Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Airport Drama - Part I

There is so much to tell you all about the day of our departure that I'm not even sure where to start...

We had our alarm set for 6.30am on Saturday morning. Mr. Milk woke up without the need for an alarm several minutes before it went off. I'm actually surprised he slept at all. By the time he got out of the shower, I too was awake but still lying on our airbed. He came over, said good morning and started to tear up. My heart broke for him. He started to tell me about the memory he'd just had of when he'd first arrived in Canada. He was in a similar situation, lying on an airbed in a place that had very little, and he was eager to get started. He recalled the smells and sounds. The same was happening now, only this time it was goodbye. We cuddled for a bit, both with tears streaming down our face...

We got up, got ready, packed the few things that remained, toiletries, pj's, packed up our bedding, and waited for two friends to come pick us up. We wanted to get an early start even thought our first flight was a domestic one and we definitely needed two cars to fit our things. It was raining outside. Not atypical of Vancouver and quite fitting I think. I remember taking our luggage downstairs to be stuffed in the cars and just taking a moment to look around. People walking their dogs, staff in the supermarket downstairs getting ready to open, the shops and restaurants around that were still closed, and thinking, this is it. We are actually doing this. I felt a little panicky at the thought to be honest.

I tried to take in the short ride to the airport. Looking at the houses, the greenery, the rain. Mr. Milk was in the other car. It was a quiet ride on my end.

We got to the airport and went to check in at the business class counter. Mr. Milk's constant traveling has earned him the perk. And thank god!!! We have never needed it more than we did then! We had been weighing our luggage as we packed, trying to ensure that we were within the allowed weight. We used a piece of crap nifty little tool that Mr. Milk had brought home not too long ago that looked similar to this



Pretty harmless looking right?

Oh no! That piece of junk had it all wrong!! We put the first suitcase on the scale and the damn thing reads 34.8kg!! I can't be bothered to do the conversion, so let's just say we were only allowed 23kg! So the lady kindly informs us that we need to remove 2kg from this bag and place it in another one.  Obviously the math doesn't add up here. That's because Mr. Milk is actually allowed 3 pieces at 32kg. So I think, ok... We got one wrong. Still have room to play with. That was until he put the next suitcase on the scale. And the next. And the next. And the next! All 5 bags weighed around 32 - 35kg! I felt the pit of my stomach drop. How could a scale be so wrong! It wasn't like we could move a few things around and be ok. We had another suitcase worth of stuff!!

Stay tuned for what happened next...

16 fabulous blogger's comments:

Princess Christy said...

Oh no! I can't imagine your panic, especially after you had tried so hard to weigh everything! You poor dears - not a good thing first thing in the morning!

KMalandro2B said...

Bummer Chocolate Lover!! I'm sorry your device didn't work! I hope the rest of your flights went smoothly..crossing my fingers!

Kim said...

Ugh! So sorry to hear about that. Flying can be the worst. Glad you made it safe and sound. It's so great that you and Mr. Milk were able to comfort one another as you said "goodbye" to your second home.

Discovery Street said...

paying to check luggage is the most obnoxious, annoying thing ever. I've had to reshuffle things MULTIPLE times. :(

Em said...

Uugghh that is so annoying. Somehow I was 5 lb over on the way back from our honeymoon (even though I hardly added anything during our trip). Not fun.

Thank you for sharing this moving story with us. It's helping me prep emotionally for my move tomorrow :)

Dancy said...

Ugh! So annoying. Last time we went to Ireland we had to buy another bag to fit & reshuffle stuff. Buying the extra bag IN the airport was cheaper than paying the extra baggage - insane! What a racket!!

Born to be Mrs. Beever said...

Don't you hate the stupid airline restrictions nowadays? We thought we were going to be way over on our honeymoon trip. We even weighed our bags on our scale at home. Just to be safe, when we set the bags on the scale at the airport, Mr Fix It did a little hidden maneuvering and leaned one bag on it's side on the side of the scale so that not all of the weight was being placed on the scale. Overall, we were fine. I hope you didn't end up having to pay a ton of extra money! UGH!

Unknown said...

Oh noooooo... that's the WORST and a lot of weight that you have to try to allocate somewhere else! eek... can't wait to hear what happens!

Nicole said...

Uh oh! You need a part 2!? This CANNOT be good! Damn cliffhangers! Lol I was so sad for you two when you described the feeling you had the morning of your flight! I know how it feels, just know there is more memories to make and experiences to have! It will be great :)

Heather said...

I'm so sorry! I would have completely freaked out! I hope it worked out in the end. I'll wait for your next post...

JEM - Aqua Bride said...

Oh man, that sucks, let's hope it get's better from here.

Mrs T said...

How many clothes did you have to wear onto the flight??

That sucks.

And I know how hard it can be to leave a place that has been home. x

Katie said...

omg you poor thing!

NuFlaiir - Planning a Destination Wedding said...

I hate those airlines restrictions, but hope everything worked out in the end.

~lilian~

Annie said...

OMG what a nightmare! Now I'm really curious to see what happened next!

Chocolate Party Favors said...

First part is not ok..Looking forward to your other post to know what really happened..I'm so excited about it..I hope it ended well..