"I don't know, I'm not trained for this."

What else could go “wrong”? I dare not tempt fate, but this day has been a collection of travel woes and interesting incidents. I can only wonder what else will happen in the next day and a half.

I’m at the LA airport for a five hour layover, then it’s off to Sydney and finally Melbourne, where I will be for a few days before the Fulbright Enrichment Seminar in Canberra. But let me start at the beginning: midnight last night. I had finished packing (except for last-minute items I still needed) and had planned to go to bed at a reasonable hour to have a chance of semi-normal sleep. I got online to check in for my flights and print off my tickets, and I noticed my last ticket, the one for my flight between Sydney and Melbourne, said (in small print at the bottom, of course), “Please proceed directly to the gate or ticket counter of your connecting airline to check in for your flight and receive boarding documents.” Okay, got it. Now the curveball: “If you are required to clear customs at your transfer point, all checked bags must be claimed and re-checked with your connecting airline—they will not be automatically transferred.”  I understand that I have to go through customs, although I had thought I’d go through it in Melbourne, not Sydney, but I had NO idea that I had to claim and re-check my bags with my connecting airline. My travel agent told me I did have to transfer from the international to domestic terminal in Sydney, but she said my checked bags WOULD be checked ALL THE WAY THROUGH to my final destination. Guess not. Now I’m left wondering if, when I re-check my bags, they are subject to Delta’s weight limits (50 lbs each) or Virgin Australia’s limits (70 lbs total). Both my bags fit within the Delta rules but are over the VA rules. I called Delta and asked whose rules I would be under, and he said VA’s (since they operate the connecting flight, even though it’s under Delta’s name). That’s not what I had been told by another Delta agent several weeks ago when I called about this issue. That agent had said since my bags would be checked all the way through they wouldn’t be re-checked under VA’s rules. In a panic, I called VA and the first guy I talked to let me explain my whole situation before saying, “Sorry, I’m not trained for this. Let me transfer you.” So he transferred me to another agent, who proceeded to read a script that I’d already read online and not answer my question. After getting the royal run-around, I simply asked, “Will I have to pay an excess baggage fee when I re-check my bags?” She didn’t give me a simple yes/no answer, but she DID say that because my flight was booked through Delta I am subject to Delta’s baggage rules. I heard her say it, loud and clear. So when I re-check my bags in Sydney I’m telling them what she said and I’m NOT paying a fee (well, that’s what I say now...). I just hope I’m blowing this out of proportion and that it will be an easy transfer.

Now for the rest of the day. My mom took me to the Cincinnati airport to see me off, and I managed not to get too emotional. That will come later when I have time to decompress and actually think. I went through security pretty flawlessly, except for having to go through the body scanner for the first time ever. I stood there with my hands held high like a criminal who’s just been caught and then stood on the little footprints on the floor. Apparently I looked suspicious because the elderly lady attendant proceeded to frisk me and run her hands along the inside of my waistband. She was very polite about it and it wasn’t a big deal (apparently the scanner often shows funny stuff around women’s waistbands and they have to be frisked), but I had mixed feelings of very mild offense and accomplishment. It wouldn’t be a true adventure if I wasn’t frisked at the airport. After that everything went pretty smoothly until I was waiting at my gate and I heard, “Passenger Kristen Lear please come to the front check-in desk.” Uh-oh, what did I do now? Did they find something wrong with my bags? Did I forget to do some vital check-in procedure? I went up, quite nervous as I heard other passengers chattering, “They called Kristen Lear,” only to find out they just needed to enter some information into the computer from my passport. Phew! Another travel first. :) We finally boarded the plane at 4:00pm and left on time. My next incident happened when I went to the bathroom on the plane. I was almost done when the door suddenly opened and someone tried to come in! I guess that lock had come loose. Luckily the door didn’t open too much and the person realized their mistake, so a more embarrassing crisis was averted.  I returned to my seat and started to fall asleep, and just as I reached the head-jerk/daydreaming phase a baby started crying, and all hope of a nap was gone.

So overall, the first part of my travels has been pretty smooth with some bumps along the way. I have a 15 hour flight, customs/immigration, a shuttle transfer between terminals, and a connecting flight with unknown baggage limits yet to go. I can only imagine the disasters that could happen along the way. However, I am encouraged by the fact that upon boarding my plane to LA I saw a man reading “The Gold Coast,” a novel by Nelson DeMille (sadly not about Australia). It must be a good omen for the rest of the trip! :)