What a mother effing fiasco. The pickup time is 2pm just one city over. It’s relatively easy to get to but takes just enough energy to be annoying. There are 11 of us. A couple people took the bus. Others ubered. It began to rain.
At 1:40pm (20 minutes before our scheduled pickup time) the entire family has made it to the pickup point and is happily and eagerly waiting to get picked up for our Wine Tasting tour. I get a message from the driver saying that he’s going to be a little late. Maybe 2:15pm.
Annoying that we all kind of rushed to get there early. But not that big a deal. There’s a cafe and a chocolatier that is rocking our world. But the. 2:15 rolls on by and our driver is nowhere in sight.
It’s 2:30. We are energetically slowing down
It’s 2:40. We are starting to ask questions.
It’s 2:55. We are now visibly upset.
The driver was messaging me sending updates that did not inspire hope, telling me he’s on the other side of the airport (that’s far) when. He should have been at our location 45 minutes prior.
I booked this tour on behalf of all my in-laws through Viator, a travel company connected to Trip Advisor. The reviews looked good! They were reputable. I’ve used them before. NOTHING to worry about, right?
WRONG.
When booking it, it never revealed what wineries they would be taking us too. But I wasn’t worried. None of us were. We figured we would just get picked up as a group in some type of bus, maybe (hopefully) be offered something yummy on the way there, and be escorted to a paradise with great views, great wine, great vibes.
record scratch
NONE OF THAT HAPPENED. Here’s how it went down:
At 3:00, the driver called me to ask if we could all walk 10 minutes to meet him.
No.
There’s 11 of us and he’s the one with the car.
He was an hour late and he kept saying “traffic traffic” but according to our maps and the street we’d been standing on for way too long, traffic wasn’t an issue
At 3:15 (an hour and 15 minutes late), our driver arrived—he arrived in a vehicle that only fit part of our group, forcing us to split up.
He stopped in the middle a street with one lane, cars piling up behind him, putting the pressure on to decide who’s getting in the van with this guy that has already been so unprofessional and HELLA SKETCH.
We all froze. No one wanted to go. But we didn’t know what to do. Even though we were all standing outside, it was like all the air got sucked into a tube and we were all just holding our breath.
My father in law who is the most go with the flow guy I’ve ever met, was extremely hesitant. My mother in law straight up said to the guy: we’ve been waiting for over an hour. Can we cancel and get our money back? He smiled and said in broken English: no no no, I’m here now. It’s going to be good. Get in the van.
The cars piled up behind the van were now honking.
We slowly began to board what felt like the bus of death.
7 out of the 11 of us got in.
Us: what about the rest of the group? When is their vehicle coming?
Driver: he’s right behind me. Don’t worry!
We had been in the car for the longest 5 minutes of our lives. Our second group still not having been picked up. We are asking our driver questions. Simple questions.
Questions that he isn’t answering.
Questions like: What winery are we going to? Where is the winery.
Each time he would be about to answer, his phone would ring and he would answer it, completely dodging telling us where we were headed.
The spirit of PANIC began to fill the van.
Since the moment we got in the van, I’d been LIVE messaging trip advisor/ Viator telling them what was happening. Our conversation went from ‘He’s over an hour late. This isn’t okay.’
To ‘he just split up our group and forced us into the van’
To HE WONT TELL US WHERE WE ARE GOING. We no longer feel safe.
She actively messaged us back and which was a small comfort, feeling like the company was aware. But when shit began hitting the fan and we ALL wanted to get out of the van, she said: Do you have an emergency contact? My response was: all of my emergency contacts are IN the car.
It all came to a head when he went through a light but there wasn’t enough room.
WE WERE STOPPED ON THE TRAIN TRACKS.
A TRAIN WAS COMING.
I said we want to get out. He said no.
My auntie, truly trapped in the very back of the van with no access to a door said so calmly: I’m having a heart attack.
I’m having a heart attack. Let me out.
I tried to open the door.
YOU GUYS IT WAS LOCKED FROM THE INSIDE. And there was NO unlock button within reach!!!! Like: THE CHILD LOCKS WERE ON.
My heart was racing. We were all scared AF. My auntie was having a heart attack. My messages to the company did not matter in this moment because if we didn’t get abducted, we would be smashed by the train.
I was in the front seat and was the only person beside the driver who had access to a window. I did not want to be the one to make the call but there was no other choice. I rolled the window down and was able to open the door from the outside. I immediately jumped out and opened the back door to let the rest of my family. They piled out so fast like a clown car on steroids. We got as many pictures of him and the vehicle as we could as he drove away.
Shaking.
We were all SHAKING.
What just happened.
Wait, fa real: WHAT JUST HAPPENED.
I’ve been racking my brain for the last 24 hours asking myself: what would have happened if we stayed in the van? Would we have made it to a winery? Would we be on a boat to another country never to be seen again?
I’d like to think we would have just been late for our tasting but that it was all going to be fine. But…..I don’t know. A lot of things were way too sketch. It’s just hard to believe with such a reputable company AND an experience that had great reviews.
My review for the “Experience” that I leave will not be a good one.
Thanks to the Weiss guys, we recovered relatively quickly, finding ourselves at a local wine tasting spot that we could walk to: glasses and bellies full, recounting the story that will go down in Weiss infamy of that one time Salisha booked everyone a tour that almost got us killed 😂😅.
We good.
Other than THAT, France has been a dream LOL.
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