The pickup service I requested from Lanarca airport, organised by Northern Travel, was a disaster. I had specifically asked where exactly the driver would be waiting [often there are several exits at Arrivals], and what he would be showing to identify himself and to show that he was waiting for me in particular. What happened was this: no driver arrived. I ran the gamut of about 20 taxi drivers standing at both exits [with my heavy luggage, which had to be put down every time]. It seems to be the habit there that they only show their mobiles and one cannot of course read the text unless one is very close. So i had to ask each and every one whether he was waiting for me. As the drivers changed – they came and went with different arrivals – I had to repeat this pleasurable exercise over and over again. No driver. I called the number given to me by my UK travel agent who is represented by Northern Travel. They had told me it would be a whatsapp number - it was not. I had to make an international call. Northern Travel was very laissez-faire, they just told me the driver would eventually turn up, I should just ‘stay there’. I explained where I was waiting and how I looked like but I had the feeling they didn’t take anything in/ down. About 90 min after my arrival at the airport, I received a phone call from someone very irritated, asking where I was. It was the driver from Northern Travel who claimed he had been there for an hour and was just about to drive off home. He then sped ahead to his car – I struggling behind with my luggage trying not to lose him from sight. It turned out that: 1. Northern Travel drivers never carry a sign to identify themselves [contrary to the information given to me], they only carry their mobile 2. They make no attempt whatsover to approach potential customers [they know the number and gender of the persons they expect, and if they do not carry identification signs it should be expected that they are somewhat proactive in finding them] 3. Northern Travel had called had not relayed my information to him, so in fact he did not even know I had arrived, much less where I was waiting and how I looked. 4. The driver, still irritable made it quite clear that he thought it was my fault that he had not found me. Altogether, a most unpleasant, very stressful and worrying experience, which made me arrive late, and which was a bad start to my trip.
