As I write this entry, I am enjoying the live sounds of the Police. Yup that’s right, they are performing a few blocks away at an outdoor arena, so I can hear them loud and clear, and it’s a pretty good welcoming after the travel experience that I just finished. Many of you know that I was praying that my flight from Boston would be cancelled due to the snow storm, and now I really regret wishing that because I feel like my wishes totally backfired on me! After leaving Boston on Monday, not only on time but also extremely efficiently since like every other flight had been cancelled that day, I got to San Francisco earlier than expected. The flight West was a typical United flight, absolutely no leg room, barely able to see the TV screen and no food. But, the fact that we got there without a hitch made me think that the rest of the trip was going to go smoothly. I even started to get really excited about it because the sun/clouds/mountains out the window were stunning and that put me in a good mood. Also, I watched two podcasts from TED on Richard Branson and JJ Abrams that were so inspiring about doing extraordinary things, that I got so excited about life in general (haha so cheesy but I totally recommend downloading them for free on iTunes and you’ll see what I mean!).
I spent a lot of time reading in the San Fran airport, which was eerily empty for the evening and then all of the sudden the screen by my gate said “Flight to Sydney cancelled please go to United travel desk for further arrangements”. (At the desk we were told it was a mechanical problem, but I remain very skeptical about that). As I was walking to the desk, I immediately wondered if it was cancelled b/c the flight wasn’t going to be close to full. After waiting in line FOREVER, the United travel person gave me a voucher for the Comfort Suites and then told me to go wait for a shuttle. The shuttles were run so inefficiently that I ended up waiting for the shuttle for over an hour. Once getting to the hotel, which was totally not prepared to handle so many people (1 person checking everyone in) I waited in line there for an hour as well. Once I got into my room, I used skype (thank the lord for that invention) to call the travel company that I had booked my flight on to get from Auckland to Wellington to cancel my ticket. I then called United and spent ages on the phone with them trying to work out me getting from Sydney to Auckland whenever my San Fran flight left. That did not work very well, so I woke up early the next morning to catch the first shuttle back to the airport to talk to someone in person. More waiting ensued, until I finally spoke to a supervisor who reassured me that they would put me in a hotel in Sydney when we landed and then get me a ticket on the first flight the next day to Wellington. (Stalin-Juice almost came out before I talked to the supervisor…I knew that when I landed in Sydney it was going to be late and there was a high possibility that they would have no idea that they needed to put me in a hotel and I would be stranded).
Ok so after finally getting on the plane in San Fran, they keep telling us to hurry b/c there is a curfew for flights into Sydney. We sit on the runway for what seems like forever, and so we leave late. As we’re going, I notice that the estimated time of arrival on the tv screen seems to be getting later. The flight was painfully long, due to again no leg room, the budget tv screens that you could barely see, and the poor movies. Then all of the sudden the captain comes on and says “Long flights like this one are like a symphony, and when the symphony gets thrown off like it did in San Francisco, it is often difficult to get it back on track, and that is unfortunately the case right now. There are unexpected thunderstorms in Sydney, and so we have to land in Brisbane for the night.” Ok, so we’re not stupid, and all of us immediately suspected that it was because we were not going to make it to Sydney before the curfew. When we landed we were “greeted” by a flight interruption company, that was really ill-prepared to handle 350 jet lagged customers. After getting our bags, our flight formed a line that stretched around the entire baggage claim area and waited in line for over an hour to receive our hotel assignments. This time, however, the shuttle system was much better, since it was a company that does this all the time and we had big coach buses to bring us to our hotels. I arrived at the hotel and checked in right away (such a relief!), and ended up in an awesome room at 12:30 am Brisbane time. After showering I collapsed into bed. I then was awoken by a phone call at 5 informing me that they rebooked me on a flight to NZ that left at 11:30. I was relieved that I would have some time to relax in this awesome suite! Except at 20 of 6, I received another call saying that the shuttle to the airport was coming in 40 min. Since I had no other way of getting to the airport, and was still slightly unsure how the ticketing was going to work, I had to get on this shuttle with the rest of the group. On our ride to the airport we chatted with the bus driver about our flight issues, and we asked him if he often is shuttling people that had to land in Brisbane unexpectedly. He replied yes, all the time, because a number of flights cant make the curfew in Sydney, and its actually cheaper to fly into Brisbane, and put up everyone at hotels than to pay the fine to the Sydney airport! This angered me, but there’s nothing I could do about it except just keep trying to find the good in the situation. I felt really bad for the families with small children that were on this journey, I have no idea how they kept their sanity. I also felt bad for the airline reps that had to deal with the people that were a lot less patient than I was, and had trouble accepting that there was nothing that could really be changed by these reps.
Hungry, thirsty and out of it, all of us passengers flying to NZ (there were only about 10 of us from the whole flight) waited in the hot and humid Brisbane Airport for the Air NZ counter to open at 830…we got there at 640 (I was first J). Eventually someone from that flight interruption company found us and gave us 10 dollar vouchers since we didn’t get breakfast at the hotel which helped everyone feel a lot better about the situation. Once finally checking in, after more long lines, they delayed our flight to Auckland by an hour an half. This meant that I missed my connection to Wellington! However, the airplane that we were on from Brisbane made me so happy, that I was in a good mood the entire flight. It was brand new, lots of room, and tvs in all the head rests with tons of movies and tv to choose from. After going through customs, it hit me how out if it I was…I left my laptop at the customs scanner thingy, and then I left the cart behind as well. When I was standing at the counter waiting for the agent to approve the ticket change to Wellington, a baggage guy asked me if I was alright, I felt like I was in the twilight zone! Finally, I got on the flight to wellington that left an hour later, which was quick and had stunning views coming into the “Harbour City”. I landed at 9 and it was still light out!!
In all, I finished reading The Emperors Children, an issue of Self Magazine and Marie Claire, and read half of a new Marian Keyes book that I bought as an impulse buy while very bored in the San Fran airport (Thank goodness I bought it two because it’s the only thing that got me through all of those lines!!). Despite me not looking forward to coming back and the trip from H-E-double L, my spirits are rather high, and I think that is partly due to the great weather. Although, the wind is already annoying me with how loud it is against my room, and I think it’s going to be an ear plug night!
