Travel Day November 2, 2009

The Departure

LAX Monday November 2, 2009 8:45p (scheduled departure 11:05p)

My sister and brother-in-law, Jeanne and David, endured evening traffic on the 405 to deliver me to Tom Bradley International terminal. To say that most of humanity was in the terminal would be an understatement. Think of an open market in Bali or Costa Rica where everyone has an agenda, and no one is coordinated with anyone else.

Big breath, exhale. After checking in at the ticket counter, and turning my bags in for the TSA x-ray, I went to a sushi restaurant and grabbed a roll and hot green tea. Ate the sushi, took the tea. Stood on the security check line for quite a while, but since I still had a couple of hours before take-off; “no worries”.

Got to the gate (123), along with the other 449 passengers (really, the plane holds 450 passengers), and decided to stand while I was waiting to board. The thought of 15hrs on board the plane was daunting, so standing was one way to take my mind off the trip. As I looked around, I realized how every other passenger had a story, a perception of what was going on, and trepidation about the 15hr trip. Actually for some of the passengers, this was merely one more leg of their trip. One couple, traveling with their daughter (she looked about 2 yrs old), was on the second leg of their trip, having started in NY. Depending on the length of their layover, they would be traveling for about 24 hrs.

This made me think about a comic routine I saw once where the comic stated the obvious about air travel. He said isn't it strange that we complain about the length of our plane trip; the layovers, delays and cancellations. I mean, we are traveling across the country, the world, to other countries. Here I am taking a trip around half the world (7943 miles; 12782 km)...a trip that would take me weeks, if not a month, by boat and I'm whining about 15hrs. Well, I was going to be encased in metal flying over the ocean...which has a 5 minute whine allowance attached to it.

The Plane Trip

I was seated in 84C...about 3 rows from the very back of the plane. My thought is that every child ticketed on that flight was in this section. They cried and howled. Or maybe that was me. I had taken one Melatonin upon boarding, and was VERY sleepy, so the noises could have been coming from anywhere! The Melatonin relaxed me enough for me to fall asleep...before takeoff...in fact, I barely remember the takeoff. I slept for 6 or 7 hours. The rest of the plane trip was uneventful...save for the howling children, the “faulty” lavatories, and the lack of immigration forms. But, once again, “no worries”.

The Arrival

We landed early...9:20a (Wednesday November 4, 2009) and sat on the runway for 20 minutes waiting for an open gate. That should have been my first clue! Got off the plane, and immediately noticed two things. The first was that there were no “EXIT” signs...there were “WAY OUT” signs. The second thing was there was no Spanish. Every sign was in English only. I was not in Kansas any more. So I got an immigration form, stopped to fill it out and take a bathroom break, and continued to the immigration line. We did the Disney World snake line, and after about 40 minutes, I stepped up to the counter and was admitted into Australia! Then I got my suitcases, put them on a trolley, and got on ANOTHER line. This only took me about 15 minutes. I was directed to the security x-ray (for luggage) where I unloaded both my suitcases (the weight allowance was 23kg per bag...I was allowed 2 bags...one of my bags weighed 22.5kg the other 21.5kg) and my computer bag...as I started around the machine to pick my bags up, the worker asked for my handbag as well. Picked up my bags, put them back on the trolley, and exited the immigration area...FREE AT LAST! I looked for Yasmin...no Yasmin...I pushed the trolley towards the coffee shop where she said she would wait...no Yasmin...now I was getting a little anxious...what if she was in an accident, or stuck in traffic? Breathe. I thought to myself...”Let's just have a cuppa and relax.”...it was then I realized I forgot to pick up my handbag from the security check! So, now I had to locate someone who could get back into the secure area...found airport personnel who directed me to INFORMATION, (on the way there I FOUND YASMIN :-) who had returned to her car to get her phone because I was so late in getting out of immigration) who directed me to CUSTOMS....where I found someone who could go back into the secure area...and who returned my handbag!!!! Lack of sleep kept me fairly sane, and finding Yasmin helped me to relax. Remember, I thought, “No Worries”.