Voyage to Andorra
This turmoil began at the end of summer.
My anniversary was inevitably approaching, and it was necessary to dump somewhere from the standard boring congratulations and wishes. I don't like them. I've heard enough for 49 years. And, since I was lucky enough to be born in mid-January, before that I had to celebrate my DR exclusively at home - we had already returned from the Crimea, but had not yet left for the mountains. But fifty dollars happens once in a lifetime, so I decided to replay everything. I ordered myself a whole 2 weeks of vacation in the first half of January. But going to a ski resort for 2 weeks, and even on New Year's Eve with Christmas, is too expensive, and meeting NG at home is very boring. Therefore, we decided to go, as usual, to Yalta, and only then rush to skiing. And where to? I wanted something new and different. Not the Caucasus and not Bukovel. Turkey? Have already been this year. Yes, and the biopass is already gathering dust on the shelf. You should take a walk. And the thought came to my mind, why not Andorra?
One of our friends liked this idea of mine. She really wanted to go to Andorra. And her daughter and son-in-law could also go. I suggested that we travel together on our own - buy air tickets, rent a villa, rent a big car. But, since I don’t have enough experience, I expected that the daughter of a friend, who had traveled around Europe many times without any MOT with TA, would do this. But a friend (let's call her Nastya) said that her daughter (let's call her Masha) would not do this. And in general, traveling from a travel agency is cheaper.
Okay, let's go to the travel agency. Joins had very attractive prices. The rest are much more expensive. But at that very time, a scandal had already flared up with the participation of this TO, which the girlfriend had never heard of. I categorically refused to go with the Joins. I was not going to live at the airport for my own money. We didn’t quarrel with Nastya, but there was some tension in the relationship.
And I decided to do everything myself. I was looking for tickets. The Ryans had the most attractive price for the Kyiv-Barcelona flight. But this is if you fly without luggage. According to my estimates, taking skis on the spot would have turned out to be slightly more expensive than the difference in the cost of tickets with and without luggage. And how much more comfortable it would be to travel light! But the men firmly rested to fly with their skis. And I failed to convince them. And the departure and arrival of the Ryans are uncomfortable. Lufthansa only has a connecting flight. I had to buy from UIA. But, if the Germans could carry skis in addition to their luggage for free, then a rider could carry either luggage or skis. And not everything is clear with them. The wording in the transportation rules was very vague.
Quoting:
Only the following items may be included in each ski package:
Conditions of carriage
The items listed must be packed in a dedicated ski bagto avoid damage to other luggage. Items that are not included in the above list should not be in this case. If the ski boots do not fit in the ski bag, they can be packed separately in the ski boot bag/bag; however, they will be considered part of this bundle.
Each set of skiing and other sports equipment is subject to payment in case of exceeding the established free allowance in the corresponding travel class in the amount with the rest of the checked baggage.
Each separate set of sports equipment is considered one piece of baggage, which, in total with the rest of the passenger's checked baggage in the total number of pieces, must not exceed the established free baggage allowance in the corresponding class of service. The weight of each piece/set of sports equipment must not exceed 23 kg in any travel class. In case of exceeding free baggage allowance in terms of number of pieces and/or weight from 23 kg and up to 32 kg sports equipment is subject to payment in accordance with UIA tariffs. Transportation should be coordinated with UIA beforehand.
But I still bought tickets from them, for 6 thousand and a few kopecks. For myself, Vadik and Oleg (Verka's husband). I didn’t buy anything for Nastya and her family, but I informed them about the dates, they say, if you want, buy, if you want, fly with the tour operator on the same dates.
In less than a week, I received a letter of happiness with the joyful news that our flight was canceled! Began! I had to enter into correspondence with the airline. I asked to change tickets from 6 to 7 January. And for the inconvenience, give us an indulgence and allow us to pack two pairs of skis in one bag, three pairs of boots in a separate bag, and one more skis in a separate bag. Thus, we would have got 3 pieces of luggage, each of which would weigh less than half the established norm.
An answer came that threw me into a stupor. UIA kindly agreed to change my tickets with an additional payment of more than two thousand per person. I was a little freaked out, but I didn’t make a fuss yet, but politely explained that my flight was canceled and, just for this reason, I ask you to give me tickets for the next day. They asked me to send them a letter in which they wrote to me that the flight was cancelled. I patiently forwarded their letter to them. The next day, another person wrote to me, asking me to send ticket numbers, although I had already sent them literally the day before. And only after that I was finally sent new tickets. Their right hand doesn't know what the left is doing! And in response to my request for skis, they only brought me the above quote from the transportation rules.
I initially chose the hotel in the village of Pas de la Casa. These were apartments with a kitchen, which would have made our stay much cheaper. It was possible to get to the ski lift from here. In general, a dream, not a hotel. But then vague doubts began to torment me. How to get there? There is no railway in Andorra. None of the three of us have experience of renting a car abroad either. Dumb. The bus remains. From the meager information gleaned from the forum of a competing company, it turned out that the bus goes to Andorra directly from the airport. But not too often - once every two hours. We arrive in Barcelona at 12.35. There is a flight at 13.00 and at 15.00. Which one to take? I would like to get to the place faster. Will we be in time for 13.00? It is better, of course, not to risk it and take it with a margin of time. What if the flight is late, and we will not be in time even by 15.00? But it's still okay. Judging by the map, a serpentine leads to Pas de la Case. So, the village is located high in the mountains. Our return flight is at 13:30. It takes more than 3 hours to drive, but you need to be at the airport in two hours. It turns out that you need to leave no later than 8. There is a flight for 8.15. Dumb. Then - at 6.15. But this is from the capital - Andorra la Vella. And you still need to get to it. What if it snows and we get stuck? And there are a lot of such "suddenly". How difficult it is to make decisions! Zero sense from men. I decided not to take bus tickets, but to sort things out on the spot. We are arriving on January 7th, for Christmas. Perhaps there will be few people, and we will buy tickets on the spot without any problems.
But I changed the hotel. Booked in the capital - Andorra la Vella. To leave then to the airport without surprises. True, there was no kitchen in the room, but there were breakfasts. There were also dinners, but we decided to do without them. 14.50 euros from the nose, somehow strained. And you need to get to the ski area by bus. You won't be able to get there on skis.
There was one more unclear moment. Departure from Borispol. If you go by train, then we will be in Kyiv at 7.10 in the morning. Departure - at 9.50. You still need to get from the railway to Boryspil. At 7.50 you should already be there. 40 minutes is generally enough. Under favorable circumstances... And if the train is late? And if Kyiv is covered with snow? Those "ifs" again! And all on my head! You can go by bus Mariupol-Kyiv, which arrives directly at Terminal D at 6 am. But, according to rumors, it often breaks down. And, again, if there is heavy snow, then the bus is more likely to get stuck than the train. We opted for the train.
In mid-December, Nastya and her husband came to visit us. They said they were flying too! And even in the same hotel. But two days before us. And two days earlier they will leave for Barcelona to stay there. And they fly not by UIA, but by Lufthansa with a transfer. While they were calving, UIA raised the prices to obscene. And they will rent a car. And parking in the hotel I have chosen is paid! 15 euros per day! And they don't like the hotel. They go there solely because of me! Something like this. And Nastya's husband, who got drunk (let's call him Voldemar), reproached me that, behold, we took Oleg with us, but, you see, they are not! I was a little in shock. But just a little. For many years of acquaintance, I have already got used to their features.
This was the alignment.
Before NG, we, as usual, left for Yalta. January 5 safely returned home, miraculously slipped between the first and subsequent snowfall. After the first incident, exactly on January 4, they managed to clean the road. Otherwise, there could be options... I didn’t even worry about such an outcome in advance. I had enough other "if" and "suddenly".
For some time now, our national airline has decided to introduce paid check-in for a flight, or, alternatively, it was proposed to go through it yourself online. Which is what I tried to do tonight. But the site was hopelessly hanging. Deciding that the morning was wiser than the evening, she fell asleep. And, indeed, everything went smoothly in the morning.
In the afternoon we boarded the train Mariupol-Kyiv. I forgot to say that I decided to divorce Oleg a little, and did not tell him that we would not be alone in Andorra. We were supposed to celebrate Christmas on the plane, and upon arrival, we would go to terrorize the hotel guests (as if they were drunk), banging on the doors of neighboring rooms and shouting, for example, “open the owl, the bear has come! ” (friends were already there and sent us their room numbers on viber).
The train to Kyiv was not late. Now fine. About 15 minutes before arrival, we called a taxi. We did not dare to ride the skybus - the last time we dragged ourselves on it for an hour. And we didn't have it. There was another option - a high-speed train that connected not so long ago, the station with the airport. But one train left at 7.04 (we didn't have time), and the next - at 7.44. And he arrived, at best, at 8.22, which, as it were, is not good. And this type of transport has already managed to prove itself. Who is not in the know, the Internet to help.
We did not have time to drive up to the station, and the taxi driver had already called us. It was early morning. Christmas. There were few cars on a relatively clean road, and we rushed to Boryspil without any problems. The taxi driver took 360 hryvnias from us, taking into account expectations.
I passed the check-in, but I still had to check in my luggage. If you were not too lazy and read the transportation rules that I quoted, you noticed that it was proposed to shove skis and boots into one bag. With my and Oleg ski-bots, such a number passed. But Vadka's flippers did not want to fit into any of them together with skis. The rules provide for this. It was suggested, in this case, to pack them separately in a bag for ski boots. What kind of case / bag it should be, I was not completely clear. Perhaps it should be a special case / bag for boots. With UIA, they will demand just such a cover. We didn't have that. Therefore, they decided to put it in an ordinary bag, and if this does not satisfy them, and they want extra money, then stupidly put on their boots and fly like that. There was a precedent. An acquaintance was flying to the Himalayas, and his mountain boots (not too different from ski boots) for some reason were forbidden to be carried in luggage (or maybe in hand luggage). Not important. The dude put them on stupidly and flew away like that.
At the check-in desks, we saw some devices that issue luggage tags. It was necessary to put the phone with a screenshot of the boarding pass on the shelf for scanning, and the luggage on the scales below it. With my own and Oleg's luggage, I successfully completed this operation. But with Vadkin there were problems. There is only one luggage tag. And there are two items (a case with skis and a bag with boots). I had to go to the front desk with this question. The guy behind her told us to tie a bag with boots to the ski bag, using the services of luggage packers (100 UAH), or pay extra for an extra piece of luggage, I think 50 euros. Our choice was clear. We dragged ourselves to the wrappers with film. But the guys decided that such a volume of work costs not 100 hryvnias, but as much as 200 hryvnias! I had to pay. After that, we checked all three units into oversized luggage.
For all this fuss, time flew by quickly. As soon as we passed through passport control, boarding was already announced. We quickly bought a bottle of Grantis on a Dutik and got in line. And there was an uncle with a badge, who handed out booklets to everyone with the new rules for carrying hand luggage. I have already read this joke. UIA, in its thirst for economy, has come to the point that absolutely everything that could previously be carried additionally (gadgets, handbags) should be included in 7 kg of hand luggage. Even goods bought on duty free! And all this still had to be crammed into one place. I mean luggage space. This is exactly what the uncle suggested to do to one aunt, who in her hands, in addition to a large bag, also had a smaller bag and a Dyutik package. Fortunately, these rules did not apply to tickets purchased before some date. That is, it did not concern us.
The flight went well. Tickets were given to us in the 8th row. As usual, I was sitting by the window. When the plane rose above the clouds, one could observe an interesting picture. Due to some optical effect on the clouds from the sun, a so-called. halo - a rainbow circle in the center of which was the shadow of the aircraft. While I was gasping with admiration, while I guessed to get the phone, while I took a picture, time was lost. The plane rose too high and the clear plane shadow turned into a blur.
Abidna! The snow-covered Alps flew by.
The pilot told us by intercom that from one side you can observe Mont Blanc, and from the other - Nice. Beauty!
Here are the Pyrenees! Something is not right at all. We are not flying there!
The plane landed on time.
I was afraid that there would be questions about our pristine bio-passports. I even took my second foreign passport just in case, where there was one Schengen. But we flew through passport control without a single question. And the skis came pretty quickly. There were still 6 minutes before the departure of the bus to Andorra (which is at 13.00). I really wanted to catch it, so as not to wait right up to 15.00. But where to run? And we even understood where. And I even saw the bus through the window. But you have to go down. The cleaner showed me to the elevator. But we have been waiting for it for so long! And then we skated from the ground floor to the first floor, I just couldn’t figure out where to get off. In the end, we returned to where we came from and ran down the stairs, along with all the junk. But the bus has already left. Bliiiin! After wandering around, I found a schedule, from which it followed that there was also a bus at 14.00, only of a different company. Well, good. Time flew by quickly - we have chatted with Russian tourists who arrived from the travel agency. Nobody met them. They themselves found where to leave. True, they had tickets.
The bus has arrived. I approached the driver and said that we had no tickets. He asked to wait. Having seated passengers with tickets, of which there were very few, he took care of us. Asked us to the bus station? But I said that to the hotel. And two ends. He counted 183 euros for three. I gave him 190. He said that he would give the tickets and change at the bus station. And we set off.
