Visit Mishaps (Ugh)

[Pony]

I had a wonderful (as usual) visit with my s.o. but on the way home, about two hours from my destination, my car died. Now I have to buy a new car because the engine is toast!

I thought I'd share that and ask the rest of you about any mishaps you've had in trying to cover the distance. Hopefully you can laugh about it now (groan).

[Hollandia]

I decided to try Dusseldorf airport last time to avoid the Border control drilling questions I get in Netherlands all the time. To put in bluntly, it did not work. They were pretty harsh and luckily for the first time ever, I had my SO with me and so they let me in when he agreed that I was staying with him. In order to land in Dusseldorf, we had to take a few train transfers to get back to our "home" in the Netherlands. We got to the first train and that one got cancelled for no reason at all, so we had to wait another few hours for next train, we boarded this train and thought we were home free, but it seemed it got stopped midway due to "people on the track" (mostly likely jumpers. eww.) We now knew we were going to miss our final transfer and so had to call his Dad. His dad came to pick us up(Thank God) at our last stop but it was now quite cold and he needed us to go wait outside near a bustop. Needless to say after the initial 7 hour flight to Heathrow, the 6 hour layover at Heathrow that turned into 7, the Border control at Dusseldorf and the mess with the trains...........Ugh..............30 plus hours of hell to get back. We both ended up sick for the first few days back and spent them in bed under covers. I won't be flying into Dusseldorf ever again.

On a high note, we spent those hours under covers together. No Hanky Panky, but lots of coughy sneezy, I love you , cuddles and crashes.

[Moon]

I decided to try Dusseldorf airport last time to avoid the Border control drilling questions I get in Netherlands all the time. To put in bluntly, it did not work. They were pretty harsh and luckily for the first time ever, I had my SO with me and so they let me in when he agreed that I was staying with him. In order to land in Dusseldorf, we had to take a few train transfers to get back to our "home" in the Netherlands. We got to the first train and that one got cancelled for no reason at all, so we had to wait another few hours for next train, we boarded this train and thought we were home free, but it seemed it got stopped midway due to "people on the track" (mostly likely jumpers. eww.) We now knew we were going to miss our final transfer and so had to call his Dad. His dad came to pick us up(Thank God) at our last stop but it was now quite cold and he needed us to go wait outside near a bustop. Needless to say after the initial 7 hour flight to Heathrow, the 6 hour layover at Heathrow that turned into 7, the Border control at Dusseldorf and the mess with the trains...........Ugh..............30 plus hours of hell to get back. We both ended up sick for the first few days back and spent them in bed under covers. I won't be flying into Dusseldorf ever again.

On a high note, we spent those hours under covers together. No Hanky Panky, but lots of coughy sneezy, I love you , cuddles and crashes.

WHAT?? I'm so sorry, Hollandia! I can't believe it, they barely looked at me, when I went through, and didn't ask anything Maybe because I was only connecting to Helsinki. That sucks.

[Tooki]

WHAT?? I'm so sorry, Hollandia! I can't believe it, they barely looked at me, when I went through, and didn't ask anything Maybe because I was only connecting to Helsinki. That sucks.

Hollandia visits every 6 months for 90 days so it's self-explanatory that she gets grilled. It doesn't look the best to be honest.

(I got more questions when I visited Europe for the third time compared to the second time, for example. Nonetheless, sorry to hear indeed. I can definitely understand why it's so stressful for you.)

[Moon]

Hollandia visits every 6 months for 90 days so it's self-explanatory that she gets grilled. It doesn't look the best to be honest.

(I got more questions when I visited Europe for the third time compared to the second time, for example. Nonetheless, sorry to hear indeed. I can definitely understand why it's so stressful for you.)

I am aware of that, I am the one that suggested Dusseldorf to her, based on my experience there, which is why I was apologizing.

[Hollandia]

It sucks, because I go out of my way to follow the letter of the law. I also leave bumbers of a few days each way to make sure not to over stay. I have been doing so for a long time and proven myself able to support myself and willing to leave each time. It is beyond frustrating the stress it causes anymore. To add to this I have plenty of proof of ties to USA being a part owner in my company and yet the Border control don't want to hear it.

Why make the damn law as it is, if you are not going to be okay with people following it? My SO is planning a trip to his local IND to see if we can get some sort of letter from them between him and his father both being willing to vouch for me and my proven ties to USA and obvious reasons that I would never risk being banned from EU by overstaying on my Schengen Passport.

I don't blame you Moon, It was worth a shot. We have agreed that we are going to try Brussels next time. If not, I will fly into London and go in via the train through Paris. It just makes for some extremely long and stress filled travel days. At one point, in one train transfer in Dasberg(?sp) I was accosted for money and when my big strapping SO walked up the dude came back with two more guys eyeballing us, we ended up ditching them up in the freezing platform, but made a bad day worse.

[TexastoFinland]

When I was in Helsnki this time they asked me ALL kinds of questions. I have a Finnish SSN too and 3 expired visas. I explained I am seeing my SO and the questions kept coming.."are you planning on staying this time?" Sheesh!

[TexastoFinland]

It sucks, because I go out of my way to follow the letter of the law. I also leave bumbers of a few days each way to make sure not to over stay. I have been doing so for a long time and proven myself able to support myself and willing to leave each time. It is beyond frustrating the stress it causes anymore. To add to this I have plenty of proof of ties to USA being a part owner in my company and yet the Border control don't want to hear it.

Why make the damn law as it is, if you are not going to be okay with people following it? My SO is planning a trip to his local IND to see if we can get some sort of letter from them between him and his father both being willing to vouch for me and my proven ties to USA and obvious reasons that I would never risk being banned from EU by overstaying on my Schengen Passport.

I don't blame you Moon, It was worth a shot. We have agreed that we are going to try Brussels next time. If not, I will fly into London and go in via the train through Paris. It just makes for some extremely long and stress filled travel days. At one point, in one train transfer in Dasberg(?sp) I was accosted for money and when my big strapping SO walked up the dude came back with two more guys eyeballing us, we ended up ditching them up in the freezing platform, but made a bad day worse.

There are straight flights from Houston to Amsterdam, I take them all the time! It's KLM ROyal Dutch. Try that route next time!!

[TexastoFinland]

Boy have I got a mishap.

Check this link out..
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...s_weather.html

Yep there I was in the midst of all of those cancelled flight stuck in NY Kennedy and LaGuardia for three days trying to get back home after spending a wonderful holiday with my SO. I spent 200 dollars for a hotel the first night and I though F.. this!!

I begged for days and took 5 change overs to get me the heck outta NY after three days. I couldn't get a Greyhound bus home. There were no seats on the 15 standby flights I waited on during the three days. Jet Blur and United and American all cancelled on me.

On top of it all.. I was pushed down by an over zealous traveler trying to get to his destination and he kept going. Here it is three weeks later and I am STILL wearing a brace and walking with crutches. YEP! I would say this a mishap trying to cover the distance!!

[differentcountries]

I tend to have a general problem with airport staff / security control that don't speak English very well. To get their point across they try hand gestures, supply with phrases in languages I don't understand etc. This happened again when I was leaving Antalya airport. I am used to (when flying in Norway) to be told exactly what to do or not to do, or at least get a nod when they want me to go on or a hand up when they want me to stop. I was almost hysterical to begin with because it dawned upon me that I would not see my bf live in a long time, and when the security guy started yelling at me and I still did not understand if he wanted to hold me back or were urging me to go on, things got pretty tense. When I was through, I so wanted to cry. The people around me seemed to agree that I was holding up the line, so no sympathy for me. I felt so utterly alone with my so in the airport cafe and my husband still in Amsterdam. Time was ok, I thought about taking it easy. My instict told me to drop the local taxfree and just find the gate. I ran to my plane, which for some reason had started boarding way early. On the plane I got in contact with this sweet woman who talked to me so gently, and we talked a bit about travelling. I felt so soothed by this stranger.

When I got to Oslo airport it turned out I had been misinformed at Antalya, some customs rule does so you have to check in even if the flights are connecting and I had been told the opposite. That in itself is not a problem, just I did not know and got the wrong message when asking. That is pretty shitty when she works in a Norwegian-only flight company. She even labeled my luggage wrong. I took my time at taxfree because I thought I had time to spend... I was then puzzled when I was given tag for my suitcase. Then having to find my suitcase via airport staff and check in my luggage again, all the while feeling really, really stupid.

When I tried to find the gate I was exhausted and confused by the fact that there were several flights to my city at the same time. I managed to find it at last and had got some food and lots of water and just used my airplugs to shut the world out. From then on, my journey had no problems but I did not want to rush back to an empty house. More food at the airport cafe... Apperently my husband and boyfriend had been texting a lot while I was flying. So my hub was conforting my bf all day, from Amsterdam... And finally taking it easy, I did too. I love that cafe. I think I spent a couple of hours there just to wind down.

[Benni]

I felt so utterly alone with my so in the airport cafe and my husband still in Amsterdam.

Huh? I'm confused! ????

[differentcountries]

Huh? I'm confused! ????

I live with my husband close distance in Norway and am long distance with my bf of four months who live in Turkey. We have a polyamorous relationship. I often refers to my boyfriend as my so in this site, since he is the one I am long distance with.

It so happened that I and my husband were travelling at the same time, he was on a school trip to Amsterdam and I visited my boyfriend in Turkey. We started our trips the same day, but my trip lasted four days and my husband was away for a week, so I came home alone. It was strange and a bit heartbreaking to be apart from both at the same time.

[TaraMarie]

I was throwing my SO a surprise 40th bday party. I left Atlanta at 5:30pm on Thursday evening and was supposed to arrive in NY at 8 pm. We boarded late, then sat on the runway waiting to take off for 40 minutes. We finally got up in the air. The weather we terrible and they shut down the northeast. We circled and circled, then they sent us BACK. We landed BACK IN ATLANTA at 9 pm. I called my SO and told him I landed....in Atlanta. The pilot was trying to get us back out out by 10 pm, so I told my SO to head to his moms, as she was only 40 minutes from the airport (he is and hour and a half away). Finally we had clearance to SOON as they reopened the northern airports, but we ran out of fuel circling and we had to wait for the fuel truck. We were filed up and ready to go by 11:15 pm. At midnight we were still sitting on the runway. Finally in the air a few minutes later. Landed in NY at 2 am. But there was NO GATE. We sat on the runway for another hour and a half. I got off the plane at 3:30 am. My SO was up for 22 straight hours at that point. We got back to his house at 5 am, slept 3 hours and then I threw a surprise party for him. I didn't get him home until 3 am the next day. I was running on 3 hours sleep in 48'hours. I don't even know how I was still standing. But it was worth it!!

[Hollandia]

There are straight flights from Houston to Amsterdam, I take them all the time! It's KLM ROyal Dutch. Try that route next time!!

Yes, thanks, but I fly into Amsterdam a lot and that was what I was trying to avoid. They grill me pretty hard there sometimes. I use miles for most of my flights and they don't have only direct flights from PHL to Netherlands area, they all go through London because my miles are British Airways. BA only cost half the amount of miles as any other airline I have tried. My biggest concern still is dealing with the bloody Border Control. If my SO could ever get that letter from the IND it would make my travel days like floating on a cloud compared to how stressful they are now. This last one had me crying in my SO's arm at that train platform, asking if he thought this was really all worth it. I was a mess.

I would love to try KLM someday, I am surprised to hear they have a direct flight from Houston all the way to NL! I bet that is a long one. I can't wait till someday when we can fly when we want and not when dictated by the governments.

[CynicalQuixotic]

Yes, thanks, but I fly into Amsterdam a lot and that was what I was trying to avoid. They grill me pretty hard there sometimes. I use miles for most of my flights and they don't have only direct flights from PHL to Netherlands area, they all go through London because my miles are British Airways. BA only cost half the amount of miles as any other airline I have tried. My biggest concern still is dealing with the bloody Border Control. If my SO could ever get that letter from the IND it would make my travel days like floating on a cloud compared to how stressful they are now. This last one had me crying in my SO's arm at that train platform, asking if he thought this was really all worth it. I was a mess.

I would love to try KLM someday, I am surprised to hear they have a direct flight from Houston all the way to NL! I bet that is a long one. I can't wait till someday when we can fly when we want and not when dictated by the governments.

Have you ever considered flying through Charles de Gaulle in Paris? As long as you are not a male ethnic minority (French immigration policies are some of the most disgustingly racially-motivated in Europe), I would say with 90% certainty that you would pass through with no problems. The only time I have been questioned in France wasn't even at customs, but by the ticket agent at check-in once when I was returning to the US.