THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH – GERMANY TO NORWAY —NOT!!!!
Had I known how brutal today was going to be, I would have stayed in bed!
Got up and showered and did my stretching exercises and tried to answer some emails. However, the WiFi was so weak, I couldn’t even open my mail! Very Frustrating since I’ll be traveling all day.
Met everyone downstairs for a 10:30 am departure and was able to hook my laptop to my T-Mobile Hot Spot and work en route to the airport for about 2 hours. When we arrived, the ticket counter was not open even though it was only 2 hours until flight time. They opened 1 ½ hours prior to the flight time. I knew it was going to be rushed but at least we were first in line!
Our agent was a young man again and seemed to be pretty “new”. He was super nice, which made it easier. Since we are on KLM and they “partner” with Delta, I assumed we wouldn’t have any excess baggage charges. It took a bit of “explaining” why we should not be charged but eventually he understood and did not charge us.
We had to go through security and once again, several of us had our bags pulled aside and gone through. As we were finishing up, we heard the name “Bellamy” and “Tim” and our flight number being announced on the intercom. We found an agent and he said we had to go to a special counter upstairs so that some of our checked bags could be inspected! We all went and they had pulled aside 5 of the equipment cases. We had to open them and let them check them. Everything was fine and just as we were leaving that area, they announced that our flight had been delayed by 20 minutes pending arrival of a late aircraft. We originally only had one hour to make our connection in Amsterdam and now we would only have 40 minutes!
There wasn’t even an aircraft at the gate but one finally arrived even later than the predicted. I went up to the counter to tell the agent we had 10 people and ask if we would automatically be “re-booked” since we were all “Priority”. When I walked up, she had a stack of yellow gate check tags and was turning them all the same way. Then she counted them and then she re-arranged them again. She saw me standing there and never once asked if she could assist me. Another agent walked up and the two of them began talking to each other. I finally asked if I could ask a question. She reluctantly agreed. I asked what would happen if we missed our flight and she said, “You still have plenty of time to make your connection”!
We finally boarded the flight and before we took off, the pilot came on and said that there was a “ground stop” in Amsterdam due to high winds and one of the runways had been shut down. He said we would be sitting on the plane for another 45 minutes. I knew we would miss our connection so I started calling our travel agent and Lindsey to figure out a game plan.
We finally took off and it was only a one hour flight. The flight attendant called out a list of flights that had already departed and Oslo was not one of them. We landed and had to take a bus to the terminal and that took at least 10 minutes. Our flight to Oslo had also been delayed but only by 30 minutes. Once we got to the terminal, we all ran to the departure gate which was as far away as possible from where we landed. Jim, Galen and I were the first to arrive and a very rude gate agent was yelling “You have to get on right now”! I told her we had 7 more people right behind us – I could see them rushing down the terminal – and she said she would not hold the plane.
Jim and I went down to the bus but Galen stayed behind. I was hoping to convince the pilot to hold the plane another 2 minutes. I tried to get the bus driver to wait 2 minutes for our group but he said he was not allowed to do so. It only took 2 minutes to drive us to the airplane and when we got there, there was another bus full of passengers still sitting on the bus. They had not even boarded the flight! The bus driver found someone to help me and I begged him to let the other passengers come to the plane because they could have been there in the time it took for the first bus of passengers to board and get seated. He said my options were to get on the flight and leave or he would have someone take us back to the terminal.
We went back to the terminal and I already knew there were not seats available either of the two remaining flights departing tonight. We have a flight out of Oslo tomorrow to Leknes that departs at 1:05 pm and we do not want to miss it. The same gate agent who was so rude to me was still there and had been exceptionally rude to the Bellamys and the musicians. I asked her what her name was and she pointed to her “pin” which said “Agent”. I said, “your name is “Agent”? She said, “Yes it is”. I looked at the man’s pin beside her and it also said “Agent”. I asked her if his name was also “agent”. She was furious and said she was just doing her job! I walked away but turned around and took a photo of her so I could report her to KLM when we went to change our flights. She went nuclear and said she was reporting me and banning me from ever taking another KLM flight!
We made our way to the Transfer Desk and while we were waiting, David started “Tweeting” and tagging KLM. They were very interested in what had happened to us and definitely wanted him to start sending “private messages” instead of public Tweets. Finally, we got a “nice” lady who worked for KLM. She said there were only 5 seats left on the flight tonight but she could get everyone on a 6:55 am flight tomorrow morning and she would give us hotel, meal, and shuttle vouchers. We decided to do that even though we would not have any of our luggage. And, of course, I had packed all my cosmetics because of the trouble we were having even taking through the liquids that were in the plastic bag. I asked about our luggage and she said it was checked and ready to put on the plane tomorrow morning. I asked if she was sure it wasn’t on the flight that just left and she said it was not because they would have had to hold the plane and remove all our luggage because we weren’t on the flight. I honestly did not believe her and about an hour later, I got a message saying my flight had landed in Oslo and my bags were at #6!
We took the shuttle to the Ibis Hotel and actually got our rooms fairly quickly. The front door (and only door) to the hotel is a revolving door. Susan, David and I got in together and then another man crammed in with us. The doors stopped and would not move. His suitcase was blocking it and he would not move it. Susan was freaking out so she went back to him and moved his suitcase.
We have to take the 4:26 am shuttle back to the airport tomorrow morning. The “dinner” that was provided as a really, really crappy buffet and the line for the buffet was titled: “Delayed Flight Buffet”! I ate a little soup but no one knew what kind it was. I went to the lobby and found a package of cheese and some strawberries and ate those for my dinner.
I had to call our promoter in Lofoten and tell him to cancel our rooms at the Oslo Radisson for tonight. I really hope they don’t get charged for those rooms!
I have tons of emails yet to answer but they will just have to wait until tomorrow. Going to get 3-4 hours of sleep now…in my clothes that I will be wearing tomorrow!!!
Jude
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6TH – TRYING TO GET TO OSLO AGAIN!
We were all in the Lobby at 4 am to take the shuttle bus to the terminal. Luckily, we were first in line because there were way too many passengers to make it on the first bus. The driver packed in as many as possible and shut the doors. A lady started YELLING and ran up and screamed at the driver. She had several children with her and I guess her husband had not made it on the bus. The driver opened the doors and let him on.
After we were dropped off at the terminal, we had to walk the entire length of the terminal to get to our check in area. I told the KLM rep that we had missed our flight yesterday and already had our boarding passes. She said we could go straight to the gate. We had to go through security (where they once again pulled my bags aside and didn’t find anything) and then went straight to the gate. At no time did we show any form of ID! So basically, anyone who wants to fly in Europe can print a boarding pass and then hand it off to someone else to board the flight because they never have to show ID. Not very “comforting”!!!!
Our flight left on time and it was a 1 hour and 45 minute flight and I think we all slept all the way! Landed Oslo and miracle of miracles, all our luggage and equipment were there. We went upstairs to check it in for our SAS and Wideroe flights and tried to use the Kiosk. I was the only person able to use it to print my boarding pass and bag tags. Had to take everyone else to the check-in counter and just my luck, she barely spoke English! It took forever to check everyone in because she thought their middle names were their last names. Luckily we only had to pay for one piece of excess.
We had landed at 8:45 am and our flight to Bodo didn’t depart until 1:05 pm. We ate breakfast and I worked for a while and then it was time to board. That was another 1 ½ hour fight and again, we all slept! We landed at the tiny Bodo Airport and realized that 5 of the guys didn’t have boarding passes for the next flight! We were able to pull the up on their phones and board the little Wideroe Prop plane to Leknes. It was only a 25 minute flight but was foggy, very windy and raining when we landed. Not a fun flight.
Gunnar was there waiting for us and all our luggage and equipment arrived with us. It was a 5 minute drive to the hotel and everyone wanted to eat dinner immediately. The food was very good – I had salmon, of course.
Been in my room working and arguing with AOL for hours now.
Jude

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2019 – PERFORMANCE AT LOFOTEN COUNTRY FESTIVAL, NORWAY:

My plan to jog this morning was ruined by rain!  Not a heavy rain…just a drizzle but it was cold as well.   So, was forced to work out with bands instead in my room.

Showered and worked until time to go to sound check at 11:45 am.  This is a great venue….a “sports hall” and the “floor” is Astro Turf …except for the dance floor, of course.  All the people who work with the festival are just so nice and helpful..Reidar, Stig, Anna and of course my long-time friend Gunnar and oh so many other people.  One of the staff had brought the mix to make Norwegian “pancakes” (waffles) and had the available when we walked in.  Since they didn’t have them at the airport the other day, I took David and Susan one back when we left.

The stage was set and everything was ready for the guys to sound check.  Gunnar and I talked while they were sound checking.  They finished in less than the 1 ½ hours allotted because of the rockin’ system Tim now brings on the road with them in the USA.  He can fly everything in one small case and he mixes monitors and front of house from his iPad.  Now we no longer need a monitor or front of house console and Randy Hall no longer needs a bass amp.  Big cost savings for the promoters.

Was going to walk downtown to check out all the “booths” but it started raining again just as we were driving back.  David, Susan and Howard had walked down and eaten at a Thai booth and said it was excellent.  I ate the cheese and fruit that I had brought to my room from the breakfast bar and ended up working from 2 pm until 10:30 pm when it was time to go to the show.  I did take about a 20 minute break for room service.

It’s so much cooler up here but no one is complaining after the miserable heat we have had on all the previous dates.  There’s a large “green room” backstage and a “container” for the dressing room.  Howard and David had several VIP’s to meet and a short interview with a local newspaper.  The journalist looked like she was about 12 years old, sweet as could be, and scared to death.  She said The Bellamy Brothers are her father’s favorite artist so no pressure on her to do a good job! Of course, Howard and David made it easy for her.

Bellamys took the stage at 11:30 am (yep!) and played until 1 am.  The staff had brought vegetarian gluten free pizza, chili, and lots of other items for them to eat after the show. We were back at the hotel at about 1:45 am and I decided to let everything that needed to be done, wait until tomorrow.  I was in bed by 2:30 am.

Jude

 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH – LEKNES TO OSLO:

Slept until 8:30 am and it was wonderful.  Had a quick shower, 30 minutes of stretching exercises and went down for decaf coffee and a little food for breakfast in my room. I decided to log into Wideroe/SAS to make sure the airlines hadn’t changed our seats again like they did on the flights over.  Yesterday I had gone in and reserved the seats I knew everyone wanted.  Sure enough, they had moved everyone around and had 3 of my guys in middle seats.   I changed them again and “prayed” it was close enough to departure time that the airlines would leave us alone!

We departed the hotel at 12:00 noon for the 5 minute drive to the airport.

We were the first people there to check in for our flight and it was easy and painless.  We did not have to pay any excess charges. It all depends on the “luck of the draw” and the “interpretation” of the rules for excess charges.

Flight departed on time and only took 25 minutes on the little Wideroe Prop Plane.  We had a short layover in Bodo (pronounced Budda) and then a 1 hour 45 minute flight on a larger SAS plane to Oslo.  All our luggage and equipment arrived and we walked over to the Radisson to check in.  I had been emailing with the hotel on a regular basis to make sure everything was set after the nightmare we had with Emmylou Harris at this same hotel.  They did have “most” of our information and issued our keys pretty quickly.

Tim, Galen and I dropped our bags in our room and headed back over to the airport to try to check in.  KLM – as I have stated many times on this tour – is awful and we weren’t able to check in online.  We fly KLM from Oslo to Amsterdam and then usually fly Delta to JFK or Atlanta for the long overseas flight.  This time we are on a KLM flight and the plane is really, really “old”.  They have two classes of service – Business and Coach.   No Economy Plus or Economy Comfort Coach.

After several attempts we were able to check everyone in and print boarding passes except for Randy Hiebert.   I don’t know if it is because he is Canadian or if it was something else.  We went to the KLM counter and the agent was able to print his boarding passes there.

I had received a notice from the travel agent yesterday stating that Delta was allowing passengers to change their flights free of charge if they would be traveling on September 8th via Amsterdam due to “Industrial Action”.  We only missed it by ONE day.  Hopefully things will be back to “normal” tomorrow if there is such a thing at the Amsterdam airport!

Everyone ate dinner at the Radisson Hotel restaurant compliments of the Lofoten Festival.  The menu definitely wasn’t very “American friendly” with things like Moose Burger Sliders, Kingcrab Loin, burgers, etc.  Thankfully the “special of the day” was salmon and it was good.  There was an appetizer that was great though – Norwegian “vaffles” with goat cheese, smoked ham and cloudberry jam!

When I checked in, I had asked the front desk clerk to make sure the restaurant knew we were allowed to charge one starter, entrée, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage as part of our hotel booking.  She assured me that they did.  And, of course, the restaurant knew nothing about it.  I had to go to my room and retrieve the paperwork to show them.  Then, he insisted that we should have all eaten at 7 pm as a “group” and that they already had a “set menu” selected for us.  I assured him that would never have worked for our group.   He finally relented and I was able to go to my room at around 7:30 pm.   Showered and worked for a few hours.  Had planned to go to the fitness room and get in a good workout but just too tired to even attempt it.  Will get back on schedule next week – at least for a few days!

Jude