My departure from Seattle on Wednesday evening was marred by the eventual cancellation of my 6 PM flight. The creeping delay featured two separate opportunities to leave the plane for food, bathroom breaks, etc. It was about 12:30 AM before I completed a rebooking and reclaimed my luggage. With a 6 AM departure, there was little sense in trying to go home and just return in a few hours. Rational choices for hotels had all been snapped up by a big British Airways cancellation earlier in the evening. The "Sleeping in Airports" website suggested benches without armrests by gate C16. However, I was now saddled with my bike box, so could not go through security and Delta would not store the bike overnight for me.
Remember making forts as a kid? I sure do. I found a quiet, dark corner above the lobby in the south end of the terminal. I put the bike box parallel to one wall and blocked up the open end with my second rental cart of the day. My fleece sweater came out of my bag to pad my hips, and my mesh bag of sox, underwear and riding gloves became a pillow. I set my backpack of valuables (passport, money, electronics) close by my head and set an alarm on my phone. I got about four hours of decent rest sleeping on the floor.
When I tried to check-in at 4:30 AM, my reservation was fubared, the special services lane was under-staffed and I missed my 6 AM flight. Rebooked for a 10 AM departure, through Detroit and Amsterdam. A half-hour late into Amsterdam, I had one hour to get off from the back of the plane, get a boarding pass (Seattle could not do it for me), clear immigration (did not yet qualify for the short-connection expedited lane), move from E concourse to C concourse, connect to free WiFi and alert Tom I'd made it. But I did. At least for the hour-long flight to Geneva, I was upgraded to travel in the relative luxury of Business Class.
Of course, my luggage was not so fortunate, and neither my bag nor bike arrived with me. Tom met me at the airport, and we had a nice drive on minor roads, since the Tour had a major road shut down. This included a full frontal view of Mont Blanc, its 4850 meter peak obscured by clouds, but the glaciated slopes very visible.
The bed-and-breafast outside Albertville is superb, nestled on a hillside in a lovely Alpine valley. It was very odd to watch the day's stage of the Tour on TV, knowing the riders were just over the ridge, and the scenery matched the two-hour drive we just completed. The thunder we were hearing was part of localized rainstorms that were playing a factor in the race, since there was a big separation in the leading groups. Eventually the rain found us as well.
I'm writing this Saturday morning - my bike arrived in Geneva last night and is to be delivered this morning. I got a very good night's rest. It is a beautiful mountain morning, and breakfast on the deck was lovely. Hopefully, we'll get a ride in later and I can test my legs.
It sounds like a great adventure so far Rob.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the "fort building" tip. For some reason I feel building an airport fort is in my future and I will certainly be thinking of you as I build it.
Tom Reier
And the adventure begins! Did you bring your camera? Looking forward to photos of your journey. Theresa C.
ReplyDeleteHi Theresa
DeleteDidn't bring my big camera, but maybe I'll capture something with my phone or point-and-shoot.
Rob
Congratulations on getting through the gauntlet of today's traveler!! But so worth that morning on the deck to enjoy breakfast and take in the mountain air. We'll be waiting for more installments!!
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