Here's a "brief" play-by-play. Arrive 1.5 hours early for our flight from Madrid-Frankfurt-Prague. Check in, check luggage (don't normally do this but we had to pack all the winter gear plus some), go through security, sit for a few drinks (this has become standard procedure), get to gate... and everyone is standing around. We hear some random English and someone saying, "Flight to Frankfurt is canceled." Turns out it was about 20 military guys returning to their base in Germany that were on our flight and they heard from so-and-so who heard from so-and-so that something was going on with the air traffic controllers. We debate whether e should stay at the gate and see if things get resolved or go back out through security to the check-in counters to see what the deal is. We decide to leave the gate,. They close security behind us and now all departure TV's have "Canceled, Canceled, Canceled" flashing across them. As we rush to the check-in counter my bag breaks and tumbles to the floor, with my fancy camera inside. Luckily, it was protected by my 500-page book and 2 scarves. So... we keep running and then we see it. No joke, no exagerration... at least 3,000 people waiting in the terminal. And in just the Lufthansa line, at least 500. This terminal is not large. Probably 300 yards by 50 yards. Filled with 3,000 Spaniards whose flights just got cancelled due to striking bastards? Are you catching my drift yet? And now... it's filled with international journalists too. Newscameras, flashes, spotlights, microphones, etc. No one knows what the hell is going on, women are going hysterical, men are pounding their fists and screaming. And what do the three of us do? Fall to the floor in a heap of laughter. What else can you do at this point? It was such an outrageous scene I'm not even doing it justice. We begin calling the Lufthansa customer service number and by the grace of God, someone answers, helps us and rebooks one of the three flights. Then the phone goes dead. Sidenote: we have to use pay-as-you-go phones here until you prove you have lived in the country for 2 years... and the phone ran out of money. On another phone we try to start calling again but by this time the 500 people in line are doing the same thing. Waiting... waiting... waiting. Finally get through and get the agent from hell. She begins to yell, and in true Lindsay fashion, I start to yell back. I ask for her name, her boss, then click. She hangs up on me. Sweet. We all start calling again and finally get someone, an hour later, who helps us, gets all the tickets rebooked... but for two days later. By this time all of our friends who are at home are trying to call us telling us we are on all the news channels. If I'd had known that I'd have made myself look presentable! We go to reclaim our luggage and head home (now 5 hours after we got to their airport) and our friend Fil, who went to the bathroom, is no where to be found. I finally go to try to find him and I hear him, yelling my name. He got locked in the bathroom stall. No one would help him, he couldn't climb under or over. And now at this point, I really start to laugh. Uncontrollably.... We finally make it home at almost midnight. It's Friday. We were supposed to be in Prague at this point. And now we don't leave until Sunday night. :)
Hope you enjoyed the tale. Once we finally made it to Prague we had a wonderful time full of snow flurries, holiday cheer and lots of beer. Sometimes it's the trips where nothing seems to go right where you have the most fun. And this was one of the most interesting to date, that's for sure! I'll spare you the details of our journey through the enchanting city that is Prague but if you choose to view the pictures, you can find out about all that we discovered in the captions. Enjoy!
Hezké prázdniny! ~Linds
