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.

Day in the Life: Travel Day

I don't typically fly directly from one race into another race. Usually, there is at least a day or two in between stage races. Olympic years are always a little different and races get shuffled around. That's what happened between the Tour of Denmark and the Tour of Utah. I finished the five-day Tour of Denmark, had a lovely post-race dinner hosted by our great sponsors, got a few hours of sleep and then headed to the airport to fly halfway across the world to Utah. 

Here is a quick glimpse at my day:

6:45am--My alarm goes off but I simply couldn't get up yet. I was still too tired from a week of working 13+hours every day followed by an evening of maybe a glass or two of too much wine. 

7:15am--I can't put off getting up. A quick shower, cup of coffee, packed bags and I'm out.

7:40am--Headed to the airport and returned my rental car. Make it through security without any issues.

I had a bit of time to kill at the airport because my flight wasn't until 9:50am, so I started with a juice from Joe and the Juice. I went with Peas of Mind with peas, avocado, celery, kale and apple. At the time, it seemed like a good decision. In hindsight, I'm not sure a pea smoothie is my thing. Next up was a soy latte with three shots. Like my Starbucks name?

Because I had so much time to kill, I started shopping. I think I could buy the entire Copenhagen airport. After trying on perfume that was too expensive, I settled on the world's most basic ring. Just my style.

9:50am--Flight to Amsterdam. Luckily the caffeine had kicked in and I was wired. Please ignore my flying guilty pleasure...OK! Magazine.

11:30am--I went as quickly as possible to the KLM lounge hoping that I could get upgraded for my super long flight from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City. Sadly the flight was already completely booked. This detour cost me getting food during my layover, so I boarded my 11-hour flight without any food or snacks...and I don't really eat plane food.

2:30pm Mountain Time/10:30pm Copenhagen Time--First off the plane and through immigrations. Felt good to back on home soil.

3:30pm Mountain Time/11:30pm Copenhagen Time--After the long flight and no food, I was starving. Like eat everything in sight hungry. First, I ordered a starter of hummus and then got this salad. I think my waiter was a little impressed with my eating abilities. While eating, I booted up my laptop and cranked through as many emails as possible and did some conference calls.

4:55pm Mountain Time/12:55am Copenhagen Time--Boarded onto my final flight to Cedar City, Utah. The long travel day was starting to catch up to me.

5:55pm Mountain Time/01:55am Copenhagen Time--Landed in Cedar City. My travels were super smooth and uneventful. As a side note, Cedar City is by far the smallest airport I've been to in my entire life. After grabbing my bag (there wasn't even a belt), I walked outside and my sport director was waiting for me right out front and took me to the race hotel....college dorms.

7:00pm Mountain Time/03:00am Copenhagen Time--A major, major storm hit. Apparently this has been the norm.

9:00pm Mountain Time/05:00am Copenhagen Time--I finally decided it was time to crawl into bed. A cookie served as my dinner and I was completely okay with that. Early morning wake up and I was already into Stage 2 of my next race.

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. 

Luggage: 1, Me 0.

This was a long travel day, even for me. It wasn't the four flights that concerned me, but the three having very tight connections. I packed a strong carry-on already foreseeing the future that my checked bag would get lost in transit.

• Roanoke [ROA]-->Atlanta [ATL] 
• ATL-->Charles De Gaulle [CDG] 
• CDG-->Amsterdam [AMS] 
• AMS-->Zagreb, Croatia [ZAG]

The first two legs went uneventfully. I stopped through One Flew South in Atlanta for my favorite pre-flight meal, stocked up on some tasty snacks and even had an exit row seat to stretch out and sleep for my flight over to Paris. 

From the start, I was skeptically eying my transfer in Amsterdam to Zagreb. It was only 40 minutes and I needed to pass through immigration. I thought getting to Amsterdam would be easy, so I was dumbfounded when I heard my name over the plane’s PA system as we were about to depart from Paris. Anytime I hear my name publically announced, I automatically cringe. No good can ever come of this.

I raised my hand and the flight attendant told me I had to deplane. Deplane?! Confusion and frustration passed over immediately and maybe I wasn’t a model citizen in those brief moments. While walking past the stares and judgments from other passengers, I asked the flight attendant what was going on. He gave me a very weak answer that I was being escorted off because my checked bag hadn’t made the flight. 

When did it become customary to make me miss the rest of my flights because they had failed to get my bag on the plane? I understand upgraded security issues but I’ve had my share of lost bags even recently and never once been forced to also miss flights. Typically, I am the last person waiting at baggage claim staring longingly at the empty conveyor belt before I accept my bag has been lost in transit.

After a perplexing conversation with the Air France attendants at Charles De Gaulle, I was standing in the airport with no flight and no rebooking. A brief stop through the lounge was useless. I didn’t even grab a quick glass of bubbles to help with the stress. At customer service, I’m not sure if the woman hated her job or hated me, or both.  Without seeing any other options, I logged onto the KLM app and saw a flight to AMS and then on to ZAG that got me into Croatia only 1.5 hours after my scheduled arrival. These are the moments I’m so happy I have my credit card memorized. Simple. Easy. Booked.

I think desperation was written all over my face because the customer service woman finally offered to cancel my original flight to Croatia so I could recoup some money.
It shouldn’t come as a shock, but when I arrived in Zagreb, my bag was lost. Of course it was lost. 

After a few hours of work and a quick shower, I washed away my sorrows with a fantastic hotel dinner of grilled squid and veal washed down with a glass (or maybe two) of wine.

“Before bed, I washed my pants in the sink with fingers crossed they’d dry by morning.

Such a glorious life.”