Picture the scene: Dublin Airport New Years morning at about 5am. Me and the 3 kids go to check in as the husband parks the car. I key our booking reference number into the little green express machines. It doesn't work so I have to go join a queue which is stretching the length of the departures area.
Five minutes into queueing I realise that I've left a pouch with all 5 passports on the little green machine and run back only to find they're not there. Panic city....
Airport authority people started helping me to look. We went from one aer lingus person to another asking if they'd been handed in. We tried customer services desks, we tried airport police. Nothing. I kept wandering back to the little machines hoping one of them would just spew out the passports but nothing. I felt like puking.
I was afraid to think what might happen if they didn't turn up. Two of the kids (the foster kids) had never been on a holiday, ever. And this was a 4 day trip to Disneyland Paris and it might not happen cos I had lost the passports. Oh good jaysis the only reason I wasn't crying was not to panic the kids even further. Minutes passed. Nothing. The same aer lingus staff kept approaching and asking if they'd turned up. Nothing. One airport authority person kept saying "they always show up". I wasn't reassured.
One very helpful aer lingus person seemed to take charge. He got us an area to sit in. He pre-selected our seats so that "if" they turned up we could check straight in no queueing. He told me not to panic.....some chance; I felt like screaming.
I couldn't possibly sit still and circled the green machines anxiously. Another Garda approached and asked what was up. I told him I'd lost 5 passports. He looked at me like I was a complete toolbox. He just said "Follow me" and walked off. I told him I'd alrerady visited airport police and he said nothing and kept walking. I followed him down an escalator and over to a quiet corner of the airport. At a black door he said "wait here" and disappeared, only to reappear 20 seconds later with a pouch full of 5 passports!!! I nearly cried and he was TOTALLY unimpressed that I almost tried to kiss him. Happy days, prayers answered, holiday and Mickey Mouse were now firmly back on track. Big thanks to that Garda and whoever handed the passports in.
So all that lay between us and Big Thunder Mountain was a couple of hours in the sky......woohooo.....
Oh God, oh God. What an awful thing. I'm so glad they turned up.
ReplyDeleteI learned this lesson from my husband, because I used to lose my wallet so often that every time I looked in my bag and couldn't see it immediately, I'd freak: Look first, then panic. I also employ it when I can't find my wandering daughter in Tesco etc. Ik's so hard to do, but you know panicking and crying make it worse (I lost hte car in Dundrum before Christmas - took me about forty minutes to find where I'd parked - had to stave off tears then too, the stupidity!).
There's nothing worse that something going wrong in Dublin Airport, there's something about the sterile nature of it and the throngs of people that just instil pure fear inside you at the drop of a hat.
ReplyDeleteI'd a disaster in 03 going to Oz. Had my visa lined up through Trailfinders only to discover when I got to check-in that they'd fucked it up and backdated it 12 months. Under Oz law the last airline to check you in gets fined for allowing an alien into the country. Aer Lingus had been hit the week before and were less than helpful.
Cue panicked phone calls to a travel agent........
Oh you're so right about the airport......the fear is horrible.
ReplyDeleteYewah, I don't mind the flying, but I hate the airport. I have a mini panic each and every time I check the tickets and pports, there's never time for anything, all the queueing. And I find Aer Lingus are generally less than helpful!
ReplyDeleteAnd the flying has become less pleasant over the years. Remember when it was something you looked forward to?
ReplyDeleteI love Disneyland paris! I hope you had a really great time!
ReplyDeleteFair play Ash. Lucky they were found. I left my boarding pass in the toilet in the airport one time and I didn't notice it was gone for ages, it was found and they were calling my name out for ages but they pronounced it wrong so I didn't hear it. The not hearing my name called out in airports has actually happened a few times.
ReplyDeleteJesus that is a situation I would crumble in, fair dos to the garda maybe it was good been there at 5am and not during the busier period, who knows what would have happened then.
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, milan adenauer is hard to pronounce :)
ReplyDeleteIt's true!
ReplyDeleteYou completely dodged the bullet there Ash. I am awful for forgetting my passport and leaving it in the drawer.
ReplyDelete