Flight Changes, Lost Luggage, and Invalid ATM Cards… Oh My

G’day from Australia!

Based on my previous blogging attempts when I was in Europe, I wasn’t incredibly successful when it came to keeping my blog up to date, but I’m going to give it another go whilst living in Oz. Hopefully this time around, I’ll do a better job at writing new entries and keeping family and friends at home in the loop with what I’m doing.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over two years since I’ve lived abroad because, as cliché as it may sound, when I think back on my Britain and Ireland memories, it really does seem like just yesterday that I was eating another meal at Vapiano on Great Portland Street, buying the most delicious cupcakes from Hummingbird, doing my weekly grocery shopping at Tesco, and exploring the likes of stunning storybook places, such as Galway, Wicklow, Glendalough, and Kerry. Looking back on the last two years spent in the US, although admittedly not always enjoyed, I’ve come to realise that they were necessary and served as incubators for great growth in my personal life. During this time, I may have lost a friendship or two, but I managed to strengthen others and build additional ones. I can say with full certainty that I’ve learned to appreciate the time I had at home, spending time with family and friends and figuring out what my next step would be.

Welcome to “my next step,” which happened to be uprooting my quiet life in Pennsylvania and moving to the other side of the world, far away from the family and the friends I hold so close to my heart.

True to my nature, I saved the vast majority of my packing for the last minute. Not that I’m the most well-traveled person in the world, but with the fair amount of travelling I’ve done, one would think that I would have mastered the art of packing by now… or at least become semi-skilled at packing lightly.

Not so much.

With only several hours to go until I had to catch the bus to the airport, I still had piles of clothing, shoes, and random knick-knacks scattered around the living room floor, all items I desperately

In the midst of packing

wanted to fit into my luggage and take with me. It literally looked like a tornado had passed through the room, and at one point, I think I just sat in the middle of the mess, sincerely believing I wasn’t going to be able to make it work and cursing myself for waiting that long to seriously pack. However, success is all the more sweet when failure seems inevitable and after much time and effort spent trying to cram it all into the allotted carry-on bag and two massive pieces of luggage I could take on the flight, I somehow managed to shrink approximately 150 pounds of belongings down to just under 100.

My long journey from the US to Australia started with a lengthy three-hour bus ride from the Valley to JFK. It worked out well because the only bus that would get me to the airport on time brought me there three hours before my flight, which is what’s generally recommended when flying internationally. This flight experience proved to bring about many firsts for me:: the first time flying from JFK, the first time I’ve been early for something… [in a long time, at least], and the first time I learned my luggage had been lost upon arriving at my destination.

What had happened was I was supposed to be on an Air Pacific flight from LA to Nadi to Sydney, but Cheapoair called me last week or so to tell me they were switching my flight so that I would have a direct one from LA to Sydney with V Australia. When I was at JFK, the woman who checked my

Leaving Fiji

luggage told me that I would need to go to V Australia in LA to have them print me a ticket, but she assured me that my luggage would go straight to Sydney. I did just that when I arrived in LA; however, the V Australia representative told me that I needed to go to Air Pacific first to obtain a ticket there and then he could issue me one. When I went to Air Pacific, the woman said that the flight with V Australia was full so much to my delight [because who doesn’t want a layover in gorgeous Fiji :o)], I would need to take my original flight from LA to Nadi to Sydney, but my luggage would be going with V Australia since that's how United had set it up at JFK.

Guess whose luggage wasn't in Sydney when she finally arrived on Monday… and wouldn’t arrive until this afternoon?

That was the first thing that went wrong, but I accepted it because I was finally in Australia and decided that something as trivial as being without my luggage for a day shouldn’t ruin my spirits. Besides, for someone who loves to shop, having to go out and buy some clothing wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It was an amateur move for not packing extra clothing in my carry-on, but I had no room and no reason to be concerned that my bags wouldn’t arrive in Sydney with me.

After being in Sydney for a few hours, I realised I had forgotten my outlet adapter at home so I went to the store to buy one, but when I tried to pay for it with my debit card, an error kept popping up. I tried to withdraw money from the ATM, but that wouldn't work either. As it turned out, I must have grabbed an old card I had in my wallet instead of my newer one, but it was the only one there so I’m not even sure where the right one is at the moment. I called my home bank to sort things out and another one is being sent to me. In the meantime, hooray for credit cards and the modest amount of cash I happened to have on me.

Most of my time so far has been spent sitting on the Internet as I job and apartment hunt, but I did have some free time yesterday afternoon to walk down to The Rocks and see the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It honestly wasn't until I first laid my eyes on these attractions that it

First of hopefully many visits to Circular Quay

dawned on me that I’m actually in Australia. Funnily enough, this is typically what it takes for me to fully comprehend that I’ve finally arrived somewhere. For instance, I can tell you that I didn’t have a true sense of arrival in Seoul until I looked up and found myself staring at the Seoul Tower, in London until I strolled along the street and stumbled across Westminster Abbey, or in Paris until I peered outside my window and saw the Eiffel Tower. Remarkable moments that have made me stop dead in my tracks and ask myself, “How did I end up living such a blessed life?”

So here’s to another hopefully amazing year filled with great adventures, memories to reflect on in the future, and stories to tell for years to come.