My family and I got caught up in the recent air travel chaos in Europe. Our flight home was supposed to be on Thurs 15th April but the skies closed about 3 hours before our flight time.
It was orderly chaos at the airport at that stage. Probably because most people thought the flight ban wouldn't last long and so were resigned to queueing for a rebook and roughing it overnight before flying out the next day. I think I queued for about 4 hours only to find the earliest flight on offer was Sat evening.
The queue for local hotel info was not quite as long as the rebooking queue but people there were being told, sorry, everything is full. Nor could I get through to the hotel we'd left earlier in the day, so what to do next? The prospect of 48hrs at an airport was not appealing.
A Tannoy announcement that the airport was giving free Internet access gave me a glimmer of hope. After more queuing to get onto a terminal I was able to contact a fellow Lounger who I knew lived in the country I was in. Perhaps, I thought, they could find a hotel a bit further away from the airport that had rooms. I waited while they phoned round in their native language. Sadly, all the hotels they knew of were also full but then something amazing happened...
They apologised
for not being able to find a hotel but, they continued, they did have some friends who could offer us a bed for the night, would that help?I was stunned.
Are your sure? Of course, get on a train and I'll meet you at the station
I was stunned again
Thus, myself, wife and two teenage boys found ourselves at about 11:30pm meeting this Lounger face to face for the first time and soon after being introduced to their friends and warmly welcomed into their home before finally getting to bed a little later.
The generosity and kindness didn't end there.
We were looked after completely. Each morning our hosts were happy for me to call the airline and be on hold for at least an hour before getting through to someone and rebooking (again). We were able to use their washing machine (we only had about 3 days worth of clothes with us). We were given guided tours of their city. We cooked and shared meals together. We made and enjoyed music together, with my youngest son playing piano accompaniment while one of our hosts played their cello and everyone else sat round and listened.
We were eventually able to leave on Wed 21st via a 'Plan B' ferry crossing that we had booked on the Sat thinking we'd be cancelling it as we'd have flown home long before then. It wasn't the quickest way home but having left our new friends at 10:30am we finally got into our own beds about 14 hours later.
I know I've written quite a bit in this post but I actually lost for words to describe what I feel. All I can say is:
to the Lounger who rescued me & my family to their friends for being so willing to accept complete strangers into their home to all of you for making The Lounge a place where this was possible
Ken
