We are flying from Vancouver to Florence via Frankfurt.  We are flying with Luftansa, first time for both Dana and me.  We have booked seats in the last row of the aircraft where the cabin narrows and the seating configuration is 2 seats, 4 seats and 2 seats.  We opted for the 2 seat row. Even though it is the last row of the plane we can still recline the seats as there is a lot of room behind us and we don’t have to deal with the middle seat and a stranger.  We are pleased with the seats.  The flight attendants are very helpful and we are impressed with Luftansa.  As this is an international flight there is complimentary meals and wine!!  Generous pours of wine  😊  We settle in for the 9.5 hour flight to Frankfurt.  We have our blankets and feel we should be comfortable enough to sleep for a while.  Wrong!!  The AC is cranked up, we and many other passengers are freezing.  Many except for the young man in the row ahead of us.  He is in shorts and a sleeveless singlet.  We have no idea how he is comfortable.  We did ask the flight attendant to adjust the AC and she was very accommodating and warmed us up a bit.  We aren’t sure how the system works, but we noticed the temps dropping again.  We did ask again, and got some relief, but for the most part we were very chilly.

Somewhere over the northern Canada, we noticed some commotion and a flight attendant came quickly down to our row of seats and climbed quickly up into the overhead bin above me.  Stepping on my armrest and almost kneeing me in the head.  She was frantically grabbing items from the bin and tossing them to the ground before climbing down from my armrest, retrieving the retrieved items and hurry back towards the middle of the plane.  We overhead from some of the other passengers that were waiting for the toilets behind us that there was a medical emergency with a passenger.  Things seemed to calm down from the initial panic, so we thought that the situation had been stabilized.  Not long after, the captain made an announcement that we would be diverting to Iceland due to the medical emergency.  We were an hour and a half away from the airport in Iceland at that time.

When we arrived, we stopped out on the tarmac.  They had paramedics board the plane with an elevating type of ambulance.  Just raised it to the center doors where the person was laying on the floor.  Did some treatment and transported them to a treatment facility, and also removed their travelling companions and their luggage from the aircraft.  We then began refuelling.  The whole process on the ground in Iceland was about 2 hours.  Probably time taken for the diversion as well.  We had an hour and a half layover in Frankfurt.  We are sure that we are looking at substantial delays.

Frankfurt is a huge airport.  Luftansa is the major airline there.  Dana and I did not have any information on how we were to get to Florence.  The local Luftansa staff didn’t seem to have much information either.  Our plane was huge.  A 747-400 with the upper deck.  Lots of people to accommodate as this is a huge hub in Europe and most people would be travelling onto other destinations.  We were told to go to what we (and others) understood as gate C11.  It turns out that C11 took us out of the secure area.  We were only 1 step out the secure area, they would not let us take 1 step back into it.  We had to then go out and around and go through security.  Sigh…

Luckily that was a quick process.  We found out that it was not C11 but Z11.  (not ZED11) so we misinterpreted what we were told.  We finally reach Z11 and stood in a long queue.  When we finally arrived to the Luftansa person, he took us to a Kiosk, scanned our boarding pass.  The computer said we were “Wait Listed” for a flight at 9:15.  He said he could not help us so we need to go to gate A14 to rebook our flight.  This lineup was huge.  It seems that our flight was not the only Luftansa flight with issues that day.  We were in that line for at least an hour.  Talking to other passengers with similar issues.  We were getting conflicting information from the other passengers and airline staff.  When we finally reached the front of this line the fellow took us to another Kiosk, scanned the boarding pass.  The same result “Wait Listed”.  He just tapped the Wait List button and badabam, we are rebooked!!!  The first guy could have done that!! 

OK, we head up to the gate for the 9:15 flight to Florence after we spend our meal voucher provided the airline.  We are close to boarding time, so we take turns going to the bathroom before we board.  Dana gets back and I start to leave, when I hear her say “OH NO”.  I say “What???”  She has received an email telling us that the flight has been now CANCELLED!!  We talk to the gate agent.  She sends us to yet another gate to get hotel vouchers.  So Dana and I along with a whole lot of new “Cancelled Friends” head to the next gate to get this information.  While standing in that queue an other Luftansa employee comes to tell us that this gate is now closing and we need to go to the “Main” area for rebooking flights for tomorrow.  We have received emails to book nearby hotels.  Our agent initially says he can get us to Florence via Vienna.  This flight lands after our booked train tickets to Riomaggoire.  We ask for a better option.  Right next to us a young woman who we have been talking to asks why we can’t get on the flights she has been given that gets her into Florence at 9:15am??  Our guy looks again and says “Oh, I missed that one”.  ARGH!!  So he books us on those flights.  Frankfurt, Zurich Florence.  We need to be back at the airport for 5am.  We head out to get the complimentary shuttle to the hotel, the Ibis Airport.  The shuttle bus does not arrive.  Dana is speaking with a man, who it turns out lives in Coquitlam!  He is also going the Ibis.  He has spoken with a taxi driver who quotes him 30 Euro to take him there.  He askes if we would like to share the cab.  Saves him some money and we can claim it back from Luftansa (apparently, we will see how this will all work).  As we need sleep, we agree.  We are off in a cab, with a driver who thinks he is a Grand Prix driver.  He is whipping his cab down small narrow roads, around several round abouts before arriving at the Ibis.  Crazy ride!!  We check in, there is a long list of voucher recipients at the front desk. We order a cab for 4:45am.  We are also able to have a complimentary meal, so we order some food before we head up to our rooms, we each have our own,  We set alarms so we do not sleep past our cab and experience further delays.  Not to worry, I am wide awake at 3am, which is 6pm according to my body.  Tried to go back to sleep to no avail. 

We have a much calmer taxi driver this morning.  The trip back to the airport much more pleasant.  We get through security quickly, get to our gate, meet our new friends from yesterday.  I did check a bag in Vancouver and am quite concerned about where it might be.  I am told it will arrive automatically!  After the experience so far I am sceptical!.  So today everything goes very smoothly.  We fly to Zurich, get to the gate to Florence, board that plane and arrive in Florence.  A miracle, my bag has also arrived!!  Woo hoo!!

We take the tram into Florence train station and make our way to the platform to La Spezia, the first of our train legs.  We have 5 minutes from arriving to get the next train to Riomaggoire.  We get to the correct platform and discover that there has been an issue with the tracks and our next train did not arrive.  There is another one at 3:15.  We are very very tired and really want to check into our accommodation and have nap.  The communication is very poor at the train station.  A train arrives, but it is not clear if this is the one we should be taking.  The doors open and no one gets on.  Eventually a security guard yells “Cinque Terre” and points to the train.  Dana and I hop on, but no one else does.  Many people are confused.  Many languages trying to ask if this is the correct train to where they need to go.  Finally the security guard yells again and there is an influx of people onto the train.  As our next stop is only 7 or 8 minutes away, we stay close to the doors.  People are packed like sardines.  The train departs as promised at 3:15.  We are on the last leg. 

We arrive in Riomaggoire.  My bag is big and heavy and there are many many steps to navigate.  It is hard.   But Dana wrangles my bag, while I take her much lighter one.  I have instructions from the woman who runs our accommodation for tonight.  She says there is a tunnel from the train station into the harbour area.  BUT just before that tunnel there is an elevator up to the street (walking path) where her place is.  We find the elevator.  We are the only ones at first,  Many people are walking through the tunnel.  The elevator arrives and another couple also get on.  It feels like a secret elevator!!  Works for us.  We follow the directions by our host and we are very shortly at our accommodation.  A bed is sooo close.  After a few welcomes and housekeeping details we hit the bed at about 4pm, for some much needed sleep.  We groggily wake up about 6:30, fight off the sleep and venture out into this beautiful little village. 

We made it!!  The medical emergency was obviously not Luftansa’s fault, however, everything after that could and should have been handled so much better.  We had so many stories, so many queues.  We eventually got to our destination and are able to begin this amazing trip with Stu along side of us.  We will be discretely leaving some of him in many beautiful places so that he can see those view for eternity.

This is what we have waited to see. We wander around after our sleep and take in the beauty around us. We enjoy a walk around town, find a place for some wine and pasta. The day is almost done, and it was good!!