Postcard from Bucharest

The adventure started even before we had left home.

“Your flight is delayed by several hours and you will miss your connecting flight in Munich,” read the message. “But we’ve booked you on the next flight.”

This meant an 8 hour layover and arriving at 1 a.m. Not an appealing prospect. A phone call to the airline was successful in getting rebooked on another flight with a short layover in Frankfurt and arriving in Bucharest around 6 p.m.

Now we had to rush out of the house because this flight left in four hours and there was still much to do.

Checking in, the Lufthansa agent politely told us the bicycles would cost $450 each. I believe I said: “That’s insane. Air Canada’s fee for a bicycle is $50.” Another agent said they would honour that price because we had Air Canada tickets. Done! Thank you!

The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Bucharest on time with all our luggage and both bikes. Of course there were no taxis big enough to transport us. In the end, we did find one but Jan had to squeeze in the back with the bike boxes without having a proper seat.

About two km from our accommodation in the city’s old town the front right tire blew. I think he hit a curb. Our driver kept going as there was no place to safely stop. When there was, we got out to check and the tire was already partially shredded. He ushered us back into the cab and we continued slowly, making lots of noise as the tire shredded even more.

He dropped us off in front of our rented apartment and helped bring in the luggage and bikes. Feeling sorry for the guy we ended up giving him $45 on top of the $75 fare. We left him waiting for a tow truck.

We were tired and hungry but still had to drag the bikes up three floors to the apartment. Taking them out of the boxes made this a little easier. With this done, we headed across the street to a funky looking place and enjoyed an excellent light meal and a drink before returning to our apartment where we collapsed in a jet lagged stupor.

Like I said, an adventure.

In Bran, we met Frank and Sylvia who arrived here a week earlier to do a race. From here we will continue as a foursome to explore Romania and beyond.