We had hoped to get back to Europe this year but a range of circumstances have caused us to postpone. We decided that our holiday this year will still be across a ditch, but a smaller one. We booked a week in Tasmania.

With the torrential weather and after reading horror stories about extreme delays checking in and navigating Sydney domestic airport, we decided to err on the side of caution and be super early for our 6:55am boarding call to Hobart. Our alarms were set for 3am and the taxi booked for 3:45am.

Even though the taxi was pre-booked and paid the day before, we still had a panic when we logged onto the app at 3:35am and the appointed driver was sitting at a residence in Miranda for another 10mins without moving. We were able to call the driver through the 13cabs app however, and he answered on our second call and assured us he was on his way. He was 10mins late but luckily we had built plenty of time for error into our trip. The roads were clear, the rain had subsided for a short time, and we had a good run to the airport.

Arriving at the airport, we breezed through baggage drop & security and then had lots of time to kill. Coffee & good lounge seats by the window allows for a comfortable and scenic couple of hours as we watched the poor airport staff outside battle through the wild weather.

We made our way to the gate and did some trivia while waiting for the boarding call. There was a delay but we were still in good spirits, as the man next to us had decided to join in on our quiz and we were having fun. Then it was announced over the loudspeaker that our flight had been cancelled due to not being able to have enough staff. Great. The poor guy next to us cursed and told us that it was the second time in 2 days that this flight had been cancelled.

Everybody made their way to the service desk and just waited. Virgin were already relocating people’s flights which Teresa discovered when she contacted them on the phone. We retrieved our luggage and the next part of our adventure began.

In true Renneberg form we refused to let this news dim our holiday and so we booked the Stamford Plaza close to the airport for our flight (hopefully) tomorrow morning. Even though it was early in the morning and check in was not until 2pm, the hotel stored our bags and gave us a key to their lounge, which was a kind of lobby space with computers and a phone. We were able to call the hotel and car company in Hobart to inform them of the cancellation. Both companies were very understanding and changed our booking without charge. It seems that this is life at the moment and everyone is very accommodating.

Once the formalities had been addressed we made our way into the city and had a lovely brunch (although it felt like dinner 🤪) at The Grounds in the City. We had a good walk around and shared a bottle of wine at Cargo bar. A taxi back to the hotel and now ready for dinner and an early night. Fingers crossed tomorrow’s flight goes ahead. Good night!