Long Travel Day(s)
I suppose that this blog post is picking up right where the last one left off! I’ll skip ahead to the ending real quick, so spoiler alert – I made it safe and sound to Auckland, New Zealand, where I am currently sitting to write this post!
Now, back to the trip that brought me to this point. Less than an hour after I clicked publish on my last post, I was boarding my plane to head to Los Angeles. Overall, the flight was uneventful. I sat in my chosen window seat to take my obligatory pictures of the scenery from above. During the flight I watched two episodes of a French TV show I had been wanting to start and listened to a playlist called “in transit” made for me by a lovely friend of mine. Mostly, though, the flight consisted of deep breathing and repeating positive affirmation mantras in terms of entertainment.
Once I made it to LAX, I had to cross through an entire terminal from my arrival gate to reach a door to a ramp to an outside shuttle bus stop to take me to the other side of the airport. I shared that ride with a young family with two little kids who were departing for an international move, with 6 bags on the luggage rack. They made full use of every passenger getting one carry-on and one personal item! I was also surrounded by 4 older southern ladies embarking on an international journey of their own. I’m not sure what the destination was, but they all seemed to share my feelings of nervousness and excitement. One called out to the driver 3 different times in the course of our 15 minute ride making sure that her group was being taken to the right spot. In between those moments, the ladies made guesses as to what their airplane dinner would be for the evening. All I was hoping was that I could calm myself down enough to eat anything when the time came for mine.
After I got off the bus, I had another 7 minute walk to my gate for my flight to Sydney. This was the big one. A 15 hour flight leaving at about 11 p.m. PST. I sat for a while. And, then paced the walkways for a while, thinking that I should get some movement in now before being confined to an airplane seat for the better part of the next day. I did a lot of people-watching and eavesdropping, too, if I am honest. I learned a lot of good tips and tricks for surviving the flight from a research biologist whose airline miles got her upgraded to first class for the trip and who has taken this precise route (though a different final destination than mine) at least four times before. She was not talking to me, though, but a colleague about to take the trip for her first time. It was actually her first international flight ever. It was reassuring to know that I wasn’t the only one who really didn’t know what the heck was going on and would be equally lost when landing in Australia.
Surprisingly, the flight itself wasn’t too bad. My seat was another window seat which allowed for some really lovely pictures and a nice spot to rest my head when the time came. The one downside was that my row was the one right before the bathrooms. Now this downside isn’t for the reason you’d expect (that proved to be no issue thank goodness!) but because it meant that my chair could not recline. I did manage to eat the provided dinner. And, I did remember to let them know I would need gluten free meals on the flight several weeks ago so that was also all taken care of for me. Dinner was chicken, rice, green beans, and a roll. Not too bad. The anxiety made it harder to eat, but it got finished enough for me to not go to sleep hungry.
Over the course of the flight, I was able to sleep about 6 or 7 hours in total. I think. They were not consecutive hours nor were they hours of deep sleep. But, still pretty good, if you ask me! They served 2 more meals during the flight. One even offered me a chocolate muffin! (Hey - it is the little things on hour 13 of an international flight where your chair won't recline…!) I, unfortunately, did not end up doing any crocheting as I had expected over the course of the journey, but Sunny Bear did spend the whole flight in my lap. I also didn’t really watch or listen to much during the flight. Come to think of it, I’m not really sure how I spent my time…
Now, after this flight is when things started to get a bit hectic. In Sydney it was announced that we would all have to go through customs and collect our checked bags no matter what the final destination was on their tags. This proved to be quite an ask given that the line for customs was massive and no one really gave any direction on what to do once the bags were collected if they needed to get to another destination, like, say, Auckland… Ultimately, I made it through customs, grabbed my bags, and had to ask 4 different workers on the procedure to get my bags rechecked before beginning that process. I made it to the spot to do so, though, and was able to, with some convincing, get them checked for their and my final destination without paying for them again. I showed all my visa and travel documents and then was directed to go back through security… again… ugh!
No offense to the people of Australia, but this experience with airport security was enough to make me not want to travel to your country again. But, then again, who would snuff at an opportunity to visit Australia all because of a bit of airport security troubles. The short of it is that the workers in my security line must not get a lot of diabetics or people with medical devices coming through because it took a lot of conversation and explanation and quite a few close calls with expensive devices almost being put through x-rays they can’t go through to have my request met. I asked to be pat down from the beginning (a constant now in my airport security routine) but it was met with a lot of resistance until they, ultimately, just offered me a pat down 20 minutes later. But, I made it through with no medical devices getting harmed in the process.
Now, if my flight to NZ had not been delayed an hour, I would have made it to my gate just as boarding began. Luckily, I had some time to rest and recover before getting on my final plane ride for the first leg of my trip. When I did, there were a few more issues, unfortunately. My carry-on, which held all of my insulin for the next year, was stopped at the front because it is on the larger side. The flight attendants wanted to gate check it. I explained that it had medicine and medical supplies inside and could not go underneath the plane, but they were hesitant. They held it up front until the very end, after everyone else had boarded the plane and I was nervously sitting in my seat watching. At that point, they wheeled it down the aisle and very easily slipped it into one of the overhead compartments. At least it all worked out well in the end!
During this final 3 hour flight, I watched some TV, looked out the window, and prepared for my arrival. The wheels touched the ground and the excitement (finally!) started to set in. As I worked my way through the airport arrivals section, I stopped at a counter and bought my prepaid NZ SIM card and the woman even set it up in my phone for me. So, now I have a NZ phone number - pretty cool!
I made it through customs and didn’t even need to show the officials the letters I spent months getting from my doctors and New Zealand’s MedSafe that allowed me to bring in a year's supply of medication and supplies despite only being (and only allowed to be) in the country for 3 months. The workers were extremely kind and helpful. At the end of the customs section, all of the luggage needed to be x-rayed. I explained to them that in my carry-on I had a few pieces that could not go through and they willfully took it to the end to hand-check for me.
Final step was to get on the shuttle that I booked to take me directly to the door of the house I will be staying at for the next six weeks. It arrived maybe 5 minutes after I arrived at the wait station and put me in the final open seat. I was the last person on and the first person off. A luxury service, I’d say! I was welcomed with a warm greeting, two lovely little dogs, a hot shower, a fresh cooked dinner, and a cozy bed. I made it here safe and I am so ready for this year of adventure, learning, growth, and opportunity to begin.
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