Today is the first day of the entire trip. Traveling from home all the way to Tuscon, Arizona. A long day so that we can start our cycling trip tomorrow!
This morning I’ve set my alarm clock at 7am. Of course I was already awake, as I usually already am. I had all the time to get up and prepare. For our convenience, we already put the bike box on the car’s roof yesterday evening. Around 8.15 we (Karin, Stijn, and myself) were all ready to leave.
The ride to Schiphol went without any issues, and we arrived around 9.45. When we got to the departures level, I walked to a toilet, and in front of it I already saw Fons with whom I will be riding. He also just arrived. We went back to my family to say our goodbyes and got in the line for our bagage check-in. All went well, no issues with the bike fees. After that, passing the security check and customs also went without a breeze.
Just after 1pm we could board the airplane. All as scheduled. First stop was Atlanta. From there we fly to Tuscon. Unfortunately, there was no option for a direct flight. Getting through customs was easy, never seen short lines like today. Getting the bag from Fons was a different story. It took 1.5 hours. Apparently there was a power issue in the plane and they couldn’t get the cargo doors open. Strange thing is that our bike boxes were almost immediately at the odd size bagage. Apparently these get in and out of the plane via a different cargo door. After getting the bikes and bag we had to drop off the bagage again and go through security. Al cleared, we went to terminal-T using the local railway. Although we had plenty of time, they decided to give us some more because the second flight was delayed with 45 minutes .
And so we arrived at 10.15pm at Tuscon International Airport with no option for the hotel shuttle anymore. Last ride was at 10pm. So, we had to assemble the bikes at the arrival area and cycle the 800 meters to the motel. Waiting for the bikes took long, Delta had them in their office instead of at odd size bagage, new employee. Thankfully for the airtag I could locate them. After assembling the bikes we rode to the motel were we arrived around midnight. Little cleanup of ourselves and then to bed for the desired sleep.
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