eTicket blessing or nightmare?

Modern day technology is great and if airlines can reduce their flight cost slightly by introducing eTickets, then I'll support it fully. So, when we went to the Dominican Republic in December 2006, we were given eTickets. For my parents, eTicket is effectively a ticket that your get by email (I hope you know what email is?) and print. Our kids were at that time 17 months (son) and 2,5 years (daughter).

The journey started in Dublin, where we booked in our luggage and got our boarding cards; bounty beaches here we come. I will in another blog, tell you about the Dominican Republic as a travel destination, and how it was for the kids.

After two wonderful weeks in the Caribbean, we had to return home to Europe. Flights from these parts of the World are normally overnight flights, so we left the hotel late afternoon to make sure we had enough time to check-in and of course some duty-free shopping.

Approx. 150 people had the same idea as us, so when we arrived at the airport, we immediately started to queue. Speed was not essential to the check-in staff and time was being wasted away, standing and waiting. I was amazed how well the kids behaved, considering the time of day this was.

You have to understand that these planes can carry 2-300 passengers, and they all check-in at the same time!! After queuing for almost 45 minutes, we were thankfully asked to come to the first class check-in desk; probably because they knew the kids would at some stage start to act up. My prayers had been answered - excellent.

This is where our nightmare started. The guy behind the counter didn’t know anything about eTickets and said that our son did not have a ticket and could fly. How did they expect he arrived to the Dominican Republic and was he meant to get back home? So, staying calm, I kindly showed him our son's eTicket (with his name) and his passport, to demonstrate that this was indeed a ticket and my son's ticket. But, to my horror, the clerk insisted that it was not possible for an infant (kids below the age of 24 months) to travel on an eTicket.

What, were we meant to leave him behind alone?

The story is about to take another turn, as my wife had enough and demands to speak to the supervisor. Please note, my wife is from South America and the supervisor she's from the Dominican Republic, both with hot tempers.

The South-American girls locked horns, steam starting to emerge from their foreheads and arguing for about 10-15 minutes - getting absolutely nowhere, except demonstrating that they did not agree and did not intend to either.

I'm not a relaxed traveller, which is an understatement. I'm the kind of person that checks for tickets, passwords and money every 3 minutes, and leave for the airport 5 hours before check-in opens. The closer we got to departure time, the more stressed I got, nervous that we wouldn’t make the flight, despite 150 people still hadn’t checked in!. My turn to talk to the supervisor. I tuned in on my Danish charm, much to the dismay of my wife, and calmly explained the problem to the supervisor. We had bought the eTickets in Dublin, by a travel agency, and used them to fly to the Dominican Republic via Paris. I even offered to pay for a new (real) ticket for my son, but assured her that I would demand a refund when I return to Ireland, contacting her boss. She finally eased up and checked us in, against her air hostess religion.

The funny thing about this story is that my son was too young to sit in a seat by himself, so we were only meant to book him on the flight as a named passenger. He was going to sit in our lap or sleep in a cot on the flight.

Right, luggage booked in and boarding cards in hand, off to security check-in. It was my responsibility to carry the boarding cards - big mistake. By mistake, I left a boarding card behind in security and when we were boarding at the gate, we only had three boarding cards. Panic set in and I was starting to faint. We were not meant to leave this place. The air hostess contacted the check-in desk, to check if they could get a replacement boarding card, and my wife was certain that it was the same "lovely" supervisor that answered the call. Finally, they came walking with a new boarding card - it was in fact my wife's boarding I had managed to lose. I was a nervous wreck at this stage. Thanks to my wife, we managed to get on the flight home, boarding as the last passengers.

At this point, my son was getting very angry, but that's another story.

Lessons learned

1. Make sure that your child, if less than 24 months, can travel on a eTicket or need a paper ticket

2. NEVER carry the boarding cards in one hand, while picking up a crate during security check-in with the other

3. Relax, you will of course make the flight, especially if there are more than 100 passengers behind you during check-in

Republica Dominicana...reggaeton all the way

My wife, a South American beauty, needs to get some sun every year, and no, the local sunbeds will not do. It's a bit like a flower that needs sun rays to grow and live. Living in a somewhat grey environment like Ireland, similar to Mordor in regards to grey clouds and rain, is not ideal for a white plumeria flower, like my wife.

My wife is the event manager for the family, and therefor in charge of organising the family holidays. This year she planned a trip to the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana, taking place in early December 2006.

(Punta Cana = Punta means Point, or rather a point, or location. Cana is a name used for a type of palm tree and the leaves that have been used for roofing for centuries, in that region.)

There are no direct flights to Punta Cana from Dublin, so my wife found some tickets via Paris, flying wife Air France.

Let the adventures begin!

One thing to note about Air France planes is that they are designed for tight arse French people, so a Scandinavian and South American arse does not exactly fit comfortably into the narrow seat space...and the flight from Paris to Punta Cana is 8 hours. My left cheek was well sleep 22 minutes into the flight and I developed a limp when bringing the kids to the toilet.

Anyway, traveling with kids under the age of 3 always creates some fears, especially for the fellow passengers. You know, as soon as you board the flight, that the other passengers are somewhat skeptical and apprehensive about this. Their eyes says it all "Oh no...please don't sit close to me, please, please, please!" Our kids were 1.5 and 2.5 years old and were about to embark on a 18 hour journey; Dublin -> Paris -> Punta Cana (all in one day). God have mercy on us, cause our kids will not have when they get bored and hungry. Interesting that Air France does not consider infants, under the age of 24 months, when calculating food for passengers, hence they didn't have food for my son. But, some people learn VERY quickly, especially when dealing with South American temper and my sons Scandinavian viking anger that comes out when hungry.

The journey out went somewhat smoothly. No scenes or painful moments. Our kids were brilliant.

Upon arriving, you have to get a tourist visitor card, which is paid for in the airport. Once you've queued for 30 minutes, you get out to the luggage. We arrived around 19.00 local time, so it was still roasting, and we had to drive approx. 40 minutes with a local driver to the hotel. My wife always book our personal driver when traveling abroad, which is a luxury, but excellent. It was difficult to gage what the country was like, as it was still dark, but it came across as very poor. Perhaps it had something to do with the speed we were going, across gravel roads and speed bumps the size of gian anacondas (perhaps they were anacondas?).

We stayed in a 5 star all-inclusive resort with its own private beach. There were 10 different restaurants and when I say all-inclusive, I mean all-inclusive. Even my cigarettes and room service were included, happy days. Can you believe it? The resort even had a little zoo. Staff were super friendly and my son had all the female staff wrapped around his fingers, to much amazement and happiness of his father (me). "I taught you well, my little grasshopper"

The room we had was like a small apartment, own balcony and view of both swimming pool + beach. Everything within 5 minutes walk.

We more or less stayed in the resort for 2 weeks solid, only to venture outside on a couple of occasions. Once to see the local shopping area outside resort, consisting of a pharmacy, a cafe and 243 souvenir shops. Again, the locals were extremely friendly. The second time out we went to an animal park, Animal Adventure Park, driving in a traditional Dominican bus; explosion of colors of red and yellow, and loud reggaeton music - poco loco driver. We spend the day with the animal trainers, touching/holding all animals including: sea lions, monkeys, turtles, parrots, tucan, iguana, stingrays and a giant white tiger. They had about 10 dogs keeping the tigers under control, somewhat distressing circumstances given that these cats were 500lbs beasts. Ripping these tiny dogs to pieces would be an easy task - and, I got slightly freaked out, when the dogs started to chase something in the bushes behind me, which turned out to be the second white tiger. Last, but not least, I got to hold a white python, reminding most of the make tourists of Salma Hayek in"Dusk till Dawn". Not that I have a body like Salma Hayek, but because of the white snake of course.

Dominican Republic introduced the family to Reggaeton; reggae mixed with dance rythms. The kids absolutely loved it and went bonkers when it was played. My son would start dancing in the middle of the restaurant, to the joy of the female staff - brilliant. To this day, we still put it on in the house (using our Apple kit) and blast the neighbors out, dancing like Jackson Five. It's happy music.

The pool area was huge and had its own in-the-pool bar. Breakfast buffet had EVERYTHING you could think of, with a local flavor, and the kids ate loads - so did we. The female staff rushed to our son, as soon as we entered, lifting and hugging him. When I tried to hug them, they slapped my face, and so did my wife. Where is the justice in that?

The beach, wow! Pure white sand, with bar staff servicing guests. Sitting underneath palm trees, kids playing in the sand, suntanned beach beauty next to me (my wife of course)...what more could I ask for? All-inclusive....ha ha ha...this is life.

After two weeks we were sad having to go home. I still remember how weird it was, seeing palm trees covered with Christmas lights and Christmas tunes played on the speakers, while the sun was blazing. Would I go back? Well beside the minor ticket problem in the airport, any day.