A Royal Caribbean Cruise For An Unusual Adventure On The Adriatic Sea
The travel fiasco commenced with the sound of Xmas music in the midst of the summer vacation season at Will Rogers World Airfield.
Before it was over, plane delays would cause my daughter Elena and I to miss a ship and be stuck in a foreign city thousands of miles from home without baggage and a place to remain.
Just before 8 a.m. On that Fri. in June, we had appeared at the Oklahoma Town airfield with masses of time before our 10:10 a.m. Flight to Atlanta. We were booked to arrive just after midday in Atlanta with a long layover before boarding an international flight that would take us, with a six-hour time difference, by 9:45 a.m. The following day to Venice.
We wondered out loud what we would do with all the extra time before we needed to catch a Royal Caribbean cruise for an exotic journey on the Adriatic Sea and to towns like Koper, Slovenia ; Ravenna, Italy ; and Dubrovnik, Croatia. We were initially intended to go to Egypt to celebrate Elena’s graduation from Washington University in St. Louis, nonetheless it had been canceled because of the political unrest there. We had thought about other trips, but logistics had prevented those. Then Royal Caribbean offered a special trip on its second week of a new schedule in the Adriatic. It was a chance to take Elena on the promised trip.
We researched the trip and its 5 towns. We were told about the region’s history by relations who had been there. We were excited about visiting and exploring historical destinations for the first time.
Marooned in Oklahoma City
With only 30 minutes left before our flight, we predicted the intercom statement to ski the airplane. Instead we heard that all security checkpoints had been closed, and those passengers who had been cleared must abandon to the west side of the airport.
Being a journalist, I naturally started raising questions.
I talked to one or two of the 2,500 passengers who were marooned that day, all with different stories of travel plans that’d be delayed. There were stories of a girl bowler going to a national championship, a dad taking his sons to Key West, Fla, to go underwater diving, a girl flying into Oklahoma Town for an audition that she would miss, and a Nigerian entrepreneur in this country for a display. Most voiced concern about my travel plans and wished us the best on getting to Italy on time . No problem, I announced ; we had plenty of time to reach Atlanta for the 6:30 p.m. Overnight flight to Venice.
I was still assured even after the bomb scare climaxed in early afternoon when police found the suspicious package contained a bullhorn playing Xmas music, a mobile phone, batteries and wires. But as the hours passed, the brightness faded. We ultimately left more than 6 hours later on the same plane to Atlanta that was meant to leave at 10:10 a.m.
Missing Flight After Flight and Our Ship
Our Atlanta flight arrived just as our original Venice flight was taking off, so we rushed to the international terminal to see if an 8:30 p.m. Flight to Venice was available. A cranky clerk pounded wildly on her keyboard and told us the 8:30 flight was unavailable. Nonetheless she found an overnight flight that attached to Venice thru Paris, which gave us plenty of time to reach the ship before it launched. The clerk continued to pound at her keyboard for another half an hour, griping because she thought we hadn’t informed her about our two checked bags. We assured her we had, and she commenced pecking furiously on the keyboard again before informing us our bags would arrive in Venice in good time.
We eventually received our boarding passes and made it to the gate just before the doors closed for the Paris flight. As the aeroplane departed, I was ecstatic that everything was going to work out.
Then the aeroplane was delayed just about thirty mins before landing in Paris. We rushed to reach the Venice connection, only to be informed at the safety checkpoint that we must return to the ticket counter as we had not been handed a boarding pass in Atlanta. (Later on we were told that clerks cannot give boarding passes on flights lasting more than six hours.) After running to the ticket counter, we were told the gates to the Venice flight were closed.
We considered our options : Book the next flight to Venice and miss the ship’s exit by about thirty mins or find a flight to the ship’s first stop in Koper. The sole problem is that Koper can’t be reached by plane or train, only by personal auto. So we took the 1st option.
A Place To Stay, But No Bags
Country House belongs to Rosa Milevoj and Loris Bernaroinelli. Rosa, from Croatia, speaks 8 languages and was previously a cruise liner worker. Her man, Loris, is proud that he’s mistaken for actor Robert DeNiro but speaks small English. He nevertheless , loves the sounds of Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Woman Gaga and other American singers and will dance or sing loudly to the music.
After more than thirty six hours in airports, we devoured the traditional Italian dinner that evening of pasta, cold meats and cheeses, bread and salad, with the red wine that Loris and the Country House graciously served. The dinner guests eat just outside of the villa where the owners ‘ small dogs wander the estate and stare at the diners, wanting a handout or for food to fall from the table. The estate smelled of lilac flowers as the birds chirped softly in the background until Loris made a decision to start singing again. Most of the other dinner guests were Italian, with one couple being from England.
Also,we thought about trip in some spiritual place where we are able to find peace and beautiful nature like as Medjugorje in Bosnia, where we are able to find anytime some good Medjugorje accommodations.
We returned to the Venice airport the following morning to retrieve our baggage. I found Elena’s bag in lost bags but not mine. A clerk then told me that my bag probably would not arrive in the whole trip as a result of a baggage system snafu in Paris, regardless of whether it had left Atlanta.
As we began to leave, I spotted a girl with long curly hair and wearing a white sun dress crying near the lost bags window. The baggage snafu said another victim.
Within just a few minutes, we returned to the same Air France clerk, who scheduled us again at the Country House for one more night. Rosa volunteered to call the airfield to gripe about my bag, and it was entertaining to listen to Rosa’s Croatian voice talking Spanish to a clerk in Italy. Rosa then found an airport baggage clerk who just happened to be swimming in his Speedo at the bed-and-breakfast’s large swimming pool, located near one of Venice’s many canals. He shortly returned with the final verdict : My bag was lost, and we wanted to go to Venice to buy clothes,writes tagza.com.
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