The day my bike returned from vacation

Admittedly, I never thought I would write this article. In the meantime, I have been using the airplane for over 20 years. In my heyday, I sometimes flew 10 times a year. Short or long distances, with or without luggage, with or without a bike. The longest delay I ever had was three hours. I wish no one three hours of delay, let alone with Cor and Don at a Turkish airport. And that Cor and Don are also on the plane. I would rather wish even your worst enemy a gentle nudge. In all those years, I have never missed a piece of luggage, or someone forgot to bring it along for me. Until June 27, 2022. The day my bike went on a slightly longer vacation than I did.

Text: Sander Kolsloot, photos: Kostas Karadimos, Sander Kolsloot

Back to the beginning

After a beautiful, short trip to Northern Greece, At the airport in Thessaloniki, where I was to explore the region for a new event, I get up early in the morning. My driver Lampros gives me a high-five and I bring my bike bag containing my bike – which is still less than a month old – to the ’odd-size‘ baggage area. Funny enough, I then think: ’if it just arrives‘. But anyway, I laugh it off. Almost six hours later, from Thessaloniki, via Athens, I stand in the baggage carousel waiting. Now bike luggage always takes a little longer, but after 30 minutes I start to squeeze it a little. Around me I see piles of suitcases, strollers, buggies, and I know many more things. It can’t be true, my bike had apparently booked an extra day of vacation.

In the queue

Have you ever stood in a queue? Yes? Do you ever consciously notice the time you’re in the queue? I dare say that often you think you’re standing longer than you actually are. Once I was standing in front of a consultancy assignment clocking the waiting times at the entrance of a large exhibition hall. A man came wild gesticulating towards me and shouted in a hurry: ‘It’s outrageous, I’ve been in the queue for more than 20 minutes.’ I could calmly tell him that he had actually waited exactly 9 minutes and 10 seconds. Ouch.

Get in line!

Back to June 27th. After an hour of waiting (really an hour), I know enough. That bag isn't coming. On to the office of AVIA PARTNERS, The baggage handler. There I see a line of about ten men. The process is slow as molasses. Two people inside behind a desk, about 10 minutes per customer. Oh dear. That's really going to take a long time. A few times I can see a black bike bag still standing on the baggage belt from my peripheral vision, but every time it's a false alarm.

Horror stories

Everyone experiences setbacks in a different way. Some become hypochondriacs immediately or start hyperventilating. Others make a big deal out of it and get involved in all sorts of things. Once I’ve joined the queue, I hear horror stories about suitcases that have been lost for months. I quickly make ‘friends’ and somehow help people fill in the necessary forms. In English, Italian and ’tapas Spanish’, I performed my good deed of the day. An American lady walks out of the hall with her suitcase under loud cheers. A reassuring face. Meanwhile, I notice a lot of unrest in the queue. A mid-week Dutch trip starts off poorly for a few GR hikers. A man in a suit runs in and out of the office, gesturing wildly. When I ask someone if we could maybe have a cup of coffee, I get strange looks. This isn’t going well.

Friendly

Once my turn comes around, a friendly, red-haired guy helps me with my claim. He adds: oh that suitcase is probably in Athens; most likely they’ll send it on the first flight tomorrow. Great! Okay, I’ll take a note with a reference number attached. Through an online system I can track everything. Annoying, but that’s just the way it is. The whole process took almost two (2!) hours. With an alarm clock that went off at three o’clock in the morning, that’s no fun at all. Back on the train, I blow off some of the stress. It’ll be okay, I tell myself.

Long wait

Then the long wait begins. At first I was still quite relaxed. I thought: after two days I’ll get some contact. Two days become a week. A week becomes a month, and all that time there is NO ONE who even mentions it. I call AEGEAN, the airline, several times during that period. I end up in a mess of call center ladies and gentlemen who ask me very politely if I want to send them an email. The answer to that email never comes. The online system shows no change. So is it still going to end in a negative? Through the system you can contact the baggage handling department. No response. You can’t call them, but you can email them. Only after a month (!) do I get a message that the suitcase is ‘according to the system somewhere at Schiphol’. I’m relieved. I email them or I can’t come and pick it up. No response.

Baggage searchers and other assistance dogs

By now I have posted some messages on LinkedIn. People are offering to help. I haven’t heard anything from AVIA PARTNER or AEGEAN, but others want to help find a solution. My parents, back from a trip to Italy, are also among the suitcases at Schiphol. Asking around at the desk doesn’t get them anywhere. Word of mouth is spreading that others are offering to ask friends. I have acquaintances at the ANWB Alarm Center, but they don’t know how to help with this either. It’s almost surreal. Friends who laughingly ask me if they should still ask. About my bike.

Change in diet

When I have an appointment with Oneway Distribution at the end of August, the conversation still comes up on my bike. Just for fun, I quickly check the system to see if I can make a good joke. I get startled: ‘delivery process initiated’ is displayed. It’s happening! I jump out of bed and both Carola (OWD) and Ruben look at me in complete amazement. I’m in a frenzy. My bike is coming back! It’s August 19, almost two months after my flight from Thessaloniki. But then it goes quiet again. I email AVIA PARTNERS. No response, except a ‘what is your reference number’, with capital letters in the subject line. Nothing, absolutely nothing. At some point, when I start emailing daily, something seems to be happening, but still no concrete date for delivery. I just keep looking away along the Vuelta Parcours.

Thursday 22 September

The Netherlands play against Poland in Warsaw for the Nations League football. I’m watching Better Call Saul with a squint. My thoughts wander off. Suddenly the bell rings. Slowly I get out of my seat. ‘I didn’t order anything, right?’ I realize. Probably another collection or something. When I open the door, my mouth drops open in amazement. There it is! My bike! Or rather, the suitcase, where my bike should go. I’m speechless. After a few seconds without words, I throw myself into the delivery man’s arms. He doesn’t know what to do. ‘You had to wait a while for that, right?‘ he asks laughing. ’Three months‘, I answer. He can’t believe it. He poses happily, for a photo that ends up being moving, for a moving period. Bizarre.

The suitcase is very big, the bike is very big, everything is still in the bag. I just can't believe it.

Even taking a deep breath

I am writing this story two days after I got my suitcase back. I was able to breathe in and out for a moment and put everything into perspective. You can read this story as a story of someone who was sometimes borderline desperate. Someone who woke up at night and suddenly thought ’shit, he’s not coming back, how am I going to fix this now?‘ You could also read it as a slightly exaggerated story of a suitcase that was in a different place for a while. Then it wouldn’t have flown away; it’s just a bike. No big deal. I don’t care. I wanted to share this story partly to be able to let it out, but also because there are lessons to be learned that go beyond getting a suitcase back or the stress you might feel that something you’ve borrowed isn’t coming back. For me, it was extremely stressful and I’ll explain why.

Points of (no) return

I have gained quite a bit of experience in jobs where I have had or have had customer contact. As an entrepreneur, but also previously as a commercial force and consultant, I have noticed that customer contact and communication are important. In this entire process, I have mostly missed that: communication. I couldn’t get up-to-date or reliable information about the status of my luggage anywhere. Whether the bike is worth €5 or €6000, that doesn’t matter. It is and remains my bike, which at that moment is in the possession of someone else. Trust is a great asset. You build trust by having contact with people. That was completely absent. The airline did absolutely nothing and the people at AVIA PARTNERS had so much hassle that they simply turned off the phone. The 10-day processing time for emails was never met. Never.

Stress

It caused a lot of stress. I just couldn't process it well. If you don't know anything or only get brief information, then you have to trust the process. That's difficult when you don't already have confidence in the organization. The bizarre thing about it all is that the suitcase was already at Schiphol since June 29 (that is, two days later). It had been sitting in a basement somewhere for over a month and a half. That process could have been much faster. It was therefore ultimately unnecessary stress.

Borrowing

One of the things that contributed to my stress was that I had things on loan. The bike and the wheels were both from different partners with whom I work together. The cost of replacement would exceed the coverage of my insurance. That caused extra financial stress. In addition, all my belongings were already in the bag. My clothes, my pedals, my shoes (!). Everything. It was/is just stuff, but you can’t just buy everything new if you don’t know if it will come back. That could have made a big difference with communication.

What I also found stressful was the idea that you had to go through the entire insurance process. The longer the process took, the more indifferent I became, but the more I kept thinking that I actually had to file the claim. Frustrations, hassle, you name it.

Tips after this experience

All is well in the end. The bike is back and everything is fine. The clothes smell a bit musty, but nothing Ariel can't wash. If you ever go flying, there is always a risk that your luggage will arrive later than you. In the current situation (autumn 2022) with the hassle at Schiphol, it is already difficult. Here are a few handy tips (also from the Open Deur foundation):

• Buy airtags. I’ve heard so many times now: ‘didn’t you have airtags?’ No. I didn’t have them.
• Check your travel insurance. How much does it cover if you lose your belongings during the flight? Know that you will receive a maximum of €1500 from the airline (this is stipulated in regulations, I only found out later).
• Do you have a very expensive bike and are you taking it with you? Please inform the airline in advance. This helps to create some peace of mind. It probably also costs a little more than taking that suitcase with you, but if something goes wrong, you know that you are at least financially covered.
• Lock your suitcase. That also helps, in case you think: is everything still inside?
• Do yoga or other breathing exercises. You're going to need them. Through Rik I got tips on Yoga with Adrienne. Nothing wrong with that.
• I always choose a hard shell suitcase, like this one from SciCon. Then you always know that nothing damaged will come back.
• Trust the process. You have things that you can influence and things that you cannot influence. I had zero control over this process. The worst that could happen was that I would have to deal with the insurance company. That wasn’t the end of the world. So no stress then.
• There is a very beautiful one on our site. article about traveling with your own bike. Then you can think again about whether you would rather bring your own bike or a rental bike.