for Gym to figure out what to do for the ten days that that the cruise was to last. They were so tired though, that they decided to deal with these things in the morning. That night, their two beloved pieces of Heys luggage huddled together in the FRA internment camp for displaced luggage, pining for their owners. The blue Heys contained all of Gym's carefully folded underwear.
Stay tuned!
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| Next time, Gym books anything but Lufthanza. Maybe Swiss Air? |
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