We arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday afternoon. WE did, but our luggage did not… Only Linda’s bike was there, nothing else. The other bike and all 3 of our bags had disappeared. The other bike was already missing in Buenos Aires. A big hustle to get that sorted out, but I’m proud of myself because I did it all in Spanish. The bike hadn’t been on our flight from Rome, but would come over on the next flight. It would be transported to Ushuaia on a later flight. Okay, not too bad.

Op Schiphol/ at the airport

We had left Rome an hour late, so we only had little time in Buenos Aires. We had to claim our luggage there and re-check it. But, because we arrived so late and we had to wait in line for customs for about 45 minutes, it was impossible to catch our flight. And then the whole thing with the missing bike happened which made it take even more time. When we collected the other luggage, we went to the departure hall for our flight to Ushuaia. We missed it, so they put us on the next flight. But we still had little time to catch that flight. We quickly checked in and left our luggage to be put on the plane. But then there was the other bike. It was still in it’s box, but the box didn’t fit in the scanner. So we had to take the bike out, push it through the scanner, put it back in the box and tape it shut again. Then quickly to the gate and cought our flight. Everything fine, so we thought…
But when we arrived in Ushuaia, we discovered that the only luggage that had come with us on our flight, was the 1 bike! Nothing else; 3 bags gone… Again to a counter of the airline to claim the missing pieces of luggage. The lady couldn’t see where our bags were at that moment, but they surely would be on one of the following flights. Luggage would be brought to our hotel.
So we couldn’t ride our bikes from the airport to the hotel. Instead, the one bike went in the back of a cab and that’s how we went to our hotel.

So, we didn’t have anything of our gear, only the things we carried in our carry-on luggage. When we came back to the hotel after dinner, fortunately the bags were waiting for us in the lobby. But not the bike! The guy at the reception called a friend of his who works at the airport, but there was no bike there. He advised us to go back to the airport the next day and try to sort things out.

So on Thursday morning we went back to the airport to check on the status of the bike. Fortunately, the lady who helped us the day before was there today. She remembered us and called the airport in Buenos Aires. The bike should be on the next arriving plane. Well, no there was no bike on the plane. Lady called Buenos Aires again and got to speak to the person who gave the bike to the person who was going to put it on the plane. But because that was pretty short till departure, it could be that they put it on the next flight. No choice but to wait for the next flight which was scheduled to land a few minutes later. And yes, there was our bike!! And in one piece too… Put it together and walked back to the city. The weather was nice, so it was nice to be outside.

Now we finally have all our stuff. Bikes are ready to roll. Just have to repack everything logically and then we’re ready. Saturday we leave our hotel and then we go…
Only a shame that Ron had to celebrate his birthday like this…

Fietsen weer in elkaar/ bike put back together