Hey Everyone...
You thought that final "I'm on my way to the airport" email was my last, but I couldn't help myself. This getting home business has been such an "adventure" that I couldn't help but write to tell you all about it...
I left the ship at 9:30 Friday night and was at the Seychelles International Airport just before 10. However, when I say that it was the international airport, I must add that it was the size of the airport in South Bend...NOT BIG!! Actually, the van that was supposed to drive us was running late, so three of us piled our luggage into the Admiral's car and had his driver take us. After all, otherwise we were going to miss our flight! Anyway, so by the time I was actually at the airport, I was drenched in sweat from lugging my bags off of NORMANDY, across the ship we were tied up to, and down a very steep brow...and then into the car. I was dying for the comfort of the air conditioning while I waited in line. However, the lines for the Seychellian airport were all outside, a la curbside checkin...no other option. And the people there definitely had the "island mentality" in that they took their sweet time checking each person in. Oh, and they're so primitive that to charge your credit card, they have to write the slip out by hand. ANYWAY, I stood in line for about an hour and a half before I got to the front (and there were only three people ahead of me to begin with) so I was really glad I arrived early. But once I was at the head of the line, the man ran away with my passport "to check something" which made me really nervous, and then when I showed him my extra suit case, which I am authorized since I'm transferring off the ship (and supposedly the Navy will pick up that tab...fingers crossed) he ran away with my credit card too. Finally, he told me how much to pay and took my bags and told me they were checked through Detroit. Then we had to play charades because I'm going to Norfolk via Detroit, not stopping in Detroit. Finally figured out that I'd have to re-check them after going through customs once I arrived in the States. Well, then he came back and said something about since I was on two different airlines, there were different rules for my extra bag, so I could either check my stuff through Dubai or Amsterdam (two of my three lay-overs), go through customs, recheck them, and then do the same thing again in Detroit when I got there. After scanning my itinerary really quickly, I decided to take care of it in Dubai since I had a 90 min layover vice 60 min. I paid my bill, reminded the guy that he still had my passport, credit card, and boarding pass, and made my way to the terminal, where I set off the metal detector (of course...why wouldn't I) so had to go through that drill too. Finally, just before 1:00 AM, they boarded us, and thankfully, I had an aisle seat right up front. I thought I was in great shape to get off the plane first and rush to grab my bags and get them checked before my next flight.
That was my first mistake. I jumped off the plane and took the tram to the terminal, got pretty close to the front of the line and had my passport stamped. Had to explain to the guy why I was only in Dubai for two hours before he'd let me through. Found my way to baggage claim and waited....and waited...and waited for about 45 more minutes. I grabbed my bags, threw them on a cart, and SPED (mind you, I'm wearing heels, and I don't think I have ever run that fast in my life, but I was drenched in sweat once again) to the customs line. Made it close to the front again, and sweet talked the guy into not taking a bottle of my South African wine away from me since I was just trying to make a connecting flight and wouldn't actually be staying in the country with my vino (they told us on the ship we could have five bottles, but apparently it's four) and started running again. Got to the other side of the airport with 40 min before take-off for my flight to Amsterdam. Still needed to check my bags, get a boarding pass, and get to my gate. I finally found the Royal Dutch Airways (KLM...affiliated with NWA) kiosk (not marked at all), and was happy there was no line. Reason: KLM had closed their windows and gone home, and wouldn't let me on the flight despite the fact that it was only just boarding. And the airline offices in the basement of the airport would not open back up until 8:00 PM, four hours prior to their next flight to Amsterdam!
So then I learned how to use an Arabic pay phone and phone card (not as easy as it sounds) and, at 5:30 AM Dubai time, called the military travel agent people (SATO), who told me that they were not authorized to change my ticket, but they'd call the people who were (in Bahrain...an office called PTO) and if I could call back in an hour, hopefully they'd have an answer for me. I called back in an hour, and as luck would have it, PTO was still "working the issue" and I should try again in another hour! Discouraged, because I knew with all these call backs, I was missing lots of flights going to Europe and then the States, I asked for the PTO number to call myself. The gal there told me that she wasn't authorized to change my ticket either until my ship made some formal request, so I'd have to call them, get the paperwork filed (which would be hard since NORMANDY doesn't have internet right now), then call PTO back and get the flight changed. Well, guess what, being that I left the ship so shortly after we pulled in, I didn't have the ship's phone numbers for their stay in the Seychelles. Luckily, I did remember the phone number to our radio office, and hoped that it was a good number that would work no matter where I am in the world. And luckily, I guessed right and was able to talk to someone, who got in touch with the Admin folks on the ship, who told me they'd call SATO and PTO and work it out, and to call back in 10 minutes. By this time, I was on my third phone card (and those bad boys cost about $20 each!)....but I waited 10 min, called back and found out that (as I thought in the first place) the people at SATO were authorized to make the change, which is why their emergency number was printed on the top of my orders and that I should call them back, give them all the details, and get my ticket changed. In the meantime, the folks on my ship were standing by to help if I couldn't get the right answers. So I called SATO, but I got put on hold "waiting for the next agent" for so long that my phone card ran out again and I gave up. I bought another (fourth) card, and decided this time to call PTO again. I did and they got me the last seat on the next flight out....only thing is that the flight is at midnight, and at that point in time it was only 10 in the morning. I also found out that for some reason, I was not authorized to fly on another airline and travel through London back to the States, so the next KLM flight to Amsterdam was my only option. So... Josh (another Officer who was with me and in the same boat) and I used the last few cents on our phone card (we were taking turns buying them) to call our parents, wake them up at God knows what time in the morning, and tell them not to come to the airport tonight, we'd let them know when we had something firm, and then looked for some food, because by that point we'd been up all night and were starving. The only thing opened was a Chinese place (yep, in Dubai) so we had chicken chow mein for breakfast and then settled in to wait. And wait some more. And did I mention that Josh still didn't have a new flight confirmed because I got the last seat on the midnight flight. But we've made friends with the guy who runs the duty free store, because we've bought about six phone cards from him, and a socket adapter so we can recharge our computers while we wait (there's free internet here, which is nice to pass the time).
So after settling down at a coffee shop, I took all my luggage (they won't let me check it in until three hours prior to my flight) into the bathroom and gave myself a sponge bath in front of a bunch of Arabic women on their way Mecca for Ramadan...who probably think I'm a horrible crazy person now, but at least I feel semi-clean and not so smelly, and then took a short cat nap to pass the time. After lunch, Josh and I were able to finally get answers about his flight back, so he should be flying with me tonight. Only thing is that they told us we're confirmed on the midnight flight, but we don't have itineraries yet because the KLM offices don't open again until 8:00 PM. So at 8:00 I should be able to get my confirmation and itinerary, then at 9:00 I can check my bags, and at midnight I should be on my way to Europe. I'm guessing that I'll be on the East coast by Sunday afternoon....that is what I'm hoping anyway. Either way, I'm sure the other six people who began this journey with us are wondering what happened to me and Josh...and as soon as I get cell service (i.e. when I hit US soil) I should be able to call one of them to let them know we made it ok.
Craziness! But always an adventure, right?!?! But that is the latest, and hopefully soon I'll be back where I belong!!!
Talk to you soon!
Kate
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