One "Glitch" of a Day

---

After quite a snowy drive down to the airport with Curtis' parents, we bid our farewells and headed into the airport to begin our great adventure. We breezed through check-in and security, arriving at our gate early and scoping out a spot to hunker down. The lounge soon began filling up with people of many different ethnic origins. I sat and researched more about our arrival to the Madrid airport, making sure I had our Metro information correct.

At 5:40pm boarding began onto the massive Lufthansa 747. We found our seats, fervently wishing we were in first class in order to enjoy the extra leg room and reclining seats! Maybe someday we will treat ourselves. The plane was not quite full so the seat beside me was empty, giving us a bit more space. Due to the inclement weather, we had to join the queue to be de-iced. Common for most flights lately! Well we waited, and waited, and waited. The wait was so lengthy that we both watched an entire movie while still on the tarmac! Our pilot kept us informed of our progress but there was definitely a hint of frustration in his voice when he announced that the "push back" of the plane was the longest in his life! As time passed, we began glancing at our watches, doing a few quick calculations in our heads. You see, the plane was to leave at 6:10 putting us in Frankfurt at 8:05am. This would have left us plenty of time to make our 9:35 am connecting flight to Madrid. However, when the plane doesn't actually take off until 8:30pm we knew things could be interesting upon our arrival.

The flight was smooth and uneventful. We watched movies, had dinner, and tried to catch some shut eye. As we neared Frankfurt our pilot announced that he would soon inform everyone about the status of connecting flights. As luck would have it we missed our connecting flight.....Glitch #1.

We disembarked and headed into the Frankfurt airport. We stopped to show the people at transfer services our boarding pass so they could tell us which gate we needed to be at next. The kind man frantically scanned his ipad for our flight. Looking frazzled he said, "You will have to go to B20 Service Lounge right away and they will help you.".......Glitch #2

Heading up the escalator we met with a representative who pointed us in the direction of the Service Desk. We walked up to the lady behind the counter and explained that we had missed our connecting flight. She took our boarding passes and for the next several minutes her fingers flew over the keys of her computer. "I can't seem to get you booked on the other flight. I will be right back." ...Glitch #3

After 20 minutes, she returned and handed us our passes and thanked us for our patience (probably thankful she didn't have to deal with the extremely upset gentleman beside us). We headed to the Passport Control area and walked confidently up to the stern looking Polizei behind the counter. We presented our passports and boarding passes. He gruffly asked where we were coming from, where we were going and how long were we staying in Europe. We answered all of his questions truthfully. However our answer to the question of how long we were staying in Europe did not go so well when we told him we were travelling for three months. His bushy, gray eyebrows narrowed in consernation and he peered over his glasses at us. "When are you returning to Canada?"he demanded. We told him we were flying home on June 6. "That is more than 90 days! You cannot stay in Europe past 90 days without a Visa!" he thundered at us. He ordered us to show him our return ticket. I fished it out of my very organized file. He looked at it and began typing on his computer. He once again glared at us, "This means you are staying for 96 days..That is not allowed. Follow me." ...... Glitch #4

We were hauled into the Polizei office where he ordered us to sit. After a loud discussion with his superior he called us up to the desk. He reiterated once again that we could not stay in the EU for more than 90 days. It is the law. Our only option was that we would have to re-book our flight home for an earlier date. If we didn't do this and show him our new flight, we couldn't leave the airport. We questioned him on this but there was no wiggle room with this ogre. We stood there in disbelief...then the tears came. I could feel my eyes welling as I saw months of planning and organizing and researching go up in a puff of smoke. How could this be? Back in 2008 we travelled for much longer than 90 days! We asked if this was a new law. "No." was the monosyllabic, growl-like response. Next thing we know his superior comes over and rudely tells us we have no choice and we must change our ticket. As I stood there the officer we had been dealing with initially glanced over at me and must have noticed my "not so calm state". As the other officer berated us like criminals instead of wannabe tourists, the first one began to soften somewhat. I would like to think that it was because he felt sorry for us and not that they suddenly began playing good cop, bad cop with us. After several minutes of being told the same thing like we were naughty children, we resigned ourselves to our fate and doggedly followed the officer out. He told us to go buy a new ticket dated for the end of May and then come back to passport control ..... Glitch #5

We walked back to the Service Lounge in a state of utter confusion and shock. Before rushing up to purchase a new ticket we sat down and pulled out our itinerary. We poured over dates, trying to figure out what we could change. Sadly, we realized that Paris in June was off the list and our flight home lost. I quickly fired up my ipad and googled the EU rules governing Visas. After reading several entries we stumbled across something I didn't know. Ever heard of the "Schengen Area"? Well, we are experts now. Apparently the EU has free border crossing between 22 of the 26 countries that belong to the union. All of these you can travel to for a total of 90 days and the countries involved are listed under this "Schengen Area". As we quickly perused the list we read the names of those NOT in this Schengen Area and saw "Croatia" listed. After another quick search we realized that Turkey was also not involved. Before putting our tails between our legs, we headed off to talk to Polizei again. Luckily the grumpy old fart was on lunch. We walked up to a young officer and explained our dilemna. We informed him that, although, travelling for a total of 96 days, we were also visiting other countries like Croatia and Turkey. He then kindly explained the "Schengen Area" to us that we had just read about and he reassured us that as long as we visited another country with proof of us being there then we were golden. There was an audible sound of relief at that point. He stamped our passports and sent us on our way!!! To think that all of this could have been avoided if the other officer had simply asked which countries we were going to and explained the Schengen Area with much less authority and teeth gnashing!

We reached our security area and went through. Of course Curtis' backpack was thoroughly searched. Why not? Just added another dimension to our day and we hadn't even reached our final destination!

Our flight to Madrid was great and we loved watching the landscape far below. The reds and browns of the fields resembled patchwork quilts. Our landing was one of the best we had. We headed to the carousel for our luggage. We waited, people picked up their bags. We waited as bags were tossed on from outside one at a time. We waited, a sense of trepidation creeping in. Down to the last handful of people when finally we saw our bags come out. We put on our backpacks, which seem a whole lot heavier after a long day, and set out to find the payphone and Metro. We were to call the apartment 30 minutes before our arrival. Payphones in Europe. Another interesting experience. We read the instructions, inserted our money, and listened for it to ring. Nada. Now how were we to contact the apartment? .... Glitch # 6

After several frustrating attempts we decided to get on the Metro. We got our tickets arranged, memorized our route and headed down. Just before descending to the subway we noticed a sign for Spanish SIM cards for smartphones. The lovely Asian Spaniard had us purchasing one before we knew it! 10 euros later it was in my phone and I had a Spanish phone number! I quickly called the apartment but kept getting some lady speaking rapid Spanish. I handed the phone to the lady at the counter and she told us that the number we were calling did not exist!!! ..... Glitch # 7

We decided to board the Metro and find the apartment. I pulled out my sheet of phone numbers and tried another number. At last I reached someone and told him we were on our way. He assured us that his representative was there waiting for us.

We exited the Metro exactly where we saw it on Google Earth - so cool. We found the address and went in. Hmmmm nothing. We asked someone and he said 2nd floor. We hauled our bags up the stairs to be met with several doors without numbers. I called the guy back and he told us to take the elevator to the 2nd floor. What elevator? You mean we walked up 2 flights with our super heavy backpacks!!! Meanwhile Curtis wandered down another hall and found a door marked with "Apartamentos Sol". A couple minutes later the guy came up and took us up 2 more floors to our apartment. We signed the papers and got our keys.

Well we made it through one "glitch" of a day. We problem-solved on the fly and thankfully get to keep our agenda status quo. Curtis is done for the night and I am not far behind. I knew things would go wrong, but WOW what a beginning!!! Can't wait to spend the day exploring Madrid tomorrow.

---

Comments

[Kim]

OMG!
OMG ... cannot believe your story! lol ... I would have been so rattled that I would not have been able to think or laughing uncontrollably! Hope your trail gets smoother!!