Bill

I was supposed to return to Columbus on Wednesday, 17 September. Everything on the ship went well. The early groups got off the ship and to the airport, and the rest of us waited our turn. My group was finally called, and I dutifully took my carryon luggage to the gang plank and headed for the bus. Everything went smoothly as well. Darlene, friend of my sister-in-law was on the same flight as me and we kept together as this was her first trip to Europe. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare only to find out our flight was cancelled due to a strike of baggage handlers. We tried to get the Holland America people to help, but their replies were: “Did you book your air transport through Holland America?” To those of us who booked our own travel were informed the agents had to take care of those who booked all their transportation through HAL. Next step was the airline, and those representatives advised there was a strike and they could do nothing (no meal vouchers, no housing assistance, no transport assistance!). Someone DID manage to really screw up my return trip. Good thing I took a close look at the paperwork handed to me! I don’t know where they got the idea I wanted to go (by way of Newark Liberty Airport of all places!) to Nashville, TN!!!!

I did manage to have the clerk correct that mistake, but she was unable to print out new tickets for me. Later on in the day I bought 5 hours of internet time (and it’s a good thing I did!). I spent a good bit of that time on Skype talking to a NWA agent trying to correct the “correction” to my ticket. Somehow, through all the mess my ticket got screwed up even worse than I thought, and it was a good thing that I spent the time Wednesday getting it corrected.

So, Thursday, we got up at 3:45 to get to the airport before opening up time of 5 AM to go through the same process and hopefully get out of Venice. It was a lot smoother today than yesterday. I am currently in the Amsterdam airport waiting for my flight to Detroit (which is going to be late leaving!). With luck, I’ll be home sometime!