Lake Garda, Italy - Part 2: Easy, Peasy, Cheesy Jet...or so we'd hoped!

Getting us to Italy…

As a family of 3, we had been fortunate enough to travel a lot and not too much fazed us when it came to researching, organising and booking our trips. Master S was a seasoned traveller having done something like 18 flights over the 18 months we were based in the Middle East, so he knew the drill too! Throwing Miss S in to the mix added a whole new dimension to planning our travel. Just trying to think about all the logistics of how she’ll get from one place to the next, what happens to her wheelchair as we arrive at the aircraft door? Will we see it again the other side? Is there anything extra we need to do or say to ensure it arrives ok? Will it stay in one piece or will I have to take it all apart? What will she sit in on the plane? Would her car seat fit? Can her GoTo seat be used? SO many questions whizzing their way round our minds and making it all just a little bit daunting!

After finding the flights we wanted we called Special Assistance (SA) before going ahead and booking. SA was brilliant, they answered all our questions, asked us what they needed to know and when I booked the flights they then allocated our seats for us within the first few rows of seats to make getting on/off as easy as possible. I called SA again around a week before we departed to ensure we knew (and they knew) exactly what was required. After such great service prior to flying, it was a shame that the girl at the check-in desk at Bristol airport lets us down, literally in the final hour. 

We checked in at the EasyJet SPECIAL ASSISTANCE desk and the young girl who checked us in couldn’t have been less interested and as it turns out she didn’t even do the bare minimum required to get us the help needed. I kept pointing out the fact that Miss S was in a wheelchair rather than letting her assume it was a pushchair and that we would need to keep her in it until the last minute. At no point were we given any direction to do anything but follow gate instructions as they appeared along with everyone else. It was only after killing time (ironically) and waiting around, that our gate was ready. We made our way down to the gate and faced a big problem...a flight of steep stairs and no lift! Annoyed, I made my way down to the gate leaving the rest of the family at the top of the stairs and asked just how they planned to get Miss S to the gate. It was only then that the EasyJet employee said we should have been directed to Gate 1, SPECIAL ASSISTANCE. The lady made the call and we then rushed back to Gate 1, now conscious that the flight would probably be waiting for us.

Arriving at Gate 1, we were quickly taken to an Ambulift* vehicle which drove us to our aircraft. When we arrived the Ambulift was elevated to the aircraft door and we finally could board our flight. The flight was almost full and now being the very last passengers on, instead of the first, we were conscious of getting sorted as quickly as possible. It wasn’t the stress-free start we were hoping for, but we were relieved to be on and one positive was that we then took off almost immediately, so there was no hanging around! Miss S was quite content in her GoTo seat, munching her way through snacks and watching Peppa Pig on the tablet for the duration of the flight. 

If you would like to find out more, read our Firefly GoTo seat review.

Being a short hop of a flight to Italy we were on board a fairly small aircraft with, what suggested was a ‘disabled’ toilet but I have no idea how a disabled passenger would actually have got inside the tiny cubicle, let alone have enough space to manoeuvre or receive any help to do so. There was a tiny pull down table only suitable for tiny babies but there was no way I could have changed Miss S at almost 3 years old. We were very lucky to get away with Miss S not needing a change on either flight but I really do not know what we would have done had we needed to. It certainly wouldn’t have been fair to leave her sitting in a soiled nappy for up to two hours. It really brought it home to us that flying will not be an easy or a particularly fair thing to put Miss S through again, unless it is perhaps a bigger aircraft with larger toilets, which MAY exist for some airlines but who knows?! Definitely more research is required before hanging up our flight socks, but ensuring Miss S is comfortable and happy is our main concern. 

Airport Special Assistance:

Our first experience of Special Assistance at Bristol airport could have been flawless had the girl checking us in taken more notice. We felt we had prepared as much as we could but there’s only so much we could know, bearing in mind this was a brand new experience for us. Following this, our arrival at Marco Polo airport Venice, went very smoothly. The Ambulift was waiting for us and as soon as the plane had emptied out, we were ready to leave also. Upon our return to Venice airport for our journey home, our check-in experience was a world of difference to what we had experienced at Bristol. The lady could not have been more helpful and made all necessary calls to get everything sorted for us. We were met by a gentleman from Special Assistance and he would have stayed with us right up until we boarded our flight should we have wanted him to. That personal service also came in very handy when we had unknowingly left all our jackets behind at security! The lovely Special Assistance guy brought them to us just as we were about to head off to the aircraft. This time we were on the aircraft before everyone else and cabin crew gave us a helping hand in fixing Miss S’s GoTo seat. The whole experience on our return was stress free, as it should be! Upon arrival back at Bristol we were greeted as we came off the Ambulift and walked through arrivals quickly. We could have again, had assistance all the way through collecting luggage etc also, should we have wanted it. 

Despite the hiccup at Bristol, all in all, we came away with a positive first experience, mostly due to the Special Assistance received. Changing issues on board the flight are a whole other story and something that needs a lot more investigating. 

*What is an Ambulift? Pictured left, an Ambulift is a medical lift used for transporting disabled or incapiciated passengers on and off an aircraft where steps are used to board. We were driven from the airport terminal building in the Ambulift and the cab was elevated to reach the aircraft doors so Miss S could stay in her wheelchair until the very last minute. The wheelchair was then taken back down in the Ambulift to be safely stowed in the hold.   

Hire car:

We had ordered a VW Passatt  through Europcar. Having owned a Passatt, we knew this would be big enough for us all, plus our luggage, Miss S’s wheelchair etc. What we received was a BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, which Europcar suggested was an upgrade but in actual fact, we would have preferred the Passatt for the extra space. Everything fitted in none the less!

We had already decided that taking the kids car seats would be much easier than trying to hire them along with the car. Especially for Miss S as only certain car seats would be supportive enough for her. We did however want to ensure that the car seats arrived in one piece or we’d have the difficult job of trying to sort something out as an emergency locally and of course the hefty cost of replacing them! We had called ahead to Bristol airport and so knew we could get them wrapped for our outward journey. We paid £12 for both which we thought was pretty reasonable. It was only on our return to Venice airport that we were quoted the heart attack inducing price of almost 50 Euro to have the same!!! Instead we did risk it slightly on our return after not being able to find an alternative means of wrapping and thankfully received some large plastic bags from check-in to at least keep the car seats slightly more secured. We have now realised that buying large reusable bags to transport the car seats may be best in future.

We always get car hire insurance beforehand so extras aren’t piled on when we collect our hire car. The only extra we decided to add on was the Telepass, which pre-paid any tolls we would incur whilst travelling. This proved valuable, as we ended up using it a lot and it meant we could bypass some of the longer queues using cash, plus we didn't need to carry change on us all the time.  

Finally we were onwards to our Eurocamp and home for the week in beautiful Lake Garda.

Coming up in part three, I will tell you all about our stay. Ciao for now!  

To read all about our Eurocamp experience in part three, catch it here...'We made it and it was Bellissimo'

Here's part one in case you missed it: 'Planning our first trip to Italy'