LEAVING PERTH FOR AUCKLAND,
MY HATRED OF AIRPORTS DEEPENS
You would think by now, after all the travelling, flying and airports I've
done, that i would be proficient at it?!
I got dropped by taxi at the international airport in Perth only to
realize that since i have a 2 hour stopover in Sydney, that it is technically a
domestic flight. Now I've made this
exact mistake before when i left Bali to go to Thailand with a stopover in Jakarta. Luckily those terminals are a lot closer than
the Perth ones.
So another bloody $30 for a taxi between the international and domestic terminals saw me finally checking in. With all my gear and fishing rods my luggage weight came to 32.6 kilograms, my limit being 30kg. You would think that being a measly 2.6kg over, the lady behind the counter would have just let it slide, but no, she was a megabitch and told me i would be paying for my extra 3kg of luggage.
i said 'Hang on a minute love, it says right here - 32.6kg' but she wanted to argue it and wasn't hearing of it, 'No, it's 3 KILO'S'. The silly b then couldn't tell me how much it was for excess and sat on hold on the phone for nearly 10 minutes waiting for an answer. I told her it was costing the company more money by keeping all these other customers waiting than the price of my extra 2.6... i mean 3 kg of excess.
Anyway, she sent me off to pay my bill and check my rod's in at the other counter for oversize/sports gear. So after telling her what i thought about it all i stormed off to the payment counter, once there i simply waited 2 minutes, turned around and went to check my rods in. All good, they let me through and i got my luggage at the other end.
A lesson for everyone, when some mega bitch at Qantas wants to charge you $20 a kilo for excess, don't even bother! Muahahaha, guess i had the last laugh! At Sydney my flight was delayed though by 2 hours, but i eventually made it to Auckland, where after picking up my bags, i went and lined up at customs, right at the front of the queue.... until i realized i had left my tube with 7 of my fishing rods in it back at the bag carousel??!! WTF? I really perform at my worst in airports!
Back to the customs queue where i was now behind a heap of other people, to make matters worse i got a text from the yacht saying they couldn't get a berth at the marina and had to leave by 4pm... it was now 3:46 and i was still in line... f#*@!
They managed to sort something out though and after $125 taxi fare (double f#*@) i pulled up to where i thought i should be. At that moment a tiny Vietnamese woman was walking by, she peered in the window, and said 'Hello Dean", she had recognized me from my pictures online and our Skype chats, much to my relief. A short walk later and i was stowing my gear on what will be my new home for the next 5 months, a 45 foot Outremer sailing catamaran.
So another bloody $30 for a taxi between the international and domestic terminals saw me finally checking in. With all my gear and fishing rods my luggage weight came to 32.6 kilograms, my limit being 30kg. You would think that being a measly 2.6kg over, the lady behind the counter would have just let it slide, but no, she was a megabitch and told me i would be paying for my extra 3kg of luggage.
i said 'Hang on a minute love, it says right here - 32.6kg' but she wanted to argue it and wasn't hearing of it, 'No, it's 3 KILO'S'. The silly b then couldn't tell me how much it was for excess and sat on hold on the phone for nearly 10 minutes waiting for an answer. I told her it was costing the company more money by keeping all these other customers waiting than the price of my extra 2.6... i mean 3 kg of excess.
Anyway, she sent me off to pay my bill and check my rod's in at the other counter for oversize/sports gear. So after telling her what i thought about it all i stormed off to the payment counter, once there i simply waited 2 minutes, turned around and went to check my rods in. All good, they let me through and i got my luggage at the other end.
A lesson for everyone, when some mega bitch at Qantas wants to charge you $20 a kilo for excess, don't even bother! Muahahaha, guess i had the last laugh! At Sydney my flight was delayed though by 2 hours, but i eventually made it to Auckland, where after picking up my bags, i went and lined up at customs, right at the front of the queue.... until i realized i had left my tube with 7 of my fishing rods in it back at the bag carousel??!! WTF? I really perform at my worst in airports!
Back to the customs queue where i was now behind a heap of other people, to make matters worse i got a text from the yacht saying they couldn't get a berth at the marina and had to leave by 4pm... it was now 3:46 and i was still in line... f#*@!
They managed to sort something out though and after $125 taxi fare (double f#*@) i pulled up to where i thought i should be. At that moment a tiny Vietnamese woman was walking by, she peered in the window, and said 'Hello Dean", she had recognized me from my pictures online and our Skype chats, much to my relief. A short walk later and i was stowing my gear on what will be my new home for the next 5 months, a 45 foot Outremer sailing catamaran.
