Arrival at the airport was smooth and we were there well before the check in counters opened! Going through security and immigration was interesting with long lines that were quick to dissipate! Managing to spend the last of our euros we settled into our boarding gate waiting for our departure. And we waited, and waited....then announcement of a delay of our flight...waited more...and then meal vouchers were issued but only to a handful before the dreaded announcement - due to technical / mechanical issues with the plane the flight has been cancelled!! I should point out that this occurred at midnight! Oh well these things happen and I do want to be on a plane that is working.
More announcements instructed us to make our way to the baggage carousel, pick up our bags then find the Emirates staff. We obliged then found ourselves standing by the baggage carousel for over an hour before our luggage arrived. It was the most frustrating situation where by the bags came up a central conveyor belt and paused waiting for a space to drop into on the looped conveyor belt. The problem was that the conveyor belt was full with bags (they weren't being taken off quick enough) so no new bags could drop on!!
Eventually ours arrived and we found the Emirates staff who informed us to meet next to the cafe downstairs. Obviously behind the scenes, the Emirates staff were trying to find accomodation for 300+ passengers in the wee hours of the morning. Not an easy task. First Class and Business were sorted quickly, then it was the families followed by the elderly. Next people with medical issues, couples and finally us the singles!
We boarded a coach just before 4am and arrived at our new accomodation at 4.30am which was located at Estoril nearly 40km west of Lisbon! Check in took a bit of time too and we were glad to climb into bed for some sleep! What a drama!
We wandered more and soon found ourselves on the coastal promenade that connects Estoril to Cascais. The grey skies were attempting to rain but it mostly held off. There were lots of people out walking dogs, running and riding. After a bit we looped back past the Forte da Cruz, a 17th century castle that was built to provide security to the wealth while enjoying their beach vacation and is now a popular wedding venue.
Back at the hotel, we packed our belonging before enjoying a relaxing big lunch. With a bit of time left before the taxi arrived, we lounged around in the hotel foyer, struggling to keep awake! The taxis arrived and we were keen to get going again. The drive to the airport was interesting as one of the other delayed travellers joined us. It turned out that she was a songorapher from Melbourne who had attended the same conference!
The plane did leave on time and the flight was uneventful. In Dubai with several hours to wait, we were keen to sort out the Melbourne - Canberra leg but couldn't find an Emirates service desk so we gave up. Again the flight to Melbourne was fine. I slept as much as possible in an attempt to get back into the Canberra time zone.
As we disembarked from the plane in Melbourne, the air stewardess was holding a Canberra sign. We had 40 mins to get the Canberra flight so along with 11 others we were quickly ushered through the throngs of people at immigration and customs and were instructed that we didn't have time to collect our baggage. Of course when we checked in at the departure gate to obtain a boarding pass, we were told we weren't on the flight! The good news was there were spare seats! The bad news was the flight was delayed for 15 mins and then worse news it was cancelled due to a cracked windscreen.
Gosh we were desperate to get home but resigned ourselves to having no control of the situation. Thankfully it was a short delay as a bigger replacement plane was acquired and we were soon up in the sky for the last time. Landing in Canberra, we headed straight to the lost baggage desk and filed a missing baggage report. The staff member informed us our luggage should be with us in the morning!
Of course it wasn't that simple! Three days later with no luggage in sight, the link to my missing luggage still was in 'luggage waiting to be found mode'! Contacting the airline, they informed me that it could take up to 21 days! In my mind, my backpack only had the sticker to Melbourne (not Canberra) and therefore was in the Melbourne International Airport waiting to be reunited. I also found it frustrating that it had a personal bag tag on the outside with my name and phone number....
A week later I called Emirates but they palmed my situation back to Qantas! Again I called Qantas in which I explained (once again) the dramas of the flight home (delayed flight, no boarding pass to Canberra) and finally my request to locating my luggage was escalated. By that afternoon I received a call back informing me they had found a backpack matching my description however it had another persons bag label on it! Turns out the dude who checked us in at Lisbon airport had switched the bag labels on my friends and my luggage!!
I was glad to be finally reunited with my bag a week after arriving home. My fiend's bag took another week to find her!
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