Barcelona to Naples through Rome: Travel Turmoil!!!

This is a long one. Knowing full well that few will have time to read such a long entry, for cathartic reasons, I needed to get this all out.

It started before we ever got to the airport. In fact, when we were booking our tickets online, Vee commented on how strange it was that this airline wanted us to pay for checking in our bags at the time we were purchasing our tickets. Checking in baggage is an additional fee, of course, with this particular airline. The check-in fee is nearly double if you choose NOT to pay ahead of time for checking your bags, and instead, choose to pay at the airport for checking your bags. And, as an extra kicker, they’ll tack on an additional cost per kilogram of any additional weight over their limits. With a limit of a single carry-on bag, weighing no more than 10 KG, and a total checked-in weight of 20 KG, chances are decent that you’re going to get charged. We also thought it was pretty slick that during the online ticket purchase process, the “optional” travelers insurance was presented in such a way that it looked more required than optional. Only after pointedly de-selecting the optional insurance, and then re-confirming my decision to not purchase the optional travelers insurance, was it eliminated from the cost of our tickets. From the very beginning, things didn’t smell right, but giving this discount, point-to-point airline the benefit of the doubt, we purchased our tickets, and paid ahead of time for the privilege of checking in our single additional bag each that ordinarily, on most other airlines, could be carried on board. Then, things got even more interesting, put it mildly.

We got our email notification of the tickets we purchased, a confirmation number, and flight itinerary. Since the flight we purchased via the website was the Barcelona to Rome flight, we did not think twice about the itinerary airport being named “Girona”. We assumed that was simply the name of the airport in Barcelona. We had flown into the Barcelona airport just a few days ago, and when checking out of our hotel, we asked for a taxi to the airport, and there was no further query into which airport we wanted to go to. So, after a 20 EUR taxi ride from the hotel to the airport, you might imagine our surprise to see absolutely nothing about our flight, nor the airline on which we were flying, on any of the departure schedule notification boards. We eventually made our way to the airport’s information desk, and learned that our airline flies out of a different airport, NOT the Barcelona airport, but one in a city named Girona about 100 kilometers away. Always trying to be as prepared as possible, we were luckily quite a bit early. We were told that in order to get to the Girona airport, we had to take a taxi or bus to a train station back into the center of the city of Barcelona, then take a train to a bus station outside of the city, and then a bus from there to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 9:55pm and at that moment it was about 8 o’clock. We already had a hotel booked and paid for in a hotel near the Rome airport, and we knew that adjusting our flight itinerary would probably cost an arm and a leg, so we decided to go for it. To increase our chances of making it to the Girona airport in time for our flight, we got a taxi headed back into the city to the train station (that would then take us to a bus station, that would then get us to the airport in Girona…). On the way, we asked the taxi driver his opinion about the length of time he though it would take, best case scenario, to get to Girona airport this way. It sounded pretty unlikely we’d make it, although theoretically possible. We then asked how much it would cost for him to drive us directly, and how long that would take. Our chances sounded alot better, but still nothing was certain, and it would cost us over 100 EUR. Without a real definitive option, we asked if he’d drive us directly to Girona airport, and he agreed. Despite a few minutes of city traffic, once on the highway, we flew. The driver was literally blowing by every other car on the highway and and got us there at 9:20pm, and we were at the check-in gate at 9:25pm. With a small tip, the cost to get there was 137 EUR. Given the circumstances, and the efforts he made to get us there on time, we were happy to pay. And, although we were cutting it close, we were sure that with 30 minutes to go before take-off, we had made it. Whew! What a relief! Right!?

WRONG!!!

RYAN AIRLINES would not let us check in. They would not take our bags. They would not issue us boarding passes. They would not let us on the airplane. Note, there was not a single person in line for check-in, so it was not like they were too busy to accommodate us. And, although we were supposed to check in our bags, and had paid to do so, we bought these bags purposefully so they would be within the size requirements of the vast majority of airlines carry-on limits (length = 22 inches) and could very easily have been brought on board with us, if it was the bag check-in process that was the problem. It was a very small airport, with only 7 active gates, and maybe 3 to 4 airplanes on the ground at a time. But, as they stated with not an ounce of compassion, as per their policy, once the captain decides to close the airplane, there is no way for any more passengers to get on board. Not even with 30 minutes to go before our scheduled take-off. We begged, and explained our situation, and what we had done to get there, and how much money we had already spent. They made a phone call, and only re-confirmed their policy to us. No exceptions. Then I offered a bribe. No takers. “It’s not the money”, they said. Still, 30 minutes to take-off. And we were not allowed to fly. I considered raising my voice, and making a scene, but then I’d be the “stinking American”, and decided to bite my tongue. The next flight to Rome was at 9:00am the next morning. With no better option, and with no help from the airport help desk, Vee and I agreed the only rational thing left to do was to ask if we could re-schedule our flight for the morning. For a bit of icing on the cake, they charged us a 120 EUR “rescheduling fee” to do so. Thanks RYAN AIRLINES.

End of story, right?

WRONG!!!

It gets better.

With our blood still boiling, we wheeled our bags over to one of the benches, and tried to calm down and accept what had just happened, and all that it meant (lots of money down the toilet, little sleep, long uncomfortable night, ruined first day in Naples, etc.). A young lady seated on the opposite side of the bench asked us what happened, and she said that she had a similar story, and would be joining us there in the airport overnight…so at least we’d have some company. Turns out, I didn’t know sleeping at the airport was so “normal”, there were LOTS of people sleeping overnight at the airport. Mostly young backpacking folks, like us. In fact, there were so many of us, that it turned into a competition for bench real estate with the cleaning people, who were cleaning the benches and the floors beneath the benches. We kept ourselves busy with reading our books, Vee is reading the Da Vinci Code, and I am reading The Historian. We sat at the café some, ate cookies, drank coffee, ate pastries, all the real healthy stuff. We made it through the night, Vee with no attempts to sleep, and me with maybe 30 minutes or so of sleep. At 7am, we dragged ourselves to the check-in counter, checked our bags, and by 8:30 we were in the airplane, and by 8:40, the airplane had pulled away from the gate. The flight was scheduled for 9:00am, and that’s when it made sense to me. This airline’s “on-time” numbers must be really good. Situations like ours were just collateral damage.

Anyway, we arrived, squeezed ourselves onto the bus that would take us from the airplane to the terminal, got our bags, and regrouped to see what we had to do to get to the train station for the next leg of our trip to Naples. We found a bus on the other side of the airport that would take us to the train station, but they would not sell us tickets on board, and so we had to go back to their ticket sales desk, back where we came from, to purchase our tickets, which we did. With ticket receipts in hand, we walked back to the bus, which by this time was completely full, and got in line for the next one that was to arrive in about 20 minutes. Then, it started pouring rain. Vee whipped out our compact umbrella to keep us from getting completely soaked, and eventually the bus arrived. We crammed into the bus, and an hour or so later, we arrived somewhere within the vicinity of Termini train station, and we even found it, eventually.

The next thing was to buy our train tickets to Naples. We eventually found the ticket lines, and made our reservations. Trains to Naples run regularly so it was not that big of a deal to get seats. With tickets in hand, we made our way to the platform, only to find out that the train had already left. Turns out, the ticket agent, at 12:45pm, sold us tickets for a train scheduled to leave at 12:45pm. In desperation, we chased down another train, leaving at 12:49pm, but it pulled away as we ran down the platform. Thanks.

So, back in line again. We tried to wait for the same ticket agent, but that didn’t work out. We had to pay another 6 EUR to re-schedule our reservations for a later train. Finally, at 1:45pm, we got on board a train to Naples. I think it was about 90 minutes later that we arrived in Naples. We got off the train, exhausted, and hailed a taxi. We showed the driver the name and address of our hotel, and he explained that we got off at the wrong train station, but that he’d drive us to the hotel, no problem. Great. Could it get any better? How long would this take, and how far were we from the “right” train station? Who knows. At that point, I think we would’ve agreed to anything. After a harrowing ride through impossibly narrow winding streets, barely avoiding multiple possible collisions with other cars, people, scooters, etc., he dropped us off in a narrow, very sketchy looking alley, at our hotel. Arrived. Finally. And with TREMENDOUS relief, once inside the gates of the hotel, it was fantastic. This little gem of a place is sooooo cool. Tucked away, you’d never every think it could exist among the ruins of this dinghy street. But it does. And we are in Naples. We were in bed within 10 minutes, and slept until the following morning.