Any of the information on the internet will tell you that it is imperative to arrive at an international airport about three hours prior to departure. Had I been operating under my own auspices I would have acquiesced to that advice...however, I chose to align myself with the advice of two seasoned world travelers who were in my company at the hotel Otto and I were staying at the night before our departure. They informed me that although I needed to retrieve my delinquent luggage from the baggage claim desk ( 'Flightmare: Part I' ) I would only need to be at the airport 1.5 hours ahead of time because of the early hour of my flight departure.
Otto accompanied me to the airport to assist me with claiming my bag, seeing me off, and checking in for his own flight later on that same day. We arrived as planned and it took me 1/2 hour to get my bag and also to take care of the exit fee and paperwork. When I got to the check-in desk an hour before departure the Condor airline attendants were gone! Gone! They were all at the gate checking in passengers. It was too late for me! I think if I was flying on a more major airline that I would have been able to proceed as there are always people working the desk, but for Condor and Spirit it is not so ... I now had to wait for the Condor people to come back so I could try to arrange another flight. In the meantime, Otto checked in for his flight and we sent my backpack along with him so as to make my navigating around planes and airports a bit easier (I was planning on being able to still fly out that day).
When I finally had someone from Condor to talk to they said there was nothing they could do except give me a phone number to talk to someone else at an office in some other country. I talked to the KLM airline at the airport desk to see if they had anything open for that day, but they said they couldn't make reservations at the desk. I would have to drive to their main office in San Jose or else take care of the issue online. Good grief! Let me mention here that during this whole process I chose to think that SOMEHOW all of this delay, etcetera, was saving my life or at least ordering in some fashion so as to better serve 'life' ... and at the very least to give me an opportunity to 'deal with' a situation like this. After all ... it's just time and money. Sigh. My attitude wasn't completely serene though. It was tough to let peace have it's place (that sounds crazy).
We went back to the hotel and used the internet to check my options and to make the telephone call to the Condor airlines. The cheapest flight I could find for a flight out the following day was $1017. The lady I talked to at Condor needed a couple of hours to make contacts and collect information so Otto and I went out for lunch at a 'soda' (local Tico - costa rican - restaurant). When we got back to the hotel I discovered from Condor that their next available flight out of San Jose was 3 weeks away! Sounds impossible! But, there it is. That meant booking another flight on another airline and try to recover some of my monetary 'losses' after I got to Holland. I had to transfer funds from my savings account to my checking account and then wait until after 5 p.m. Michigan time for the transaction to take place before I could book my flight.
Otto arranged for me to stay at the hotel another night (given a slight discount from the management) and then had to leave to catch his flight ... I occupied myself with making my final flight arrangements, reading, and going to bed very very early.
Needless to say, I made certain to get to the airport at a grossly early hour to ensure, as much as was possible, my entrance onto the desired aircraft! It worked!
Now, I'm in the process of sequestering a rebate from whatever organization wants to take responsibility for receiving an excess of funds for the flight I wasn't on. It will either be Expedia (who I booked the flight through - both of them) or Lufthansa Airlines (mother company for Condor). So far I've spoken with at least 4 or 5 different people (some with extreme accents) from both companies and have gotten quite the variety of responses during the two hours I spoke, or waited to speak, to them. It's a nice exercise in negotiating with the odds stacked against me. Round 2 starts tomorrow afternoon!
Barendrecht is the town where Otto's parents (and also his brother and his wife) live - also where Otto grew up. This is the driveway to the garage units for some of the people who live on 'Coriander Street' and where Otto's shaping bay (aka his parents garage) is. Otto's parents still live in the house (condo) where he was born!!! 
Otto making a reparation of a board in the 'bay' in his parent's garage.
The fumes of some of the products that he uses are quite toxic so he wears a mask (respirator - breathing apparatus - thingy) to protect his lungs. When he's actually shaping (creating) a new board the fumes can be extraordinary ... he's gotten complaints from some of the neighbors.
The master at work (he only has his mask off because I was right there talking to him). It's a 30 minute drive between our home and his shop so he tries to (and hopes for) do more than one board at a time ... it doesn't always work out like that, though. Now he's found a surf shop, Connor's, that just opened a few blocks from our home and the owner created a repair shop in the basement of his retail store. Connor invited Otto to do repairs there. We have moved some equipment over and Otto has actually done a couple of repairs there. It saves a lot of time. Pictures of Connor's will be forthcoming.
