On the morning of December 24th, a trip for skiing in Ortisei has began as a frantic experience. Just four hours before my flight, I dashed into a store and grabbed the first backpack I saw—a bright red Nike that practically screamed, “Pick me, pick me!”. So I did pick it! I quickly got back home and after a whirlwind packing session, I was off to the airport. Just to clarify, this skiing trip was booked quite a last minute only a few days before Christmas with my colleague as we came up with a crazy idea of going skiing to Italy while having a coffee break at work!
However, the universe had other plans for us. The taxi ride to the airport was the first sign of trouble. The driver, seeing me with my big luggage (which I needed for all my skiing clothes and mask), raised the usual fare from 1.10 LTL to 2 LTL per kilometer. The flight itself, originally scheduled for 2:40 pm., was delayed to 4:10 pm., then to 4:45 pm., after that to 4:50 pm., and finally to 5:00 p.m. What was the reason you ask? The plane haven’t even landed in Frankfurt yet, so it was a major dealy as it still had to fly back to Vilnius. So we sat there in the airport, quite helpless, as the departure time kept being pushed forward each half an hour.
Our travel troubles were piling up. The moment we tried to check in our luggage, we weren’t allowed due to the delay. We were clearly going to miss our connecting flight in Frankfurt to Milan, so the airline had to rebook our flight. They told us to get our new tickets from the office on the first floor. Both of us rushed over to that office, and the agent seemed to sort everything out. So it seemed… But when she printed the tickets, she noticed a major problem: the new flight went to Milan Linate, not Milan Malpensa, where our rental car was waiting. It was a 64-kilometer distance between the two airports, a simple transfer was out of the question as we were hoping to pikcup our car once we arrive. The agent tried to fix it, but the system kept printing tickets to the wrong airport. Eventually, the woman gave up and told us to get the new tickets in Frankfurt. Which complicated things, since the luggage had to be checked in to the end destination for the connectinig flight!
After a successful flight to Frankfurt, we headed to the Lufthansa desk to get our tickets to Milan. The employee refused to discuss compensation, stating they were only responsible for the flight to Milan and not for our unplanned overnight stay. I was starving, even though I did devoured a hot Fijian cake on the plane. So I bought a chicken sandwich, sat down, and very quickly ate it. It tasted so good that I thought to myself, “How little a human needs to feel complete happiness!”
I found a bench in the airport and stretched out for a half an hour nap. I woke up to more bad news: the flight to Milan was delayed again, this time from 9:55 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. We called the car rental agency in Milan, but they replied that they have already closed for the day due to festive season (as it was Boxing day) and will re-open only tomorrow morning. We were stranded! “What amazing service!” an airport employee made a remark as I complained to them, and I made a mental note to myself, “Never, ever rent a car on Christmas or Boxing day!”
Unfortunately, we landed in Milan at midnight. The airport was like a ghost town. With no cozy chairs or corners where we could crash to sleep. In the end, we found a closed cafe with wooden benches on the first floor. That’s where we made our layer for the night. Nobody chased us away surprisingly. We ate some Lithuanian sausage and brie cheese we have brought from Lithuania and washed down with German Jägermeister. I quickly dozed off and felt into a deep slumber, clutching my belongings.
We woke up at six in the morning. It wasn’t very comfortable to sleep, but at least we had some rest and much better than uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area.
After a morning espresso, we waited for the car rental office to open at 9 am. That hour waiting felt longer than the entire night at the airport. So we’ve got the keys, but our car’s windows were completely frozen over, so we couldn’t move! After running the car for awhile, warming it up finally they defrosted and we were on our way to the mountains.
The views on the road were incredible. In some places the frost was completely covering the ground. After some driving, we saw hills in the distance and then mountains. We were almost there! Only 300 kilometers stood between us and the Dolomites and Ortisei.
After around 2 more hours of driving we finally started seeing the mountains. It wasn’t my first time here, so I kind of knew of what to expect, but I’ve never driven from that side, so I never seen Dolomites so beautiful.
It took another 2 hours through wavy and narrow mountain serpentines to get to Ortisei town. The cars often were overtaking in those narrow passages, which seemed quite dangerous. If I had to drive there, probably. I would have driven at 10km/h or left the car altogether and walked.
Finally, we reached our accommodation in Ortisei and we still had time to rent our gear for the skiing next day.
