Jet setting

One of the perks of living in Europe is the proximity to, well, the rest of Europe. Since I moved here 14 months ago I've tried to visit as many places as possible, usually just for a few days or weekend.

However, the downside of all this jet setting around is air travel itself. The flight schedules are always seductive: Look, I can be in X, Y, or Z in just 2,3,or 4 hours.

But that's the best case scenario. Yes, I can be in Paris in 3 hours if everything is on time, which, anyone who has flown in the post-911 era knows, occurs very rarely.

And it seems more and more lately, that even if the plane is on time, the luggage isn't, as I discovered on flights in both January and February. It's not much fun skiing when you are at the hill and your skis aren't.

So you won't be surprised when I tell you that my short weekend trip to Nuremberg to visit Y this weekend ended belatedly just a few hours ago.

It all started well on Friday, with both me and my luggage arriving on time in Nuremberg. The weekend, which involved a new haircut and colour (yes I've succumbed to the bob again), lots and lots of shopping and purchasing, and participation in a city-wide inline skating event, promised to end well when I arrived on time for my flight at the Nuremberg airport Sunday evening.

Until the woman at the desk told me the flight to Munich was canceled. The next woman I talked to at the ticket desk seemed to believe that I could make my flight in Munich, which is two hours away by car, by taking a taxi, even though my flight was scheduled to leave for Krakow in exactly two hours. So, although skeptical, taxi chit in hand, I hopped in a cab with a German businessman. Everyone involved seemed to think I would make my flight, except Y, so off we went.

The taxi driver made a valiant attempt, sometimes driving up to 190 km an hour, but couldn't do anything about the traffic we encountered 30 km from the airport. By the time I arrived at the airport it looked like I had missed my plane.

I briefly regained hope that I might make my flight when the woman at the check-in said they would hold the plane for me, which was already delayed, until she saw my luggage, which was too big to carry on. Damn those rollerblades.

I ended up staying in Munich overnight, along with many other displaced passengers of various flights (apparently the Munich airport had suffered severe weather late Sunday afternoon, playing havoc with the schedule), and was back at the airport around 9:45 am ready for my flight.

I shouldn't have been surprised when I made it to the gate and saw that the flight was delayed.

I'm home now and maybe I'll stay here for a while. At least until I am seduced by the idea of being in another European capital in a few hours.