6.16.17
What a series of ups and downs with airline travel today - and I'm still not at my final destination!
DOWN..I found out before leaving home that my cushy aisle seat in row 27 was no longer mine. Instead I'd been relocated to the worst seat on any airline - thee aisle seat in the last row - right next to the bathroom - where I would be captive to lines of passengers clogging the aisle, waiting to use the facilities, and hostage to the horrific odors emerging from within said facility - be they the smells of toxic human waste OR the chemicals overriding them.
UP...Quick - the window seat was still available in that last row -changed it online.
UP...arrived early, had a wonderful United attendant help me obtain all 3 boarding passes and direct my checked luggage all the way though to Dubrovnik. ALL passes labeled TSA PreCheck!!!
DOWN...enjoyed a leisurely walk to Gate A8 to discover that UA 3:20 PM flight delayed to 5 PM. Major panic - no way to make connection to Munich from Newark now...
UP...found a staffed UA gate with no customers waiting and was able to change from UA to AA flight to Philadelphia, connecting to Munich - which arrived in Munich 2 hours early.
UP AGAIN,,, All new boarding passes labeled TSA PreCheck!
UP AGAIN... This attendant also promised to update my luggage info so it would also be changed to match my changes. Haven't determined yet if that was successful.
ONE MORE TIME...Now in a middle seat to Philly - but called to gate counter and given new boarding pass for middle seat in an exit row!
DOWN...boarded our flight for Munich with thoughts of arriving there 2 hours ahead of original routing. But alas, we were missing at least 40-50 passengers due to missed connections. And for some reason we were holding the flight departure for them. Because we had to wait so long for them and their luggage, we lost our place in the take-off queue and ended up losing to 2 hour advantage we should have had for our arrival in Munich.
6.17.17
Last leg of our arduous journey...a 90 minute flight into Dubrovnik.
SAVING THE BEST UP FOR THE END! After breezing through customs, we entered the baggage claim area just as the belt started up. And I'll be damned if that first piece of luggage to emerge was my suitcase! Somehow, through the wonders of modern technology, it made it!
Vlatka greeted 5 of us at the airport and whisked us to our first hotel, Hotel Kompas. This amazing hotel, located on the the Lapad Bay beach, is 10 stories high. Because it is built into the cliff, the entrance - which appears to be street level, is actually the 10th floor! Every time that we go back and forth to our rooms, located on the 7th floor, we have to rethink which elevator button to push every time we get on. The ground floor is 0 and leads to the Sphere Restaurant and the beach promenade.
The rooms are beautiful and very clean, but best of all was a complimentary bottle of red wine + a 10% discount for any spa wellness treatments (these offers, as explained in a personal letter to each traveler, were the hotel management's way of apologizing for the ongoing noise of the nearby construction). Talk about customer service!
I did a quick walk along the promenade to pick up some water & a bottle of wine (not realizing that the complimentary bottle had been left in my room while I was out and about). Interesting cafes, restaurants and day tour kiosks along the way. But the most interesting scenes showcased the architecture and the flowers, shrubs and landscaping.
We finished up the evening with our Welcome meeting and dinner before crashing for the night.
Forgot to add that our trip leader, Vlatka, believes I am Joan Baez's doppelganger - LOL!
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