Day 9: Return Stoor Vicente to Barcelona (01/19/2020)

Return flight information

Whether you look at a trip with a plan like I did on this occasion, or if you do it on your own, you have to take into account on which island your journey ends.

If you do not pay attention to this detail, you may fall into the error of activating the option to buy round trip at the time of purchase of the plane tickets and then it does not match us. As it happened to me.

So yeah, a good mess. I had the return tickets from Praia and we were in Sao Vicente. First I tried to change the return flight, but I could not because the plane was full and they did not allow changes. You can solve it by buying a flight between the islands of Sao Vicente to Praia and then take another flight from Praia to Lisbon, and later another from Lisbon - Barcelona. I think that few times I have made a trip with so many flights, and also a gift due to mistake / error at the time of purchase!

I had the flight departing at 10:20 VXE São Vicente and arrival at 11:10 a.m. RAI Praia with the airline: TACV. Here you have the image with the data.

Then I had these two flights: from Praia to Lisbon and later from Lisbon to Barcelona with the TAP Portugal company. With the following information:

As you can see with the first flight we arrived at Praia at 11:10, which gave a good margin until 1:40 pm when the next flight to Lisbon leaves.

TACV company flight delay and no stress CaboVerdiano

Well, nothing is further from the truth, the TACV company flight between islands suffered an initial delay. Still he was calm because he had plenty of time. As time passed and no information was displayed, ask about the flight situation. They could not give me information about the delay, but everyone tells me that it is the most common in Cape Verde and that it is calm, showing an overwhelming tranquility.

I load with patience and wait. But I watch time go by, nobody gives me any information and around 12:30 I asked again, getting the same answers as before. For more nervousness, a plane from the Binter company arrives that had the arrival later than mine. Which worries me more, because it is a small airport and we are all in the same terminal, the plane is accessed by walking along the runway, so it makes me think that when the Binter company landed before mine, it would delay me even more. .

Finally I see the plane landing, but the boarding is delayed more than necessary because of what I mentioned earlier, they are boarding the passage of the Binter company, so I have to keep waiting.

Right in front of the access to the track there is a user from Cape Verde who shows his anger at the situation and there are some tense moments.

After a short time they inform me that we can now access the slopes to board. People are seen in a hurry, the crew is also in a hurry, all boarding goes very fast and they give priority to my flight over the Binter. Goodness! although I look at the clock and it is approximately 12:30 pm and the next flight leaves at 1:40 pm! The flight lasts 1 hour, so it seems to me that I had to run to catch the next flight!

Once on the plane, I ask the assistant about this delay, and he explains that it is common to have these delays every day and this "disorganization" that every day working you can find the most different situations with delays. And he makes reference to me that this is Cape Verde and it refers to the motto “Cape Verde: country of no stress”.

Get off the plane and link to the next one, problem at the foot of the runway

I get off the flight at approximately 1:30 p.m., I have 10 minutes of margin for the next flight to leave, so I breathe a little easier. When passengers get off the plane, they ask us to accompany an attendant to the terminal. Just when entering the terminal I observe that a group of people instead of coming to the terminal are heading directly to the departure terminal, where the passage of the next plane that I have to catch is located.

I mention this to the person who had asked us to accompany him and he explains that if he had to catch another plane he had to have waited and went directly there. There are barely 100 meters from one terminal to another, so I ask you to accompany me. The woman responds with a resounding NO, although it seems that a worker behind her understands the situation and tells her something that she cannot understand. But this is again flatly denied. The conversation continues briefly and seeing that there is no way I decide to run towards the departure terminal.

As soon as the backpack comes out through the belt, I pick it up and run towards the security control at the entrance of the terminal. All the controls have to be passed again.

I arrive at the departure terminal of the last, they were waiting for me. Just in time! so I go to the plane, put the backpack and wait for takeoff. For a moment I thought I was staying on the ground.

The flight of the rest of the group canceled.

Just when I am sitting on the plane waiting to take off I receive a whatsapp from the group of the trip, the rest of the group have their flight canceled!

They had the direct flight from São Vicente to Lisbon, and later both they and I would catch the same plane from Lisbon to Barcelona.

According to the company, the flight is canceled due to weather problems! Which worries me since in Europe for those days there was a strong storm of water and wind that was affecting many flights, and in our case we left different islands but both go to Lisbon with the same airlift to Barcelona. So I was wondering if they could cancel it for me too.

Finally take off without having more inconvenience!

I arrived in Lisbon at 6:40 p.m., so the first thing I did was go find something to eat. The next flight leaves at 20:50. While I took the opportunity to eat and go to the toilet and then I realized I had to leave for the boarding area.

I had no more problems with the flights. Meteorologically, the return to Barcelona, at approximately 00:00 hours, did not affect me.

The group trapped in São Vicente

Day 20/01/2020

I asked the rest of the group how the issue of flights is and they answered that that Monday, January 20, 2020, the flight was canceled and they did not have any information. They send me some photos that take advantage of the time to continue visiting things on the island.

They write by WhatsApp that it seems that today they will be able to fly, they are picked up at the hotel and transferred to the airport. They leave the island of São Vicente without problems, arriving in Lisbon.

In Lisbon they catch the next plane to Barcelona with a slight delay.

Comment that those days the storm is reaching the entire area of Catalonia with great force, so I follow the flight information to see its status.

In google it shows me the information that the flight is to redirected, turning around on the road and returning to Lisbon at 11:40 p.m. (local time).

They leave Lisbon for Barcelona without any delay or incident.

They finally arrive on Wednesday 01/22/2020. Comment that I "saved" myself from this situation due to the error in the purchase of return tickets, which forced me to buy an extra ticket to fly to Praia, curiously, this is what allowed me to return home on time.

END OF THE TRIP - Back to START

Final note:

I hope you liked this post and the experience of my trip to Cape Verde. It is my first post of a trip of this type. During the realization of it I have had many personal setbacks that have made me doubt the publication of it. But finally it is here published, with all my dedication and love to be able to share such a fantastic experience.

Without a doubt, Cape Verde is a country that has fallen in love with me and wishing I could return to focus a little more as a diving destination.