A Gringo in Colombia

[Ride4Adventure]

Travel Misadventures - Ottawa to Cali Colombia

Day 1:

I am waiting in my room at the CasaBlanca Hostel in Cali Colombia. Mike from Motolombia Tours and Rentals has offered to drive me out to the Cali International airport to find out whether or not my missing luggage came in on last night's flight out of Miami. I am now into day three of my motorcycle adventure trip to Colombia and so far things have not been going as expected. What should have been a day's travel down to Cali Colombia from Ottawa Canada has turned into a travel nightmare of canceled and missed flights, security harassments, mechanical failures, thunderstorms, endless hours waiting around airport terminals, and now this last travel indignity my luggage has gone AWOL.


They say that bad things happen in threes, I wonder if that axiom applies to my traveling woes. The trip started off on the right note, my taxi arrived at my house at 4:30 am that morning to get me to the Ottawa airport for my 7:00 flight to Chicago. The flight from Ottawa to Chicago would be the first leg of three flights from my home in Ottawa Canada to Cali Colombia.

My itinerary would be Ottawa - Chicago - Miami - Cali Colombia. As a seasoned traveler I should have known better than to have included so many connections in my flight plan. The more connections the greater the odds that something will get screwed up along the way. The most direct flight I could have booked would have been Montreal to Bogota with a local flight the next morning from Bogota to Cali. My flight with American Airlines though would get me to my destination on the same day and save me a few hundred dollars.

I arrived at the airport carrying all my motorcycle gear that I would need on my two week motorcycle tour. Everything that I would need for my trip was crammed into my OGIO motorcycle gear bag and my BMW seat bag, 85 pound of motorcycling touring essentials. I am sure that people have gone off on year long expeditions with less gear than I was taking along with me. After 30 years of motorcycle touring and numerous oversea adventure trips, you would think that I would have learned to just pack the bare essentials. But today's 21st century adventure traveler, bare essentials now include GPS,camera(s), SPOT device, camcorders, cell phone, IPAD computer, chargers, batteries, adapters etc.

At such an early hour in the morning I was the only one checking into the American Airlines counter, I was relieved to find out that passengers flying to South American destinations were allowed two pieces of luggage, no charge. Its been a few months since I last flew out of the Ottawa airport and as I approached the security screening area, I could see that there were some new changes in place at the airport. American security paranoia had crept across the border into Canada. They now had one of those new total body scanners, the ones that does a virtual strip search of you when you go through it. When I approached the security area, the security personnel asked whether I wanted to be scanned or patted down. The idea of having to bear all to some minimum wage CATSA employee was not very appealing so I reluctantly said that I preferred a physical pat-down (wrong choice !!)

In a stern tone the security screening personnel directed me to go stand inside the designated circle a few feet away and wait for a CATSA person to conduct the search. I am not sure what I was thinking, but I was expecting that the search would be no more than some guy passing a metal detector around my body and do a quick pat down. No, what I got was some guy kneeling on the ground in front of me who then began to grope my body from my ankles up to the inside of my crotch, next he stands up and repeated the process on my upper body. After he had completed frisking my upper torso, I thought he was finished and started to walk away, at that moment I had an image in my head of drop kicking this guys gonads into the next county. The security dude then then yells over to me "Sir I am not done, I need for you to turn around so that I can search your backside". It is at this point that I lost it. "F**ck-it I am not going to be subjected to anymore of this humiliation". My outburst had caught the attention of the other screeners. "Sir you have the choice of still going through the scanner if you do not wish to continue with the enhanced pat-down". "In that case", I said, "I prefer to have my balls irradiated by this machine than to have them manhandled by any of you". If this incident had taken place across the border in the USA, I am sure that half a dozen burly security officers would have gang-tackled me, tasered me into submission and then accused me of being a sympathetic terrorist for having questioned airport security measures. After passing through the security area I made a mental note to myself, "I will have to behave myself when going through airport security in the states.

My flight from Ottawa to Chicago arrived on scheduled, my next flight from Chicago to Miami was not for another 2 hours so this gave me some time to chill out at the airport. For those who have never been to O'Hara, it is one freaking big airport, 4 terminals, 9 concourses and 182 aircraft gates. Usually when I fly into one of these mega-size airport facilities my connecting flight always seems to be at the furthest point from my arrival gate, but this time, my connecting flight was only a few gates down from where I deplaned. Things were were looking promising for my Chicago to Miami departure. First class passengers had started to board the plane, while the rest of us who were flying steerage class awaited our turn. I knew something was up when some of the passengers who had previously entered the plane return. Next that was the expected announcement that there would be a short delay as there was a mechanical problem with the plane, they were unable to secure one of the latches on one of the cargo doors. "Not to worry" we were told they would have the problem resolve shortly. An hour went by and we are all still waiting around with no news from American Airlines as to the status of our flight. After two hours, the mood in the terminal waiting area was getting tense as the natives were getting restless. At first I was not too concerned, my flight out of Miami to Cali was not to leave until later that afternoon and it did not matter if I was waiting at an airport terminal in Chicago or Miami so long as I was able to board the Miami flight at 4:30 that afternoon. A delay of a hour of more would mean that I would miss my connecting flight. This charade by American Airline of announcing a new departure time for this flight played out a few more times until finally at 5:00 pm they announced that the flight was canceled and advised passengers to rebook themselves on tomorrow's flight or make other arrangements. By this time the 200 or so disgruntled passengers had started to form a mob in front of the AA customer service desk demanding attention for themselves. The American Airlines staff look extremely frustrated by the events, I was waiting for them to call in the airport swat squad to clear out the unruly rabble from the airport. I spent another hour in line waiting to talk to a AA customer care rep about my situation, only to be told that I would have to rebook my flight at the main AA customer site in a different part of the airport. Bollocks !! So I race over to the other terminal where the main AA offices are, wait another 30 minutes in a another line before I can speak to AA personnel. They rebook me on same flight for tomorrow and found accommodations for me at a local hotel near the airport at no cost to me. It would have not been so bad if the Hotel they sent me off to was near the downtown area of Chicago, so I could at least I would have the opportunity to do some sightseeing around the city of Chicago, but instead I was dropped off at some bland Holiday Inn hotel located in an industrial areas surrounded by urban sprawl and nearby a busy freeway. Chicago that week was in the mist of a heat wave with temperatures hovering around 100 F. With no where to go and Not much to do to I hung around the pool to try and stay cool and drank lots of cold to keep myself
hydrated.

Day 2:Chicago to Miami

I was up early the next morning to get to the airport for my 10:30 flight to Chicago. Things go better for me this morning as I get through airport security and my flight for Miami leaves on schedule. Instead of flying down on one of those flying cattle cars (Boeing 737) they have replaced the regular plane on this route with a Boeing 777-300. "Great I thought to myself, I should have all kinds of leg room on this flight". My hopes for a leisurely flight down to Miami were soon dashed as I made my way to my assigned seat 29-B. Already seated in the two adjoining seats were two good old boys whose combine weight was that of a small pick-up truck. Their body masses spilling over to occupy my seating area. I am not the smallest of men myself so this was going to be a tight fit. After squeezing myself into my seat. I thought there could be only one thing to make this flight more unpleasant and before I could finish my thought a child across the aisle began to holler and scream at the top of their lungs followed soon after by a second infant and then a third, an entire symphony of little screaming kids. I am a tolerant and patient person, but after about 30- 40 minutes of this, myself and most of my fellow passengers were ready to open one of the airplane doors and bail out. About the halfway in our 3 hour flight the kids finally seemed to have calmed down or had cried themselves out.

After a 3 hour flight we were nearing our destination, and I could hear the plane lowering it landing gear in preparation for our landing in Miami when next the pilot came on the intercom to announce that he would have to delay his landing as there was a thunderstorm cell directly over the Miami Intl airport. For the next 30 - 40 minutes we flew around in circles waiting for the storm to move on out of the area. The pilot again comes on the intercom to say that the plane was getting low on fuel and they would need to land at an alternate airport for refueling. The alternate airport was Fort Myers which was 20 minutes or so east of Miami. We should be able to land, refuel and fly back to Miami. Even if this delay cost us 1 - 2 hours I should still be able to make my flight to Cali. Well that was not to happen, we landed in Fort Myers, fuel trucks came in and fueled up the plane, then began a waiting game with the pilot seemingly announcing every 15 minutes our imminent departure. For the next 3 1/2 hours American Airlines kept us hostage on-board the airline, not allowing us to deplane. During that time, we were given a bottle of water and nothing else. The AC in the plane was not working right so things inside the plane were starting to really uncomfortable. I turned around to my seat mate and asked if he had a cell phone, and if so could he could get a message out to Amnesty International and report that we were being held hostage by American Airlines.

Finally around 7:30, the pilot came on the intercom to say that the storm that had closed the Miami airport had passed and they would now be allowed to fly into the airport. Our plane eventually landed at Miami 30 minutes latter. The storm that had closed the airport for the last 4 - 5 hours had delayed or canceled 50 - 60 other flight. My flight to Cali had already left some hours ago. I would be forced to spend the night in Miami and fly out on tomorrow's flight to Cali. There would be no free hotel room or other courtesies offered to me by AA for the late flight, weather delays they said are not their fault. I re-booked a seat on tomorrows flight and then looked into trying to find a hotel room for the night. The scene at the Miami airport at this hour could only be described as complete and utter chaos. Picture this, 5000 - 10,000 tired and irate passengers milling around the airport looking to sort out their travel plans.
My immediate concerns was to locate a hotel for the night, I spoke to one airline official and he said that the storm had stranded thousands of travelers in the city for the night and he did not think that there would be enough hotel rooms in the city to accommodate everyone. I did not have a cell phone with me so I went in search for a pay-phone. You would think that in an airport the size of Miami Intl there would be dozens of public pay phone. No !! All I could find was 5 - 6 phones near the main entrance with a 70 - 80 people standing in line, all looking to do the same thing and that was to call a hotel and reserve a room for the night. Just then an airport staff member came by and must have read the distress on my face and asked if I wanted to use her cell phone to call a Hotel. I had a couple numbers of hotels in the area. I called two or three places but no one seemed to be answering their phones. I finally gave up, went outside and hopped on the first courtesy shuttle bus that came by. Things worked out, the shuttle bus from Travel lodge dropped me off at the hotel, they still had some rooms available. There were several shuttle buses that arrived at the same time, so I had stand in line with 30 - 40 other people while one overwhelmed clerk processed everyone. It was not until around 12:00 that I finally got checked into my room


Day 3: Miami to Cali

My flight to Cali was not to leave until 4:30 in the afternoon. With nothing to do at the hotel I headed over to the airport even though it was still 5 hours before the departure time. I checked in with American Airlines customer service and expressed my concerned about my baggage and whether it would be on this afternoon's flight to Cali, they assured me that that would not be a problem. Well I did not feel reassured. I have been wearing the same clothes for the last 3 days, I was beginning to feel like a vagrant wondering around the airport in my now well worn and rumbled clothes. I meet another fellow traveler at the airport. He was traveling from Chile back to Belgium. His initial flight from Chile to Miami had mechanical problems and had been forced to layover in Lima Peru for the night. While on his way from the airport to his hotel, the taxi driver took off with his luggage. That same evening while walking around the barrio near his hotel, he was robbed of his wallet leaving him with nothing more than his passport and the clothes on his back. His flight over to Europe was to leave this morning was cancelled, so he was stuck in Miami for another day with no money and the prospect of having to spend the night sleeping at the airport. He was not asking for any money or anything, but I gave him a few bucks to help him out. After hearing travel stories like this, my own travel woes seemed minor in comparison.

The flight to Cali left on schedule. I am not sure which variant of the Boeing 737 we were flying on, but I think it was the one they designed to see how many humans they could cram into the airframe of a 737. The seats were so narrow and cramped, even a child would not have felt comfortable sitting in one of the seats. For a normal adult, the experience of remaining in a contorted position for 3 1/2 hours was akin to a form of medieval torture. The plane at long last touched down at the Palmaseca International Airport in Cali Colombia. There were a couple of other flight arriving at the airport so there was a long queue of people waiting to clear immigration.
The first impression I had of Colombia was the heighten sense of security in place at the airport, there were military soldiers and police everywhere. After being photographed and finger printed by immigration, my passport was stamped and I was now officially in Colombia. As it had taken over an hour to get processed through immigration our luggage was already waiting in the baggage claim area. My bags are pretty unique looking so it should not be a problem to spot them amongst the jumble of bags, boxes and suitcases scattered about the baggage claim area. After 5 minutes of walking around the baggage terminal, a sickening feeling began to come over me, my luggage was not on the airplane. I looked around there were 7 or 8 passengers wondering around the terminal with that look of despair in their eyes as they realize that their bags were no where to be found. After another 20 minutes most of the passengers from the Miami flight had collected their luggage and left the airport. Over at another counter a couple of representative from America Airlines showed up and asked that all anyone who needed to file a lost luggage claim to come over to the counter and fill in the paper work. After another half hour or so I had a form filed out, the AA rep gave me a phone number and told me to call them back tomorrow evening after the daily flight from Miami had arrived at the airport, my baggage should be on that flight.

I had made arrangement with Mike from Motolombia to come to the airport and pick me up. I had told him that the flight was to arrive at 7:30 pm and it was now 8:30 or so I was not even sure if he would still be around or not. As I exited through the main door of the terminal there was a large crowd of people standing in front, many waving banners, singing and yelling. I am not sure who were waiting for but they must be someone of importance to attract this kind of attention. I scanned the sea of Colombia faces and in the back holding a sign was a big Scandinavian looking fellow, that had to be Mike. There was nothing else I could do tonight, so I went back to town with Mike and made arrangements to stay spend the night at his hostel in Cali the CaseBlanca. At least I have made it down to Colombia. Tomorrow is another day and what problems I still had with my lost luggage could wait until then.