Denver, USA to Amsterdam, July 2020

Denver, USA to Europe, July 2020

My one-way ticket Denver – Dallas- Amsterdam – Belgrade on American Airlines was $600. It was for Wednesday, 22^nd of July, which was only 4 days away. I intentionally bought it for the next cheap flight to have more chances to leave as planned. The tickets to and from Europe that I purchased in spring in advance were all cancelled and refunded. As for myself, I could pack within hours and go.

My friends asked me how I meant to get into Europe. American citizens were not allowed to enter because of the high COVID-19 infection rate in the country. My answer was – with my Australian passport. It helps to have a second citizenship and three citizenships are even better than two.

An interesting story was on the news in early July about a group of people who hired a private jet to fly from America to Sardinia, Italy. The five US citizens on that jet were denied entry. The nationals of other countries like New Zealanders could disembark which they did not do out of solidarity with the group. The jet flew in from Colorado just like I was doing. Apparently, I was not breaking any rules by flying from America to Europe as an Australian.

My final destination was Bulgaria. So I bought a separate ticket from Belgrade, Serbia to Sofia, Bulgaria for $115 on Air Serbia. All flights had excellent connection times of 2 hours at each airport. The first flight departed at 11 a.m. – no need to get up too early to go to the airport – and I was supposed to be in Sofia at 3.30 p.m. from where a transfer for only $25 would take me to my apartment on the Black Sea coast.

I cautiously congratulated myself on the perfectly arranged trip thinking if something looks perfect then it probably goes wrong.

On Wednesday, I and my trusty backpack took the bus to Denver International airport. The flight to Dallas was on time; I checked that before boarding the bus! A half an hour later, while I still was riding the bus, my flight got delayed until 2.30 p.m. The trip collapsed like a house of cards.

The departure board showed a 10 a.m. United flight to Dallas. If I could get on that flight I would be there in time for the connecting flight to Amsterdam. A United agent told me that they did not sell tickets at the airport. I had to call the airline from the red phone. The agent waved her hand in no specific direction to point where the red phone was and turned away from me. I ran to the opposite wall and eventually located the phone.

It took me a while to convince the operator that I wanted to be on the flight that was leaving in 40 minutes. The seats were available, a ticket was $134. I patiently spelled out my name and address and answered all other required questions. By the time we were done, it was 30 minutes until the departure; the system refused to sell the ticket to me.

I walked to the desk called Additional Services. Perhaps, they could have sold me a ticket but it was too late to catch that flight. I resigned to my fate, went to the American Air counter and joined the line of other passengers who were missing their connections.

Two hours later, I had boarding passes for the following day, Thursday. The 2 flights Denver-Dallas and Dallas-Amsterdam were the same. However, there was no morning flight to Belgrade on Friday. My layover time in Amsterdam would be 12 hours.

“Are you satisfied with the rebooked flights?” the agent asked me.

“No, but what can I do about them?”

At home, I canceled the transfer from Sofia to Byala and tried to cancel the ticket Belgrade – Sofia. This could not be done online. I waited 40 minutes on the phone for Air Serbia to answer my call and gave up. Let them have my $115!

Now, I needed to think of a new way of getting to Bulgaria from Serbia. My rebooked flight arrived in Belgrade at 11 p.m., too late to fly out of it. Forum postings told me that buses no longer ran between these two countries. I did not feel like spending a night in Belgrade.

A Facebook group “Good Samaritan in Bulgaria” was a big help. It was this group where I found a cheap transfer from Sofia to Byala. Someone posted that he was looking to share a ride from Byala to Belgrade. I replied that I needed a transfer between these two places but in the opposite direction. We quickly agreed to split the cost of the ride between us.

There was nothing else for me to do that evening at home. I watched the Russian TV series ”Poor Nastya” one episode after another until I was sick of the problems that kept falling on the beautiful heads of the elegant characters who were immaculately dressed and well-groomed even in the worst circumstances. (Actually, I enjoyed the series, just not that night.)

Next morning, it was like a Groundhog Day. I got up at the same time, did the same things and took the same bus. Even the bus driver was the same guy. However, the flight Denver-Dallas left as scheduled.

The plane was full as it was when I went to Houston. I wore a face mask and disinfected the surfaces around me.

In Dallas, a Boeing-787 was waiting for its passengers, about 15 in total for this big plane. We were told to disregard our seat assignments and to sit anywhere we liked. Due to COVID-19, the airlines did not serve drinks. We got hot meals with bottled water.

I comfortably stretched across my chosen row, watched movies, drifted to sleep, then woke up to watch more movies and to play games. It was one of the best flights that I ever took despite the mask that I kept on at all times except when eating.

At 8 a.m. on Friday, we landed at Schiphol. I did not need to go through passport control for my next flight to Belgrade, so I wandered around the airport that was practically empty.

No one was having breakfast at this pretty cafe

It is not the first time when I compare American and European airports and it is always not in the favor of the former. Who invented those hard metal benches that populate American airports? They are torture devices with armrests that make it impossible to occupy more than one seat. Was it done on purpose? Did the designer think that passengers love to spend hours at the airport and they need to be reminded to leave it or was the goal of this minimalistic approach to save money? After all, passengers do not stay at airports forever. Tired and aching, they eventually go home and forget about the hardships of their trip.

I have seen in the airports around the world nice reclining beds and soft coaches where weary passengers can nap during a layover. If we stay at the airport it is not by choice. The Schiphol at Amsterdam has plenty of rest areas, a small library, assorted tables with power outlets for laptops and phones and even a beauty zone for the ladies where they can make themselves presentable after the flight.

I found for myself an empty wing at the terminal that I had all for myself and made it my base for the next 12 hours. I worked on the computer taking breaks for meals and rest and somehow the 12 hours passed without much pain and boredom. The time came for my last leg, the flight to Belgrade.