4 Dec 2014

ESCAPING CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS !


On Tuesday we left a very cold, foggy and rainy Brussels. The airport was very busy, although it was only 6.30 am. The whole airport looked like an enormous Christmas market and after the check in we had to walk through gift shops and gift shops all decorated for Christmas !



We had to walk to Gate 382. We wandered! around and around and couldn't find this gate. We asked 3 times different airport employes, they didn't know (how nice for Europe's capital airport) until finally we found one who told us that he believed the gate was B 82 ! The B had been badly printed  and looked like a 3 ! I was really furious ! Why don't printing errors happen with bank notes ? I would be rich by now !

We were not the only once, but finally arrived at the plane and could take off in time ! From 1°C we landed 4 h later in 30°C heat, and a beautiful sunshine ! It took a while until all the visas were checked and stamped and our suitcases were already laying around on the floor ! We finally found ours and the travel agency's bus drove us to the Hotel. The check in went quite quickly and then came the big surprise, we had gotten a room which looked like a utility room, very small and with a view on the beach bar, and of course could hear the loud music. That was then when I lost my temper, we were tired and wanted to unpack, but certainly not in this room !

I went to the reception and complained ! I told them that I am a faithful client and had been in this hotel already 5 times. On top of that I had gotten a personal letter from the Hotel manager who welcomed my arrival. When I showed the letter, and had told them what I thought, staying polite but still, we immediately got another room, this time with a beautiful view and on the 4th floor. It also was much bigger. By the time we finally wanted to unpack, we were so tired that we didn't know anymore where we had put our things. We were looking for the keys, passports, money, etc, and finally decided to go first for supper and then to bed. Tomorrow would be another day. We had a very nice meal, although the restaurant's decoration had changed and I almost didn't find it anymore !





After a good night rest in this very quiet room, I was sitting the next morning on the balcony with this beautiful view ! It was already warm and after a good breakfast we started our "work" on the beach, chatting, reading and swimming. There are lots of Germans and English people here, I also heard some Russian but not as much as the other years.

Unfortunately Internet  connection is not the top and it takes time, and patience is not one of my qualities !

So the first day went by and we feel already much better !


Jenny Matlock
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

16 comments:

  1. Wow! you are fast. Well good for you. Enjoy.

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  2. Hi Gattina - well you got there and that's the main thing .. I know printing can be problematic .. and am glad the room got changed - enjoy the time away .. cheers Hilary

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  3. Terrible that you given such a poor room after staying there five times, but at least you are now happy.

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  4. What a great time to get away! I'm jealous...

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  5. Looks like you ended up with some beautiful views from your balcony! Have a lovely vacation!

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  6. Lucky you are, Nicole and you! I would want to be with you on the beach! Such marvelous view you have from the balcony! When I thing it is raining cats and dogs in Ollioules!

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  7. Good on you for demanding a better room. Since I've known you, (+ five years) you've been going to that hotel. We had a similar thing happen when we left OR Tambo, SA's prime airport. Our boarding passes said to go to Gate A22. Although this was different to what we used all the previous times, we walked the LONG corridors - eight minutes - got to a strange place with only three other ladies - who also looked bewildered. Then I heard the announcement that the SAA flight to Dar Es Salaam was boarding at Gate A8! You can imagine how we huffed and puffed our way back. When the guy scanned our passes, Grant said nothing, but I asked why we had Gate A22 on them, and he said: Oh we had a sudden change. What an excuse! Have a great time in the sun; enjoy every minute. xx

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  9. 30 degrees! It sounds like heaven!

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  10. once we flew with the kids to USA from Singapore. Guess where we had a stopover? Brussels. On our way back, we stopped at Tokyo.

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  11. Glad you sorted out the room and now you can relax in that beautiful sunshine.

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  12. you sounded patient enough, when talking to the front desk. Good for you - hope you had a nice stay. But where did you go? Egypt? You sure travel a lot! Nice {:-D

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  13. Have a relaxing vacation. You've earned it!

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  14. Just had a lovely half hour reading your Egypt trip posts from top to this one -- won't bore you with a comment on each post, but do want you to know how much I enjoyed the whole tour diary (so far).... great how you stood up for yourself and got your room upgraded. And what a fun adventure it all was. The warmth sounds wonderful and I would be jealous except we are in Florida now and it too is beautiful weather. (But nobody is leaving swans on my bed at night. I will have to speak to the maid ... oh, oops, that is me!Guess I'm out of luck ;>))

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  15. I love the way you challenge authority. Well done. Slow internet sucks.

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  16. I love that you spoke up!

    I'm getting better at it!

    So neat to see you're in such a charming vacation spot!

    Enjoy!

    Thank you for linking to the letter C.

    A+

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