arrival in nepal
hi all,
well i am made it to nepal...just. i can tell you i have had some funny experiences in my life. but this one was well up there with the best of them.
i left home en route for the airport at 10pm wednesday night with my father and brother. he was exhausted so he slept in te back of the van as we drove. the drive is about 40mins from my house to the airport. about 5mins from the airport i had a strangely feeling about my plane ticket.
you see earlier the day before i had bought my return ticket to japan. and for some reason i had picked that up and put t in my pocket. leaving my ticket to nepal on the kitchen bench. sure enough i had the wrong ticket. so we had to turn around and go home again. fortunately i gave mum a call on the mobile and she came and met us half way.
once i had the right ticket it was it was back to the airport ....again. and if i thought all my trouble were over for the night i was wrong.
in the back of the car i had 140kg of gear and food for the climb.all of which i had to get onto the plane. now thai airways have always looked after me in recent years. they are absolutely awesome(thank you ann). and they gavce me a letter saying i could have excess luggage of 20kg per person. so that meant i was allowed to have a total of 80kg. i was still 60kg over. and at $23 per kg....well you do the maths.
earlier whilst standing in the line i had comment ed to dad that we did not want the male ceck-in clerk because he had a "chip on his shoulder". it turned out to be the best move i have made all year.
we went with the girl. and for some reason she was really into what i was doing and where i was going. she went completely out of her way and then some more again to ensure that i get ALL my gear on the plane without paying. i cant remember her name, but when she consulted with the supervisor, mae, she too was on our side. i did my best to try and be lighthearted and joke around with them. smile and be charming. and it seemed to work.
she gave us more excess allowance. and then told me to take 2 extra hand luggage pieces on the plane with us. so i pulled out to smaller backpacks and filled them up. then i started putting on extra clothing and even put my sorel boots on.
now anyone that knows what sorels are know that they are superheavy but really warm boots to be used in the snow. so i have these things on, in australia when its still 30 degress celcius at midnight, and to make matter worse we on our way to bangkok. which is not exactly cold either. 5mins after putting the boots on i was weating bullets.
in the end after much swapping and unpacking of gear we got all 7. yes 7 pieces of checked in luggage onto the plane. and all without paying a single cent extra. we got onto the plane with 24 kg each of hang luggage, which the thai airways ladies had given us special passes to allow us to take extra big bags onto the place. something which you are normally not allowed to do.
we cleared immigration. there seemed to be no one around. it was the last flight for the night. eveyone was so helpful and supportive of what we were doing and where we going. the plane was in final boarding as we walked through the gate. the plane was half full and to my suprised, the lady that had checked us in and had incredibly taken all our gear without making us pay.had put us at the back of the plane. with a whole row EACH of vacant seats. AWESOME!!!!.how incredible.
i took my boots off and settled in for the flight.next sto bangkok. as i lay down i hoped this was a good omen for the up coming expedition to everest. maybe this time a little luck is going to come my way. i felt especially fortunate when my father and i spoke with an italian photographer who had been on the same flight as us form melbouren to bagkonk. he had had to pay $400 excess luggage and did not have a third of the amount excess that we had had. poor guy. i felt guilty when he told me this. but them again, maybe this time the gods will smile upon me. and i refelct on this stroke of good luck. if i had not forgotten my plane tcket. i may not have got the lady that we did. who was so nice. and maybe oi would be out of pocket $1000. fdestiny and fate works in funny ways.
anyway all. i have to split and go organise my gear and sherpas.
take care and speak to you all soon.
blair
well i am made it to nepal...just. i can tell you i have had some funny experiences in my life. but this one was well up there with the best of them.
i left home en route for the airport at 10pm wednesday night with my father and brother. he was exhausted so he slept in te back of the van as we drove. the drive is about 40mins from my house to the airport. about 5mins from the airport i had a strangely feeling about my plane ticket.
you see earlier the day before i had bought my return ticket to japan. and for some reason i had picked that up and put t in my pocket. leaving my ticket to nepal on the kitchen bench. sure enough i had the wrong ticket. so we had to turn around and go home again. fortunately i gave mum a call on the mobile and she came and met us half way.
once i had the right ticket it was it was back to the airport ....again. and if i thought all my trouble were over for the night i was wrong.
in the back of the car i had 140kg of gear and food for the climb.all of which i had to get onto the plane. now thai airways have always looked after me in recent years. they are absolutely awesome(thank you ann). and they gavce me a letter saying i could have excess luggage of 20kg per person. so that meant i was allowed to have a total of 80kg. i was still 60kg over. and at $23 per kg....well you do the maths.
earlier whilst standing in the line i had comment ed to dad that we did not want the male ceck-in clerk because he had a "chip on his shoulder". it turned out to be the best move i have made all year.
we went with the girl. and for some reason she was really into what i was doing and where i was going. she went completely out of her way and then some more again to ensure that i get ALL my gear on the plane without paying. i cant remember her name, but when she consulted with the supervisor, mae, she too was on our side. i did my best to try and be lighthearted and joke around with them. smile and be charming. and it seemed to work.
she gave us more excess allowance. and then told me to take 2 extra hand luggage pieces on the plane with us. so i pulled out to smaller backpacks and filled them up. then i started putting on extra clothing and even put my sorel boots on.
now anyone that knows what sorels are know that they are superheavy but really warm boots to be used in the snow. so i have these things on, in australia when its still 30 degress celcius at midnight, and to make matter worse we on our way to bangkok. which is not exactly cold either. 5mins after putting the boots on i was weating bullets.
in the end after much swapping and unpacking of gear we got all 7. yes 7 pieces of checked in luggage onto the plane. and all without paying a single cent extra. we got onto the plane with 24 kg each of hang luggage, which the thai airways ladies had given us special passes to allow us to take extra big bags onto the place. something which you are normally not allowed to do.
we cleared immigration. there seemed to be no one around. it was the last flight for the night. eveyone was so helpful and supportive of what we were doing and where we going. the plane was in final boarding as we walked through the gate. the plane was half full and to my suprised, the lady that had checked us in and had incredibly taken all our gear without making us pay.had put us at the back of the plane. with a whole row EACH of vacant seats. AWESOME!!!!.how incredible.
i took my boots off and settled in for the flight.next sto bangkok. as i lay down i hoped this was a good omen for the up coming expedition to everest. maybe this time a little luck is going to come my way. i felt especially fortunate when my father and i spoke with an italian photographer who had been on the same flight as us form melbouren to bagkonk. he had had to pay $400 excess luggage and did not have a third of the amount excess that we had had. poor guy. i felt guilty when he told me this. but them again, maybe this time the gods will smile upon me. and i refelct on this stroke of good luck. if i had not forgotten my plane tcket. i may not have got the lady that we did. who was so nice. and maybe oi would be out of pocket $1000. fdestiny and fate works in funny ways.
anyway all. i have to split and go organise my gear and sherpas.
take care and speak to you all soon.
blair
posted by Blair Falahey at 7:42 PM
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