Our Misadventures in Basel Airport and flights from Basel to Venice

Our journey from Switzerland to Italy was filled with several misadventures and these are the TOP 3 lessons that we have learned.

1. Do not stay at HotelF1 Mulhouse Bale Aeroport if you are travelling with elderly

In my experience, hotels located next to airports are generally expensive like the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport, and the stretch of hotels along the Delhi Aerocity region. 

Therefore, I was certainly thrilled when I found a hotel that was located right next to Basel Airport (EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg) that was offering rooms that were much cheaper than those in the city center of Basel. The reason is that the hotel was located in the French territory and the cost of living in France is significantly lower than in Switzerland. 

Without much hesitation, I booked it for our last night in Switzerland, all ready to flash our passports and cross the border to France, just to save some dime. 

我们在巴塞尔机场的不幸经历以及航班延误

从瑞士前往意大利的旅程中,遇到了一些不便,从中吸取了一下三大教训。

(一) 如果您与老人同行,请勿入住HotelF1 Mulhouse Bale Aeroport

据我个人经验,位于机场旁边的酒店价位通常都比较高。比如樟宜机场皇冠假日酒店、曼彻斯特机场丽笙酒店以及德里航空城地区的一系列酒店。

因此,当我发现一家位于巴塞尔机场 (EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg) 旁边的酒店提供比巴塞尔市中心便宜多的客房时,我非常兴奋,毫不犹豫地为我们在瑞士的最后一夜预订了一晚。这酒店之所以会比较便宜是因为位于法国境内而法国的生活消费低于瑞士。即使要出示护照并越过边境前往法国,如果能省点钱,我当时侯预订住宿时认为是值得的。

HotelF1 Mulhouse Bale Aeroport ( 87 Euros / S$127 for 3 Pax)

To my delight and relief, we did not have to navigate through any customs to get into France. This experience was a stark contrast to the long queues that we were accustomed to when crossing the border between Singapore and Malaysia.
令我万分庆幸的是,我们无需通过任何海关即可进入法国入住饭店。这经历与我们在越过新加坡和马来西亚边境时不时会面临人山人海的人流量,形成大大的对比。

Photo via Red Devilz Raj/FB

On a side note, if you are coming from the west and planning to base yourself in a country (e.g. Malaysia, Johor Bahru) that has a lower cost of living and making day trips to the neighbouring country (e.g. Singapore), be prepared to stand in line for a few hours at the custom to cross the border. You can check out this article for some hacks on how you can potentially shave off some waiting time. 

Nevertheless, it was not a bed of roses getting to our hotel either. This is because you can only walk or take a taxi to get to the hotel. I had no qualms about walking but it was a big issue for my dad who suffers from joint pain from prolonged standing and walking. 

来自外国的朋友们,如果您打算探访新加坡和马来西亚,并计划将自己的基地设在生活成本较低的国家(例如马来西亚,柔佛州新山)并前往邻国(例如新加坡)进行一日游,请有心理准备你将得在海关排队几个小时才能过关。你可以查看这篇文章,了解一些关于如何减少等待时间的贴士。

虽然免去了过海关的麻烦,从机场抵达酒店也不是太方便。您只能步行或乘坐出租车前往酒店。

我年轻力壮,不介意走路,但这对我爸爸来说是个挑战,因为当他长时间站立和走路时,会感到关节疼痛。

Do note that you will have to take a mini-detour if you are making your way to the hotel on foot and the journey is about 20 mins. Also, it may be difficult to locate the hotel if it is pitch dark outside so try to reach the hotel earlier. I will strongly advise you to take a taxi from Basel airport on the France exit side, which will only cost you 7-9 Euros.
如果您步行前往酒店,您将不得不绕道一小段路,路程约为二十分钟。此外,如果外面一片漆黑,可能很难找到酒店,所以尽量早点到达酒店。我强烈建议您从巴塞尔机场法国出口一侧乘坐出租车,只需七至九欧元。

However, if you plan to take a taxi from the hotel to the airport, it will cost you 15-20 Euros even though it is just a 5-10 mins car ride. Uber does not work in this area so you can only get the hotel staff to order a cab on your behalf. Therefore, when you add up all the taxi bills, you may not save much at the end of the day as compared to staying in a hotel in Basel city center which will give you access to more amenities and sightseeing attractions. 

2. Never exchange money at Europe airports 

Another lesson that I learned was never to change money at Europe airports ever again. These service providers charge a hefty service charge. For SGD 100 that I changed, I ended up losing SGD 27 on the exchange fee changing at the Western Union counter in Basel Airport. I thought I would never fall for such a “trap” after watching this heroic video. Alas, I was so wrong. 

The usual prudent and energetic me would have easily spotted this exorbitant service fee. However, 3 days of travelling had weathered me down and I was certainly not at my personal best that day. Coupled with a cute and charming guy that was stationed at the counter to create small talks to distract me, I was completely disarmed and did not bother checking my receipt or seeking clarifications. 

This mistake hit me hard when I thought about all the time that I cajoled my dad to walk a little more instead of taking taxis to save a few dimes. I certainly need to improve on this aspect as a daughter and prioritise my dad’s well-being above anything else. I will be compiling a guide to planning an age-friendly travel itinerary in time to come to share what I learned from travelling with my parents who are in their mid-sixties in 2022. 

3. Do not take transit flights if you are flying with budget airlines 

Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come for my parents. Our flight to Venice from Basel had to transit at Naples Airport. The two flights were catered by 2 airlines, EasyJet and Wizz Air. When the first leg of the flight with EasyJet was delayed by 40 minutes, we had only 20 mins to transit at Naples Airport. I made my parents run across the airport to catch our next flight, not knowing that the second leg of the flight with Wizz Air was also delayed. 

It was the most traumatic experience having to beg people to let us pass at the security check and not knowing what we should do if we were to miss our flight. My best advice is to never book a transit flight with budget airlines because it is not worth the stress and trauma. Change your destination and itinerary if need be!

What’s Next?

Fortunately, these were the only major hiccups in our 11-days-trip and our remaining journey in Italy was really smooth-sailing even though half the time I was really worried that we would get mugged or scammed. In the next article, I will be sharing with you all the interesting sites and insights we experienced in Venice which I can’t wait to tell you more! 

但是,如果您打算从酒店乘坐出租车到机场,即使只需五到十分钟车程,也要花费十五至二十欧元因为您只能让酒店工作人员代您订购出租车。因此,当您将所有出租车费用加起来时,与入住巴塞尔市中心的酒店相比,您可能不会节省太多,因为住在巴塞尔市中心的酒店能节省车费,用餐和参观周边的观光景点比较方便。

(二)切勿在欧洲机场兑换货币

我学到的另一个教训是切勿在欧洲机场换钱因为这些服务提供商收取高额服务费。对于我兑换的一百新元,我最终在巴塞尔机场的西联汇款柜台兑换兑换费时损失了二十七新元。看了这个富有正义感地视频后,我以为我不会落入这样的“陷阱”。唉,我错了!

平时谨慎而精力充沛的我,应该能意识到这高昂的服务费。然而,三天的旅行让我筋疲力尽,那天我的个人状态不是最好的。再加上一个帅气的小伙子站在柜台旁闲聊以分散我的注意力,我完全卸下了防备,没有费心检查我的收据或寻求澄清。

对于这个失误,我感到很自责与惭愧,因为我平时精打细算,忽视爸爸的膝盖问题,一直哄爸爸多走一点路,以节省出租车费用。身为女儿,我必须改进这方面,多体恤父母的不便,把他们的安康当优先考量因素。 我将把一些学习心得编辑成一篇指南与大家分享要如何规划适合老年人的旅游行程

(三)如果您乘坐廉价航空公司的航班,切勿乘坐过境航班

我们从巴塞尔(Basel) 飞往威尼斯(Venice) 的航班必须在那不勒斯(Naples) 机场中转。这两个航班由两家不同的航空公司 EasyJet 和 Wizz Air 提供服务。当 EasyJet 的第一段航班延误四十分钟时,我们只有二十分钟在那不勒斯机场转机。我们胆战心惊,飞奔似地赶下一班航班,却不知情Wizz Air 的第二段航班也延误了。

最难为情的是我们得哀求他人让我们优先通过安全检查,同时,如果我们真的错过了飞机,也不知道要找什么公司负责呢。因此,我从这个经验学到了千万不要预订廉价航空公司的转机航班!我宁可修改我的目的地和行程,也不要再次承受可能错过飞机的压力。

下一站去哪呢?

庆幸的是,这些是我们十一天旅程中唯一遇到的困扰。我们在意大利的剩余旅程非常顺利,尽管有一大半的时间我一直担心着我们可能会被抢劫或诈骗。在下一篇文章中,我迫不及待地想与您分享我们在威尼斯的种种体验

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