The Departure: A Travel Story

I want to start this story with a note important to the context of what follows: I am very fortunate to have the opportunities I do to travel. I realize that travel requires both the time to do so and the means of making it possible. I am incredibly thankful for this and think about it whenever I get on a plane. I cannot stress enough that I am blessed with these adventures.

Travel is wonderful. However, it does come with drawbacks. It can test your patience, as there will always be a chance that things will not go as planned. Due to the unexpected, you will need more time and will spend more money. Delays are almost guaranteed, and these delays can compound with missed connections. But sometimes, the combination of events becomes an insightful and humourous story you can reflect on. And that’s what this is: a story of compounding events that I can look back at and laugh. And this is where the story picks up.

I’ve been trying to catch some sleep whenever possible, but sleeping in planes is never ideal. After over 25 hours of travel, I finally had a night in a hotel, which was my best impulse decision on this journey. Having a bed for three hours was worth the cost, and the shower was divine. I had just left Bari Airport on my way to Matera, and on the bus, as the rain streaked across my window, I opened my Macbook, connected to my phone, and started this post.

This morning, the sky is darker than it should be at this time of day. It’s going to rain, and it’s going to rain a lot. Before I left the hotel, I checked the weather forecast for Matera, and under a graphic of a dark cloud, it said, “Tonnes of Rain.” I have never seen a weather app so nonchalant in its forecast. I can only appreciate the directness.

Halifax > Frankfurt

My original outgoing flight itinerary was Halifax > Frankfurt > Florence. If everything were on time, after arriving in Florence, I would have six hours before my flight to Bari. (Florence > Rome > Bari) Knowing that delays can happen, the six hours was intentional with my booking.

About 12 hours before I was set to leave Halifax, I got the notification that my flight was delayed by an hour, which made the connection pretty tight. As a result, they preemptively rescheduled my connection from Frankfurt to Florence to a flight that left Frankfurt three hours later than initially scheduled. Four hours of that layover time were already gone, leaving two hours of connection time in Florence. I haven’t even left home yet.

Frankfurt > Florence

The gate for the flight to Florence had a boarding time that got closer and closer without a plane to board. Oddly, there were no announced delays for boarding time, and I was among the many confused passengers as the time came and went with no updates. Thirty minutes later, we started boarding, which consisted of a shuttle that took us practically to the other side of the airport. So we had to board the shuttle and then board the plane. This added 15 minutes to the process of “boarding.” I needed to get to Florence without any more delays. Chances of that happening? I gave it 20%.

Thunderstorms near our Florence destination kept us from departing Frankfurt, and we waited on the tarmac for 25 minutes. There was no way I would make this flight from Florence to Bari, but to my delight, I received an email stating that my flight out of Florence was delayed because of those thunderstorms. It was quickly delayed again, buying me an extra hour. This could work; I could technically make it now.

And now I’m in Pisa! Thunderstorms persisted, and after circling for 25 minutes, we could not land in Florence. We were diverted to Pisa to be shuttled back to Florence. Since I had now missed my flight to Bari and would get no refund or credit for it, I could take the bus they would provide to Florence or find another, more convenient way to Bari. I had no idea how long it would take to arrange transportation to Florence. Fortunately, I had a lot of time to figure out what I wanted to do as Pisa International was unprepared for us to land. We had no gate, and with the anticipated thunderstorms, they could not have any ground crew working outside. As a result, there was no shuttle to take us from the plane to the terminal. An hour passes, and we are still on the tarmac. I chuckle to myself.

I considered taking a bus from Matera to Bari, but that journey was over 12 hours long. But at least I could sleep in relative comfort. Looking back, I can’t believe I thought a 12-hour bus ride was an option.

Pisa > Bari

Perhaps there’s a chance, I thought. Could I get a flight from here directly to Bari, bypassing the stops in Florence and Rome? Yes, there are direct flights from Pisa to Bari! And this flight is leaving in 2.5 hrs. This may work out. That will give me time to get the last bus from Bari Airport to Matera, which leaves at 12:30 am to arrive at around 2 am. That is only seven hours later than initially scheduled. The flight leaves at 8:45 pm and arrives in Bari at 10:30 pm. Perfect!

Booking the flight from Pisa to Bari was not smooth, but it complemented the events before it. Initially, the employee assisting me at the Ryanair check-in directed me to book online instead of with her for two reasons: first, it’s cheaper, and second, the systems to book flights were down. I’m not joking; the systems to book flights at the airport were down, so I had no choice.

After attempting to book a flight on my phone through Ryanair (both the website and the app), I moved on to Google Flights. The app was too slow and would freeze and error out once I got to the many additions you can add to a Ryanair flight. I appreciate the Ryanair Twitter….sorry, X account as I find it amusing, but the Ryanair app is the opposite.

Google Flights was slightly more expensive than the Ryanair app, but not much. Once I reached a particular booking stage on Google Flights, I was greeted with the following: “You cannot book a flight online that leaves less than 2.5 hours from the time of booking. Please book through the airline.” This is two hours and 10 minutes before departure.

Returning to the same Ryanair employee, I explained my impasse. The system miraculously worked, and I could book the flight. However, the ticket I was given was partially handwritten, but it worked. Then, the flight to Bari was delayed for two more hours.

When (or if) I leave Pisa, the next bus from Bari Airport to Matera leaves at 7:30 am, seven hours later than the 12:30 am one. On the positive side, I can endure a few more hours of delays if needed. (sense the sarcasm)

A Night in Bari

When the flight arrived in Bari, I immediately booked a hotel. Google Maps said the hotel was 2.5 km away. Walking in an unknown city at 1:00 am from an airport was not an option, so I’d need a taxi. Exiting the terminal to the taxi stand, few cabs were coming through; after all, it was 1:00 am. But there were probably 40-50 people waiting for one.

I arrived at my hotel at about 1:30 am to a hotel with a small room with a single bed, but it was the best money I had spent in the past 24 hours. I had a long shower and quickly got to sleep. In the morning, I had breakfast (included) and a taxi ride back to the airport to get the bus to Matera.

Other Notes

• My flight from Florence to Bari was booked as a return flight. But you can’t simply miss one part of the flight and continue with the rest. They flag that type of thing. I had to call them to explain that I was not on the flight out and to make sure I could return with that booking. It’s hard to contact them when you are in the air. Thankfully, that hour on the tarmac in Pisa gave me ample time. I’ve dealt with ITI Airways twice now, and they are great.

• For those who have never been to Pisa International, it’s an airport lacking in almost every aspect you would consider a must for an airport. The main portion of the airport is not bad. It’s presentable and has a fair amount of space and amenities. Once you get through customs, though, it isn’t good. First, there is nowhere to sit. There are seats, but good luck getting one to sit on. The area cannot sustain the number of people. For the amount of people in there, there were seats for maybe 30-35% of the people. People were sitting anywhere from the moment you passed customs. There were people sitting feet from the baggage scanner, on the only staircase, near garbage cans, at the entrance to the washrooms. Everywhere! Every corner had someone sitting there. It was so crowded it was difficult to stop and stand anywhere. I had to keep moving and walking around, as there was nowhere to go. With nowhere to sit and almost nowhere to stand, there were no options to charge a phone. There were few outlets, but if you could find one, it was a daisy chain of wires and various adapters. It was the definition of “fire hazard.” There was also a lack of employees beyond customs, allowing garbage to overflow the trash bins onto the floor, and there was no air conditioning. If you ever plan to visit Pisa, avoid the airport. If possible, take a train into and out of Pisa as the airport is a nightmare of logistics and overall comfort.

Conclusion

I’ll conclude this story by returning to where I started writing it: on the bus to Matera. Arriving in Matera made everything before it worth the journey. It was a long haul, but I expected that what was to come would be something I would remember forever. And it is; Matera is stunning.

So, what is the point of sharing this story? I guess it’s to think of what’s ahead and why you are travelling in the first place: the destination. I believe that in today’s travel climate, some delays are expected. The further you go, with more connections, the better the chance that something will change.

And a final note: you may wonder why I didn’t book a flight from Halifax to Bari. I could not, as I had a credit to use for Air Canada and Florence was the furthest I could get with its partner airlines.

My journey gave me a story: the travel, Matera, and eventually Florence, and a day trip to Bologna. It was an adventure, and I am eternally grateful for it.