I wish I would have known that you can visit the Transport for London web site and check out service disruptions BEFORE I booked a hotel on the Jubilee line…which was closed this weekend.

Sarah wishes she would have known that there is NO WAY you will get anyway near a London pub (after 17:00) before you are officially 18.

Life sucks..

And so, a mere 14 hours after we had originally planned to depart, we were on our way to London.

There was practically no sign of snow in Central London, but the suburbs were a different story altogether! While they had managed to clean up the main arteries, side roads and pavements were covered in slush and, in some places, a treacherous coat of ice.

And it didn’t help that I decided to turn right and charge in a northern direction upon leaving the Swiss Cottage Tube station (I eventually realised my mistake when I noticed the sun setting on our left instead of our right; DBW still doesn’t believe me, though..).

But we got there in the end, checked in, dumped the 173 kilos of clothes Sarah had brought along and headed back to town.

Later that evening we even managed to convince a bold taxi driver to take us “all the way up to High Barnet”, despite the fact that he (and everyone else in the UK) had NEVER heard of winter tyres and wasn’t sure if he would make it back in one piece. Jo and Andy welcomed up with open arms, a delightful meal and a few alcoholic beverages were consumed, Sarah was dropped off and everything was perfect again!

And so it happened!

As I was driving home this evening, mentally ticking items off a virtual checklist, DBW called and informed me that we wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight: Gatwick was practically closed, Luton was no better off, and, at Heathrow, most BA flights were cancelled as well.

Oh joy!

So we were basically offered two choices: rebook our original flights to the next day or request a refund and start searching for an alternative. And as Swiss was only slightly more expensive, was flying around lunch and had not suffered any cancellations, our choice was rapidly made.

A couple of clicks later, we had booked and checked in; it was now time to process our cancellations.

Naturally our hotel for the night refused even to consider providing a reimbursement: a non-refundable tariff is cheaper for exactly that reason…

So we turned to our flights. And here is where it gets interesting: when Easyjet cancels a flight, they send you the following mail:

Dear Customer

We regret to advise you that due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to cancel the flight or flights detailed below:

Booking Number: EG6KVJX

Flight Date  -   Flight No.  -   Dept. Airport     -     Arriv. Airport     -     Dept. Time     -     Arriv. Time

07-01-2010     -     8868          –   ZRH                    -   LGW                   -   21:40               -    22:25

We would like to offer you one of the following in accordance with our obligations under EC Regulation 261/2004:

- A full refund of the cost of your flight and any directly related unflown sector within the same booking (if applicable), back to the original card your flight was paid with, or

- A free transfer to another flight on the same route within 30 days of the original flight date. If your flight is part of a return trip, you will be able to change any directly related sector(s) within the same booking free of charge to keep your initial intended length of stay.

Please click here to choose one of the options offered to you. Please ensure you cancel your travel insurance and/or car rental, if any.

Upon clicking on “here”, you are then offered to request a refund or rebook.

And when you select “refund” and click on “submit”, your next screen is a “Thank-you for submitting your request, we will get back to you”.

But then, you can also visit the Customer Services web site where you presented with a slightly more extensive form to fill in. Here you can mention any additional costs (such as hotels, etc..) which ensued due to the cancellation.

Being inquisitive, and having two separate bookings (Sarah’s was one-way), I tried both solutions with the following results:

Plan A, reacting to the email, produced another mail informing me that our case would be handled in due time, but we should be patient due to the “exceptional amount of requests received”

Plan B, submitting the request via the web site, provided me with a incident ticket number… and a mail reminding me of the “exceptional amount, blablabla”.

I am VERY curious about the outcome!

There are many reasons why we spend literally AGES planning our holidays.

They have to be absolutely perfect, of course, which, when traveling with two adolescent daughters whose wishes are diametrically opposed to ours, is a feat in itself.

We make use of the obvious web sites: TripAdvisor, HolidayCheck.de (very important to get the opinions of both the Brits – “The bar was fantastic, but the bloody Germans couldn’t stop getting up at 06:00 every morning to nab the sun beds” – and the Germans – “The pool was fantastic, apart from the very loud and drunken Brits“).

And then, you discover other tools…

Take this place: the charming little Hotel Alicja in Lodz, Poland.

European standards in a friendly athmosphere, they state. And their website is teaming with pictures which will ultimately make you totally forget about St Barth’s.

Tempting, I hear you say..

Brilliant hotels! And one of the rare chains which can accomodate a family of four (incl. 2 physically non-infant, psychologically infant-like, teenagers) in one room.

DBW and the girls shared a room in a London (while I was basking in my corporate luxury) and, due to their positive experience, the HolidayInn Express at Valencia Airport was the hotel of choice for spending our last night on Spanish soil.

Especially due to this complimentary contraption:

Nothing like a warm mug of instant coffee at 04:15 in the morning! It would have been nice, though, if they would have included more than just four bags of DECAF…

You can fly for free with Ryanair. No kidding! Had we flown from Monday to Monday, our flight would have cost nothing, nada, zilch!

Apart from:

• Airport Taxes: variable; € 19.00 in this case
• Luggage: € 20.00 for one item
• Airport Check-In: € 10.00 (yes: you HAVE to take the airport check-in option if you have luggage).
• Oh, and if you have the great idea to pay by credit card: € 5.00 per person and leg.

And there are those 15 “non-poolable” kilos per suitcase… That’s per person, mind you: it doesn’t matter that you are a family of four and have booked three suitcases. 2 X 14 Kg + 1 X 17 Kg = € 30.00 surcharge.

Simply book three suitcases for the same person, I hear you mutter.. AHAAH, gotcha: 3 X suitcases <> 3 X € 20.00. A person carrying 3 suitcases will be charged a whopping € 100.00 (which excludes future hospital costs to treat the subsequent hernia)! Mr O’Leary has got EVERYTHING worked out!

It’s manageable on the outbound flight, if you just happen to own one of those dreaded bathroom scales. But how many hotel’s amenities include a scale? How exactly are you then expected to spread 44.3 Kg of dirty washing over 3 suitcases? Glad they didn’t inspect our carry-on luggage too thoroughly..