The Trip From Hell
I began my trip to Australia departing Chicago O'hare airport. However, before I could even leave home, the trip went downhill fast. While waiting for boarding to start, one of the workers from American Airlines made an announcement. He said "ladies and gentlemen, we have just been told that the plane is broken". Yes, this man announced to everyone waiting to board this full plane, that the plane was broken. They then determined that the only way for this plane to leave, would be to lower the weight on the plane, so they asked for 27 passengers to volunteer for different flights. After about an hour, the airline had gotten the volunteers and we would begin boarding. We then left the airport about an hour and a half behind schedule.
Once the plane arrived in LAX, my first layover, we had another issue. Because we landed late, and LAX is a busy airport, there were no open gates for us to depart the plane. The pilot then proceeded to drive around for about 30 minutes before being told that we would have to depart the plane out in a remote area of the tarmac. After reaching the remote area, a large staircase was brought to the plane for us to depart on. However, as soon as the staircase started moving back away from the plane, the pilot made another announcement "Folks I apologize for all of the delays so far, but I have some not so good news to share. It would appear that the piece of the plane that was broken in Chicago is what is needed to open the door. Which means we cannot currently get the door open". At this point my exhaustion started to kick in. We waited 2 hours on the plane, after we had already landed, just to get off of the plane. The next issue was to get large buses out to the plane to bus all of the passengers back to the airport (it was very far from any gate). (Yes the flight attendant can be heard saying "sorry gang" at the start of the video below.)
After being shuttled in, I had run out of time on the layover I was supposed to have (4 hours). I had to run through LAX to get to the International Terminal to catch my next flight to Sydney, Australia. This was at approximately 10pm (L.A. time) and I had not yet eaten dinner. I was planning to eat something and relax before the 15 hour flight coming next, however that did not happen. I reached my gate as they were in the process of boarding. I was attempting to stay positive at this point as I was able to make my flight. After 15 long sleepless hours, we finally landed in Sydney.
I biggest issue of the trip now arises. After going through immigration, I made my way to customs. Here I was asked where my bags were. I told the men (multiple questioning me) that they were being transferred for me for my next flight to Ballina. (Ballina is a single gate airport outside of Lismore where I am staying.) The men continued to tell me no, that I had to get my bags in Sydney and recheck them for my last flight. They finally let me through and I went and spoke with multiple airline workers to figure out just what was going on. See the thing is that when I checked my bags in at O'hare, the woman behind the counter said that the bags are going to Ballina and that there was no need to recheck them in Sydney. This is also what I was told by a flight attendant on my flight to Sydney. However, this was not correct. When speaking with someone from guest services at Qantas Airlines, the airline for my international flight, the woman told me that I did not have any time to go back, get my bags, and go through customs again. There are very few flights to Ballina because it is such a small airport that I had to go without my bags. This was the point I started having a panic attack. My total lack of sleep from the previous 24 hours took over me. I started crying uncontrollably, which made the woman work even faster. She contacted the head of baggage and told him to start looking for my two bags and to then send them to Ballina as soon as possible. I had no choice but to accept this and hurry to catch my next flight that was in another terminal and leaving in 30 minutes. Again, I did not get my needed layover for a chance to eat something.
I reached my next gate as it was already boarding passengers. This flight was only an hour long so I told myself I would be able to sleep soon. I then landed in Ballina, in a plane so small you could not move. Now, for those of you familiar with the Kenosha airport, it will give you some perspective as to the size of Ballina airport as it was less then half the size of Kenosha. We got off the plane on a staircase onto the tarmac and walked into the "airport". I use the word airport loosely because it had one gate, two TSA officers and essentially no security check-point.
I shared a taxi with a woman to the Uni (they don't say university here). The woman surprisingly was in Lismore to give a talk the next say at Southern Cross (my uni here) on Koalas. (!!!) She was happy to find out that I had already been accepted as a volunteer at the Koala Rescue Center on campus. This made my trip from hell slightly better.
I did get my bags later on the night that I arrived in Australia, after persuading a very grumpy and unsympathetic man. After finally being able to sleep, after about 42 hours of being awake, all of the issues I faced on the trip no longer bothered me. I have been in Australia for almost 2 days now and I am just taking it easy, trying to take it all in. That's all for today.
Once the plane arrived in LAX, my first layover, we had another issue. Because we landed late, and LAX is a busy airport, there were no open gates for us to depart the plane. The pilot then proceeded to drive around for about 30 minutes before being told that we would have to depart the plane out in a remote area of the tarmac. After reaching the remote area, a large staircase was brought to the plane for us to depart on. However, as soon as the staircase started moving back away from the plane, the pilot made another announcement "Folks I apologize for all of the delays so far, but I have some not so good news to share. It would appear that the piece of the plane that was broken in Chicago is what is needed to open the door. Which means we cannot currently get the door open". At this point my exhaustion started to kick in. We waited 2 hours on the plane, after we had already landed, just to get off of the plane. The next issue was to get large buses out to the plane to bus all of the passengers back to the airport (it was very far from any gate). (Yes the flight attendant can be heard saying "sorry gang" at the start of the video below.)
After being shuttled in, I had run out of time on the layover I was supposed to have (4 hours). I had to run through LAX to get to the International Terminal to catch my next flight to Sydney, Australia. This was at approximately 10pm (L.A. time) and I had not yet eaten dinner. I was planning to eat something and relax before the 15 hour flight coming next, however that did not happen. I reached my gate as they were in the process of boarding. I was attempting to stay positive at this point as I was able to make my flight. After 15 long sleepless hours, we finally landed in Sydney.
I biggest issue of the trip now arises. After going through immigration, I made my way to customs. Here I was asked where my bags were. I told the men (multiple questioning me) that they were being transferred for me for my next flight to Ballina. (Ballina is a single gate airport outside of Lismore where I am staying.) The men continued to tell me no, that I had to get my bags in Sydney and recheck them for my last flight. They finally let me through and I went and spoke with multiple airline workers to figure out just what was going on. See the thing is that when I checked my bags in at O'hare, the woman behind the counter said that the bags are going to Ballina and that there was no need to recheck them in Sydney. This is also what I was told by a flight attendant on my flight to Sydney. However, this was not correct. When speaking with someone from guest services at Qantas Airlines, the airline for my international flight, the woman told me that I did not have any time to go back, get my bags, and go through customs again. There are very few flights to Ballina because it is such a small airport that I had to go without my bags. This was the point I started having a panic attack. My total lack of sleep from the previous 24 hours took over me. I started crying uncontrollably, which made the woman work even faster. She contacted the head of baggage and told him to start looking for my two bags and to then send them to Ballina as soon as possible. I had no choice but to accept this and hurry to catch my next flight that was in another terminal and leaving in 30 minutes. Again, I did not get my needed layover for a chance to eat something.
I reached my next gate as it was already boarding passengers. This flight was only an hour long so I told myself I would be able to sleep soon. I then landed in Ballina, in a plane so small you could not move. Now, for those of you familiar with the Kenosha airport, it will give you some perspective as to the size of Ballina airport as it was less then half the size of Kenosha. We got off the plane on a staircase onto the tarmac and walked into the "airport". I use the word airport loosely because it had one gate, two TSA officers and essentially no security check-point.
I shared a taxi with a woman to the Uni (they don't say university here). The woman surprisingly was in Lismore to give a talk the next say at Southern Cross (my uni here) on Koalas. (!!!) She was happy to find out that I had already been accepted as a volunteer at the Koala Rescue Center on campus. This made my trip from hell slightly better.
I did get my bags later on the night that I arrived in Australia, after persuading a very grumpy and unsympathetic man. After finally being able to sleep, after about 42 hours of being awake, all of the issues I faced on the trip no longer bothered me. I have been in Australia for almost 2 days now and I am just taking it easy, trying to take it all in. That's all for today.
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