Delta Meltdown 2016

The Tour of Utah ended on Sunday and the following day, I was scheduled to fly from Salt Lake City to Prague, Czech Republic for a press conference. Going straight from one race, into another race, followed directly by a press conference is always challenging. Throwing in two transatlantic flights makes it nearly insane.....and really increases chances of travel issues.

I don't think I've ever been to a smaller airport than the Provo, Utah airport. It was an experience but thanks to Allegiant Air, I was able to make it to California.

The first thing I do any morning is look at my phone. That Monday morning, I woke up to so many missed calls from unknown numbers, text messages and emails that I assumed something terrible had happened. Instead, I just saw that Delta was having some issues. At that point, I had no idea what those issues really meant.

When I woke up last Monday morning, absolutely zero part of me expected to see the San Francisco Bay Bridge, even a brief glimpse.

I had until 11am to get my next steps figured out because I was supposed to take a shuttle from Park City down to Salt Lake City. I tried calling into Delta and was told the hold was between 3.5-4 hours and that they would call me back. Then I got a message saying that my flight was cancelled. I figured there was no point in heading to the airport, so I went out for a run/walk on the trails around Park City.

It was such a strange day with no flow or rhythm. I aimed to just keep moving. This meant basically no meals and lots of bars. Also, I was officially working and really needing to catch up on emails and tasks after the back-to-back craziness of Denmark and Utah.

Eventually, I got a call back from Delta and they said I couldn't get rebooked to fly out until Wednesday, which meant my trip to Czech Republic was obsolete. I needed to be there for a press conference by Wednesday morning. Instead of sitting in Park City, where life is fairly pricey and I didn't know anyone. I looked into all the options that could get me from Utah to California that day. I knew I had a free place to stay in Northern CA and it didn't seem too sure that Delta was actually getting me out of the US anytime soon.

It took a few buses to get from Oakland up to Santa Rosa, including a stop through San Rafael.

I looked into renting a car to drive to CA. Nothing available. I looked into flying from Salt Lake City to any Northern CA airport. Either nothing available or insanely expensive. Eventually, I found a ticket from the Provo Airport to Oakland through Allegiant Air. I knew I could get up to Santa Rosa from Oakland on the Airporter, so I booked a ticket for a price cheaper than a hotel in Park City. The next question was getting from Park City to Provo. Thanks to Uber, I got a lovely ride to Provo through some stunning parts of Utah. I reached Oakland and then started working my way north to Santa Rosa. 

My first meal of the day was one of my favorite plates of food on Earth: Pollo al Horno with half rice and beans and half sweet and fried green plantains from El Colqui. I crave this when in Europe.

Tuesday, Delta still wasn't operating correctly. Wednesday, my first flight was delayed for over five hours, so I would have missed my connection. Fortunately, I already assumed there might be issues so I had called Delta (only a 90-minute wait this time) and asked when they predicted I could fly out. She said that if it didn't really matter (I had a free place to stay, friends to enjoy and access to a car), that I should wait until the weekend. So she booked me SFO-->SLC-->AMS-->BRU on Saturday. 

While killing time in California, I decided my life needed a telescopic (collapsible) fishing rod that I could travel with. Then I spent most afternoons catching fish from lakes around Sonoma County. Heaven.

I got to the airport bright and early on Saturday morning and my first flight to SLC was super smooth. Things started going wrong again in SLC. We boarded our transatlantic flight and just sat there for awhile. Eventually, they announced there was a mechanical and we were all deplaned. I called Delta (only 5-minute wait) and was told that there was basically no other option this late in the day to get me to Europe. I waited for a few hours and called back (15 minute wait). This time, I was told that I would have to wait between 6-7 hours in Amsterdam to get a connecting flight to BRU once I made it to Europe.

Last US meal for a few weeks. I had no idea I was about to start another hellish travel day.

At this point, I was desperate just to get home. My already long trip had been extended nearly five extra days. I was running low on meds and patience, so I asked to terminate my flight in Amsterdam. I figured I could just grab a train back to Gent much faster. After a little battling with Delta, they finally agreed to this. I arrived in AMS only to find out my bags hadn't been retagged. It took quite a fight to get them but eventually I was free from the Delta system for a few weeks.

Switching off the Thalys in Antwerp for the train to Gent. Total relief to be back in the Dutch speaking parts of the world.

Now I'm home for about three weeks. This is one of the longest stretches I have had at home in months. I'm looking forward to eating my own food, actually having some hobbies, sleeping and enjoying my great city of Gent.

My next real travel (outside of one-day bike races in Belgium) is back to the States for a wedding at the beginning of September.

I'm Alive!

What a crazy, crazy month. I completely got lost in work, travel and adulting.  I have been meaning to post, but life got in the way. 

Here are the travels of the past six weeks:

• Delta and KLM: BRU-->AMS-->SFO (May 5th)--all went easy, peasy
• United: SFO-->SNA (Orange County) (May 9th) -- smooth
• Driving: Whole state of California (May 15-May 22) -- loved my rental Dodge Charger!
• Delta: SMF-->LAX-->AUS (May 23rd) -- super early, but good
• Delta: AUS-->ATL-->GSO (Greensboro) (May 25th) --sad to leave Austin
• Driving: Winston-Salem, NC-->Blacksburg, VA (May 29th) -- sick and slept the whole way
• Driving: Blacksburg, VA-->Ashburn, VA (June 2nd) -- caught up on phone calls
• Driving: Ashburn, VA-->Philly, PA (June 4th) -- listened to great tunes (mainly country)
• Driving: Philly, PA-->Blacksburg, VA (June 5th) -- terrible thunderstorms caused delays
• Driving: Blacksburg, VA-->Ashburn, VA (June 8th) -- caught up on work phone calls
• Driving: Ashburn, VA-->Blacksburg (June 9th) -- finally done driving!
• Set to fly back to Belgium on June 13th --so ready to get home

Had a great month working on my tan. 

I started in Santa Rosa and then flew down to Orange County for meetings and a work photo shoot. By May 15, I started driving the state of California. Each day,  I was working about 15 hours a day with approximately 6-7 hours of driving. Stops included San Diego, Santa Barbara, Morro Bay, Lake Tahoe, Folsom, Santa Rosa (again) and Sacramento.

By Sac, I was exhausted... and sick. The worst. I already had a flight to stop through Austin for two days to see my best friend from grad school.  We had an amazing time catching up and I was so excited to meet her adorable boys. Luckily, they put up with my weak voice and annoying cough.

Onto Winston-Salem for US nationals. By that Sunday, I crashed and wound up in urgent care getting antibiotics, steroids and prescription cough syrup. They all were godsends and I started to bounce back fairly quickly.

While I had meds, I still didn't get to slow down much until today. Over the past 1.5 week, I drove to DC, Philly, back to Blacksburg, back to DC and back to Blacksburg again. But the DC trips were thrilling because I bought a condo! I feel like a super adult. 

My new condo... That I never plan to live in.

Now I am puppy sitting. Not just puppy sitting, but also dog, horse, cat and chicken sitting. I get on a plane Monday....I'm ready.

My favorite kind of office mate.

“I’m ready to sleep in my own bed... ”

Brief Stop Through NorCal

I only come back to the US about every six months, if I'm lucky. Usually, there is one or two work trips a year and one family trip.  When possible, I squeeze in some personal time and this past weekend I divulged in some wonderful me time. 

Flying over the colorful tulip fields outside of amsterdam

I have two home bases in the States. One in Virginia, where my mom lives and the other in California, where my heart is. If/when I move back to the US, I hope it is to Northern California. I spent the past few days there and it's been lovely, even though it started insanely early and the weather was more Belgian than Californian. 

By 3:35am, I was already waiting in a very long line at the airport.

Getting to California wasn't all that pretty. Due to the issues at the Brussels Airport, I had to arrive at 3:15am. I think that's the earliest ever. It meant a night at an airport hotel and only about three hours of sleep.

• Brussels [BRU]-->Amsterdam [AMS] (KLM)
• AMS-->San Francisco [SFO] (Delta)
• Airporter bus ride up to Santa Rosa

Almost 24 hours since leaving for the airport. I wasn't feeling all that fresh.

The first thing I did on Friday morning was get a haircut from the amazing Leila at Elle Lui Salon and an almond latte from Acre. It all just felt so much like home. A few hours of work and then dinner at a friend's house. It seems so simple, but that's one of the things I miss with all my travel and living abroad.  In Belgium, I don't really have friendships where someone invites you over for dinner. There is something so comforting about knowing someone so well to be treated like family and welcomed into their home. I miss these experiences even while hopping around on planes and passing through hotels.

Saturday started with coffees, a little work and too much shopping.  I love products. Trips through Sephora, Ulta, Macy's and Target made a noticeable dent in my checking account. I'll post a review of some of my favorites soon. I can't get enough travel size products and now my suitcase might be close to overweight at this moment.

Saturday afternoon, a few of us made our own Derby party over margaritas, chips and salsa. The tequila and massive jetlag caught up with me and I ended up taking a very poorly planned nap. Several hours later, I awoke confused about where I was and what day I was in. I wish I could say lesson learned, but it was pretty fun.  

Where was the California sunshine?!

We closed out the weekend with a day kayaking on the water. It was perfection with loads of wildlife and a plate of raw oysters at Hog Island Oyster Co.

Enjoyed the American way--with loads of hot sauce..

And here it is not even four days later and I'm heading back to SFO. I have a late flight down to Orange County Airport. I'm staring down nearly two weeks of full days, long drives and hopefully lots of California sunshine.