Friday, Dec 14th
Leaving Phuket Thailand
I'm on my flight to NZ, but getting out of Thailand was the departure from hell...and it wasn't Blaze that was the issue. Really! It was immigration into NZ. Lots of confusion around the visa laws. Supervisor requested. Immigration official from Australia consulted. NZ immigration called. Unbelievable. I had researched this online at NZ Immigration website. US passports required no visa. And I was required, if I did not have an outbound ticket, to be able to show a credit card statement showing I had sufficient funds to buy said ticket. I was prepared to do that. No go. Because the airline flying me in can be liable for a penalty if I do not meet immigration requirements, they can make their own requirements and they were requiring I have an outbound ticket. I didn't have one. You can go upstairs to the Internet cafe and purchase one online. Really? Now? You will also need a visa for Australia because your layover is longer than 8 hours...8 hours and 10 minutes! Now I had spent most of my last Bhatt getting a taxi part way to the airport because the hills were so steep and it was so humid that my hot flashes were firing in overdrive and nothing would cool me down. So now I had to pay for the Internet 100 B leaving me just 20 B or 7 cents. Ok. Buy a refundable ticket as the Australian immigration agent suggested. Have no clue what I'll pay when I cancel that. Go back downstairs where they were watching my bike and gear. Got it. Showed them a photo I took of the confirmation. Tricky huh? Then gave them the same credit card I bought the ticket with to pay the visa fee to spend 8 hours in Australia. Declined. OMG! Can it get any worse? Gave them a 2nd card I had. It worked. Now they sent me to the back of the line to check in. Wait. Wait. Wait. The supervisor steps in to do my check in. Another phone call about the bicycle. I guess that went okay. They had my luggage tags printed, but then cancelled them and reprinted. Finally they said I was "Done"!!! 3.5 hours from arrival to check in completed. Is that a new record? Glad I showed up way early! Actually packing went great. I use one yellow pannier as carry-on and then bundled the pods around the other pannier with straps I had and bungie cords. I taped my flags and umbrella to the trike's boom as Dennis had suggested (thanks for that one!). Good to go! That all worked fabulously!
But the oddities didn't end there. Seems Australian airlines don't let you bring any water on board and they check your carry on for it at the gate. In fact security was another heavy thing. Everything was scanned as I entered the airport. Then I did my thing and built my bundle before finding out they do a physical search of your checked baggage. I handed them my bundle with a sad face. He decided to just ask me what was on there. Then some Aussies I met handed me zip ties to lock everything so that drugs weren't stuffed into my luggage. Then upstairs there was the usual gate screening. And then again at the gate a physical search of our carry ons. Something else! That's for sure. I managed to find a bottled water dispenser to get a drink at the gate. Good thing. It was an hour and a half after take off before they brought drinks around. Also, another Aussie mentioned that you had to bring or buy food. So I got a Subway tuna, no lettuce or tomato, sub. Something "safe":). When they finally did come round, they served food. My sub tasted better!
Ok. Time for sleep.
Well that didn't happen. It's 2am and I've been trying to sleep for a couple of hours. Nada. Maybe it's because I realized that I was very attentive in the craziness at check-in and didn't notice that she only booked me to Sydney. That's why I bought that refundable ticket out of NZ...so she would ticket me INTO NZ. So now I have to clear customs with all my stuff and go to the ticket counter and try again to get to NZ. The only thing I'm suspecting is that for some reason my refundable ticket didn't book, although it says it did. It was declined when I tried to pay for the Australian visa with it. It's the only cc I have with me besides my debit card.
So sleep evades me. I'll be one tired puppy when I finally get to Wellington. Luckily it'll be after midnight bu the time I get to my friends' house and I can say Hi and Goodnight in one breath:)
Next adventure will be what happens in Sydney. Will I actually get to fly to NZ today?
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