I got minimal sleep last night (what’s new?) but managed to handle that with aplomb this morning and was at Arlanda airport bright and early, ready to begin the long journey home.
Aside: This pedicure / spa thingy really amused me. I don’t know what it is like to have tiny fish clean your feet, but I wish I had time to find out :-)
Well, the best laid plans and all …
The plane was fully boarded …
The luggage was loaded ….
And then the captain announced that there was a problem … and we waited and waited while he periodically gave up updates, which amounted to “nothing new to report” … it was obvious that they were working on the plane from the noises, and the presence of large vehicles doing inexplicable things …
And much later the bad news came … the plane could not be fixed (it was a fire suppression system that was malfunctioning, so I was happy to leave this plane behind) … but with typical Scandinavian efficiency, there was another plane rolling up at the gate next door … wow …
Anyway … the passengers all had to deplane …
The luggage had to be (re)moved …
And then we waited again ….
I checked out our plane from the terminal … the blinds were down between window panes, so I was forced to shoot through as best I could … note the absence of winglets on the plane … an older and less efficient model …
And I walk over to look at the new plane … an obviously newer model …
Boarding once more …
And finally take-off …
I’m writing this in the air over Denmark or Germany and we have some flying time left for sure … boarding of the flight is 45 minutes away …
I think I am pretty screwed :-)
Note that I am trying something new now … the GF3 with small power zoom is in my coat pocket at all times. So I am shooting whatever I see … little did I know that this morning’s little snap shot would amount to a (admittedly minor) story …
I must say that my rather crushed looking little GF3 has become a very trusted friend. It may have a 12Mp sensor, but I cannot give that sensor enough praise for shooting above its weight class … I would still like to add a used GX1 or G3 to the stable of bodies (for video coverage for example) … but I am happy to live with this one for a long time (and after smashing it to the ground, I am pretty sure I have no choice lol) …
And yes, I can confirm the screwedness of me :-)
It took asking three people and eventually finding the Lufthansa help desk to get this solved. There was a flight that could get me home at about 1:30am (7:30am by the time I was on) which means flying all day and all night and changing planes twice. That’s a bit of a joke.
So they offered me a free night in a hotel with free dinner and breakfast the next morning with free shuttle to and from hotel plus a direct flight to Ottawa the next day. Same flight in fact.
Hmmm … let me think …
DUH! Of course I’ll fricken take it :-)
The Ramada Inn West is actually a nice little hotel with all the amenities and a surprisingly good buffet. Good enough that I allowed myself to cheat in several areas (like two superb crusty buns covered in slivered nuts etc.) And of course I got a lovely huge bottle of diet coke (paid at the bar) and a free banana for the evening top off … :-)
One last point … HUGE KUDOS TO LUFTHANSA!!! They took it upon themselves to fix everyone’s problem and they coordinated with the hotel and SAS (the airline that actually messed up our trips) … so I cannot say enough about Lufthansa as an airline. And in fact I have always preferred their cabins and service. I believe that I will try to fly them as often as possible form now on …
