27: Lost and found
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2008
1
25
47
Trip End
Jul 20, 2008
Leibnitz,
Styria,
Austria
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Distance: 35km
Best bit: warmth
Worst bit: bike shock
Bike arrangements should be simple, but rarely are. For my few days off cycling (futilely waiting for the weather to clear) I decided to leave my bike at the luggage store at Graz airport cos it was cheap (10E), always open, close to teh bike path. They were also exceedingly friendly and said "no problemo" to store bike and panniers. How trusting I was....
Arriving this afternoon to collect, staff were as smiley as ever. They were still smiling even 30 minutes later when they couldnt find my bike. I started to get worried when the girl tried to reassure me by saying "they are probably just trying to work out which of the many bikes it is" I knew this to be patently untrue as the other girl had told me that no-one ever left bikes for storage with them
river outside graz
! I wonder why?Eventually the top honcho baggage man appeared with a lackey in tow. He said there was no sign of my bike, but one option remained. If I could accompany him to the arrivals lounge, and the lost luggage section, then there might be a chance...
Entering the aladin's cave storeroom of lost luggage I stared around the gloomily lit area. My eye spotted a flash of yellow bike frame underneath a pile of unloved bags. "what on earth was it doing here I wondered" as I approached and pulled off the offending luggage the truth became clearer. There were a number of stickers on teh bike with what worryingly looked like flight barcodes. I noticed the name "Frankfurt" and "Rush to Graz" among them. Honcho shuffled his feet. "I am very sorry, we sent your bike to Frankfurt, but luckily they didnt know what to do with it so sent it back". My bikes journey without any sort of air ticket was a mystery to us all, but before they could send it anywhere else more exotic, I was on the saddle and away. Mysteriously all that flying had cleared up a strange creak from the rear axle, so one less trip needed to the bike mechanic.
Anyhow, after all this faffing around, mileage today was understandably low.
