Witsbergers Never Give Up!

Today was a day. After packing up, we had breakfast in and had extra time before our flight so did some final shopping on the streets of Gdańsk before heading back to pick up our bags. We even got in a final stop at Żabka - a popular and ubiquitous store in Poland - sort of like 7-11 and the only available grocery option on Sundays. As we loaded up in our Bolt, we got the first notification that our flight was delayed. After making it through airport security, we had a McD’s lunch and got two more flight delays. We try to avoid connections at all cost but Poland doesn’t have a lot of options to Heathrow and now our connection was set to leave Munich about the same as we were set to arrive. When we got to Munich, we missed our connection by about 12 minutes and were automatically rebooked on flights to Frankfurt and then LHR at 6am tomorrow morning. We knew there were 2 more flights to LHR but, as it turned out, over 1,000 other people also missed their connections and we were told nothing could be done. While Joce joined the queue in one terminal with H, I took G and E and looked for a service desk with a shorter line in another terminal while also trying to rebook through the app while on hold for the Lufthansa hotline. In the end, Joce waited 90 minutes and never got to the front of the line but I was able to get her and H on a 10pm flight to LHR leaving E, G and me to fly to Zurich and then to LHR tomorrow. While awaiting Joce and H to join us from the other terminal, I stalked the gate attendant on a late flight to Frankfurt that connected to Heathrow to see if I could get on standby. It was then that I was informed that there was a 1830 flight direct to LHR with last minute seats for all of us but since it was 1820, I wouldn’t be able to make it. After some frantic begging, the gate agent called over and the 1830 flight was delayed so she told me to run… to another terminal, via a train and through passport security. Fortunately, this is when Jocelyn arrived (as she had all 5 passports) and was slightly puzzled when I started yelling to run. Hauling 5 backpacks and 5 overfilled carryons, we ran up 3 floors, down 2, took a train, cut in front of passport security line, then through the terminal… and made it. It was touch and go while they rebooked us for the 4th time at the gate and then we finally made it through as the last group only to find the door to the gangway closed and locked. We pounded on the door and finally an agent came down and we got on. As it turns out, there were at least 11 empty seats. We were scattered through the plane but, after take-off, all joined up in a fully open row. Certainly a stressful, albeit exciting, end to a wonderful trip. Before we left, we got a lot of questions from friends about ‘why Poland’ but it’s clear that anyone that asks that has never been. It was a beautiful week and a beautiful country. Still, it will be nice to see our own beds and Stevie tonight. Czytaj więcej