Life As a Rollercoaster, or How Many Things Can Go Wrong?
Having just come off *months* of train strikes, we were a little anxious about our trip to the states.
Our plans called for:
- bus to the train station (Sunday buses don't run as often, and Summer buses are notoriously late)
- local train to Montpellier
- TGV (high-speed train) to Barcelona
- local train to airport
- flight to Newark
- shuttle to hotel for the night, then reverse the next morning
- flight to Atlanta
- rent car, drive to Home #1
Essentially, if any of the first few connections went awry, we'd be stuck! So, for several days (ok, weeks!) before our trip, I was constantly checking the strike calendar. So far, so good - day of, one less thing to worry about. Then, the bus came on time! And so did the local train! And the TGV has no delay showing! (Starting to breathe...). Then, time to get to the platform and find our spot to wait - but... the train map doesn't even *show* our car! (Ours is #17, and these only go up to 8?!?). Well... Finally I got it (yeah, embarrassed) - wrong train - ours isn't for another hour! (All that built-in wait-time just in case something is late, really threw me). Another stress-spike gone, we wait, the head to our area (waaaaay at the front of the train - poor Rick in his ankle-boot is just about done in).
Once settled, we had a fairly uneventful trip, with the exception of going through a *lot* of tunnels in the Pyrenees - high-speed ear-pops, one after the other, are no fun. The first one is a painful surprise, and the rest are anticipated (which is worse?). At the end of the line, the switch to the airport train is pretty easy - I asked (got to practice my Spanish again!) how to do it at the info desk, walked around the corner (to windows 1-5), and got our tickets (4.20€ ea). We went through the ticket gate (tracks 9 & 10), which stamped the tickets (unlike France and Italy, where you have to make sure to do this separately), then down to the platform (hot! I waited inside the escalator area which was slightly air conditioned). Something to note: the ticket counter shows the *scheduled* train times, but the platform shows the *expected* (that is to say, late) times. Note 2: the ticket is good for any airport train that day, so if you miss one, wait half an hour and go. Note 3: toilets are upstairs, outside the platform gates, 1€, change machine available.
The Barcelona airport is the end of the line - we follow the crowd, then notice that the airport (terminal 2) is a long walk for someone with mobility issues! I go back in and ask at the train booth about a tram or wheelchair, or... No. Metro to terminal 1 is possible, but probably the walking part is just as bad. So, we walk. Luckily, Norwegian check-in is right at the entrance! Rick sits down, and I ask about the wheelchair (ordered ahead). When the guy gets there, he said "Well, why didn't you call for it from the train station?" Ehm, what?!? Apparently, you can go to "the yellow panel" and call - they will come with the wheelchair for you... Our good news - we had plenty of time to kill at our gate, and Barcelona has coffee shop sandwiches, etc. right next to the gate, which (for us) was a walkbridge (not stairs). And the flight was easy :-)
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| Norwegian Tailfin Hero |
Well, look at that! We're in Newark! Our wheelchair guy is great - that airport is one of the most confusing I have ever seen! Do you know, that to get to baggage claim, we followed signs for connecting flights re-check luggage?!? I swear, between that night and the next morning, a good half-dozen people asked our aides for directions! (Always answered politely, I must add).
On to our next stress-spike... We get to the hotel shuttle pick-up spot, and I go hunting for our hotel shuttle. Nothing. Wait, check, nothing. The lovely lady at the welcome desk calls them for me (we have no phone yet) - huh! They changed their name! And the van has come and gone! It might be another half hour. OK - wait, check. Nothing. Call again - "ma'am, I don't know how you could have missed it; he's just now leaving *again* for the *last* time tonight" OK - set my timer, wait, check - ding! After our 2-hour wait, we're finally at our hotel, looking at hopefully 4 hours of sleep (we've now been up much more than 24 hours).
The next morning, we catch the first shuttle (too early for breakfast), and get our new wheelchair guy - can you believe it? He's great too! And soooo calm :-). And you just know we needed that, cause... Yep. Checking in, we can't find Rick's passport! Mad scramble later, we realize that neither of us got it back from the hotel :-( Now I can tell you, first-hand, what happens when you don't have the ID you used to buy your (domestic) flight ticket.
(1) you need at least one photo ID plus something like a credit card with a matching name
(2) when you get to security, a supervisor has to OK you, and you get a whole lot of extra pats and swipes. And your travel companion can not touch you or any of your stuff until you're cleared.
Easy, right? Except that in the rush to get through all that, I left my tablet in the bin! And we had no time to buy breakfast :-( But *fortunately* I noticed the missing tablet, and could run back to security to get it - someone had turned it in (whew). But I have to say, at this point, I literally had the shakes from all that adrenaline.
The flight to Atlanta had some turbulence (or maybe that was just me?); we get another fantastic wheelchair guy; we're through baggage claim and on to the car rental area, where... Well, I can't really say this was a stress-spike; more of an expected disappointment - they won't rent the car based on a copy of my driver's license 🙄. Yay - wheelchair guy is patiently waiting through all this, and gets us back to the terminal. A Wi-Fi call and a short wait later, Rick's sister has us bundled in the car, and there's Santa Fe stew waiting for us!
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