39 - Sunday, November 6, 1988 - North Shore News aan Juan airlines manages ice! o lose I DOUBT if there is ever an ‘‘uneventful’’ trip. However, ba some are more ‘“‘eventful’’ than others, and once things start to go wrong the downslide often continues. I’ve had my share of small in- conveniences, mostly health- related with food poisoning high on the list. Nothing too serious — even the shipwreck in Brazil had a happy ending. It’s usually the smali stuff that grinds you down. Here’s an example. I've often boasted that I’ve never lost my baggage. Not any more — is twice in one trip enough for penance? On Oct. 20, I boardsd San Juan airlines for a flight to Seattie, where I was to connect with S.A.S. (Scandinavian) for a flight to Copenhagen. It seems impossible but San Juan managed to lose my bag. That’s no easy thing to do con- sidering one brief flight with no stops along the way. Although S.A.S. were in no way involved with the mistake, their personnel in Seattte lost no time in helping me out. The first step was a call to San Juan to find out what they were doing to trace the bag. “I can’t believe it!’’ said the S.A.S. representative, shaking her head. ‘‘Do you want to hear what she said? Can’t be bothered!’ And hung up the phone.’”’ S.A.S. began telexing every possible destination the bag might have landed —- including Van- couver, since it might not have been loaded on the plane. Nothing. Two hours later, I found my bag being trucked away by an employee in the United Airlines baggage area — imagine my luck at finding one small bag in an air- port that size. Clearly, San Juan wasn’t looking for it. . TRAVEL After a brief but wonderful tour of Scandinavia, my baggage and | returned to Seattle and again, I trusted it to San Juan Airlines, I boarded the little nine-seater Cessna and watched while they stowed a multitude of bags in every possible part of the plane — even in the wings. ‘ Although I didn’t see my bag, I wasn’t too concerned — too tired to care. There wasn’t any baggage on the San Juan carousel in Vancouver Airport. Not one piece. You may find this hard to believe, but San Juan had manag- ed to losc the baggage for every one of the nine passengers aboard. But, the problem must have been even more involved — who owned all that stuff they piled aboard in Seattle? Some of the Victoria passengers waiting to take off in Seattle? Someone cursing in Portland? Who knows. My bags were delivered to the door about 11 p.m. the same night. They had all sorts of strange tags, including an Air Canada and a United Airlines. It’s nice to know that my iug- EXPERTS GIVE YOURSELF A DUTCH TREAT BY FLYING KLM. ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES With every purchase of a round trip ticket on KLM, we offer you DFL 25.00 (Cdn. approx. $15.00) per person towards a tax free purchase at the world's best duty free airport — AMSTERDAM. Non-stop service to Amsterdam every Saturday on KLM's famous 747 service. Restrictions do apply, call us for details. Call us for the lowest fares to London and Europe. 283-17th STREET, WEST VANCOUVER 926-8511 CLOTHES « SECRET POCKETS The OAKVILLE siore will open in early October. es * 5-YEAR GUARANTEES * WASHING {NSTRUCTIONS? “Give em Hell!” By the way, if youre off to university or around the world, two pair of Tilley Pants, one khaki, one navy, will see you through many a day ~ and evering - in style and comfort. Only the fussiest will iron them! Alex Tilley Diane Leshe (1) mn Culottes. Abson Tilley (my daughter) in the front-buttoned Expedition Skirt Drop in, Phone or Write Hours: ~ Mon-Sat. 10-5:30 Barbara Tilley 1537 West Broadway fe Vancouver, B.C, V65 1W6 Ph. 732-4287 . , or SEA-HATS z a BAY ah Endurables iene Ue | gage has made so many new friends. Still on the topic of small an- noyances: To Colgate-Palmolive Ltd., Toronto: In the interest of travelling light, I recently purchased a 50 mL tube of your famous toothpaste, paying the ridiculous price of $1.29 for it. I packed it, unopened in my plastic cosmetic case, along with all the other requirements of an average traveller. I would tike to commend your travel wise Barbara McCreadie company in giving me my full 50 mL of toothpaste. In fact, it seern- ed to me to be a great deal more, especially when I was obliged to wash it off every other item in the cosmetic bag. Perhaps it might be to your ad- vantage if you checked the machine used to seal the bottom of your tubes. Could it be showing signs of wear? At any rate, it decided to seal only half of my tube. Your at- tention to this matter would be of great interest to other travellers. If you don’t want a similar op- portunity to launder your cosmetics, check ithe crimp on your toothpaste! It seems like a smali thing, but it took me more than too long to get that gunk cleaned up. If arriving home after 15 hour of travel, including a 10 hour flight from Europe, and finding your bags missing isn’t enough, imagine this: The usual procedure at Canada Customs involves a hike from the plane to the passport control area. There, you stand in line to make your declaration and produce your proof of citizenship. This generaly takes 20 minutes, maximum. Then you claim your bags (!), walk to the exit, present your dec- laration and exit. If you look slightly shady or resemble anyone on a ‘‘wanted’’ poster, you get sent, instead, to a secondary checkpoint where your bags are inspected. Not last Sunday afternoon. For some reason — maybe we all look- ed like ‘‘wanted’’ posters — but everyone was diverted to the sec- ondary checkpoint. After a long wait, those of us with no bags were cleared. The last 1 saw of the other passengers was a long, unmoving lineup. I was asked to sign a form authorizing Canada Customs to search my lost bags before for- warding them (the usual pro- cedure). The point I'd like to stress is that I had no fears in doing this — everything on my declaration was correct — no undeclared diamond rings or other contraband. I wouldn’t like to be in the zosi- tion of many travellers who overs- pend their duty-free allowance, make a false declaration and plan to bluff it through. Especially those flying San Juan Airlines! se & A correction to last weck’s trav- el quiz: John O’Groats, not Tom O’Groats, is considered the top end of Great Britain. My atlas had it wrong. My apologies to John. Just because you're retired... friends and faces. out of circulation! Not All North Shore News carriers are young. Some are retirees who want to stay young. A NEWS paper route is an ideal part-time job. Most routes can be completed in about an HOUR — you'll get your exercise and keep in touch with your neighbors. If you're on a fixed income, the extra money is an added bonus that just might make life a little more comfortable. Mosi important, you can get involved in a meaningful, worthwhile activity that can acquaint you with new To find out how you can join our team and get involved again, call... VANCOUVER: Distribution 986-1337