It Did Not Exactly Go As Planned...

We have been waiting for snow in Wiesbaden, so that we would get into the Christmas spirit. And on Tuesday morning we finally got what we wished for: snow!

Just my luck: long, dark December until the morning we are about to hurry to the airport.

I'm the kind of person that likes to be everywhere early, because I hate the feeling when you hurry somewhere or if you go in slightly late (well, I must admit that after my daughter was born, I'm rarely on time anywhere). Herr Welle, on the other hand, is the type of person, who does not like to wait. Thus, he usually has a very tight schedule and then he ends up running a bit late. After 11 years and 8 months I am finally starting to accept this difference between us...

Needless to say, it was Herr Welle who had booked the taxi to the airport. It was supposed to come and pick us up one hour and 40 minutes before our flight was departing. It takes about 30 minutes to drive from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt airport, if the weather is fine and there is no traffic. So the schedule was a bit tight.

But I checked from the Frankfurt airport webpage that the Finnair flight from Helsinki to Frankfurt was one hour late, so our flight would probably be late, as well. So no reason to panic.

Well, no reason to panic until the taxi didn't show up.

Waiting for the taxi

There was a lot of snow and traffic seems to go crazy in Germany when the first flakes of snow come down. Thus, we were not surprised that the taxi was a bit late.

About 20 minutes after the taxi was supposed to be there, Herr Welle called the taxi company. They promised to send another taxi in ten minutes.

Eventually 40 minutes later than our originally tight schedule, we were on our way to the airport. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't as bad as we though.

We arrived at the airport 45 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart, but we were sure that it would be delayed because of the snow. At the check-in counter, the clerk gave us a rebuke for arriving so late. But then she delayed us even more, when she fussed over the amount of our luggage, although they where according to Finnair's regulations.

After the security control, we found the right boarding gate and to our surprise, they were already finishing the boarding. But phew!, we had made it to the plane!

The flight was ready to leave, but we had to wait for the deicing cart to come and clean the wings before we got to take off. That took two hours! Fortunately, my daughter was happy to walk back and forth the corridor of the plane and to meet new people (I'm not so sure, if they all where as happy to meet her...). After all that excercise, she fell asleep just after the plane took off and slept all the way to Finland.

Well, this would have been enough of excitement, but there was more: our luggage did not arrive to Helsinki with us! Travelling lightly, as they say...

Our current luggage and some of the 'necessities' we have with us

There was nothing else for us to do but leave Finnair with our contact information and continue our journey. The rest of the evening went as follows:

• taxi drive to the railway station,
• almost two hours playing in the play wagon of the train,

• dinner and evening porridge at Herr Welles parents,
• at 10 pm. call to Finnair's service number (24h open) to find out if the luggages came with the evening flight, just to learn that the service number was closed at 9pm., and
• two hour ride with car to my mother's house

Finally there!

And luckily we were staying at my mother's home and not in a hotel, so there were clean clothes and other necessities available.

This morning we made a call again to the not-always-open-even-though-it-should-be service number and heard that the luggage was STILL in Frankfurt. But at least they had located them! Now we are keeping our fingers crossed that they will arrive to Helsinki with the day flight and we'll get them tonight.

I'll keep you posted!