Off To An Interesting Start

As per usual getting to Kuwait was far from easy. We arrived at the airport late, and the flight was over booked. So guess who didn't get on the plane. Me. 

My flight from Frankfurt to Kuwait was still good. I just needed to find away to get another flight that night to Frankfurt. Now I could have waited for an alternative flight in a couple of days and be late for work. Looking back, it wouldn't have been horrible. But showing up for a contract late and missing the first couple of days isn't ideal. So we looked, and called, and I was put on hold for a very long time and found a travel agent who told me and my mom (who was dropping me off) that if we run and change terminals we could possibly get on and Air Canada flight. The guy from Condor airlines I was on the phone with told me to try and get the flight and we can sort out payment after. So we ran through the airport with a trolley full of suitcase, at one point we went the wrong direction and had to double back. I got the check in counter sweaty and out of breath, explained the situation to a woman, she ushered us into the line only to eventually get to the counter to be told we were in the wrong place. So we ran across the terminal with less than an hour and half to the flight. We stood in another line and waited forever as the the ticketing agents seemed to not be doing anything at all. Minutes passed and tried not to panic. 

50 minutes from take off I was finally talking to a ticketing woman, she could get me on the flight for about three thousand dollars. Which is insane, she explained that one way tickets are very expensive to Europe. Well what about round trip tickets? It actually cost me $600 less to have a round trip. I'm not sure how that math works. Paid for my extra luggage, and then carted it to another counter ticket in hand. The woman who gave me my ticket warned me, you only have 5 minutes before that luggage won't make it on the plane. So I ran and got it there with 4 minutes left. Which the baggage lady didn't seem in a rush at all, which of course drove me insane. But she sent them off on their way. I was 95% I would not see them arrive in Kuwait. I then ran with Mom to security were there was the quickest good bye ever, rushed through, ran to my gate, just in time to be one of the last few to board the plane. I was on the flight. I was going to get to Frankfurt. 

When I landed in Frankfurt the fun wasn't over, there were terminal changes, than getting the boarding pass for my flight to Kuwait, then traveling in the complete opposite direction to get to my gate. I had twenty minutes to spare before boarding, which is when I met some of the other new teachers at my school. When we went to get on the plane, you had to go through this automated gate, which felt like a cattle call. Turns out they had scales in the floor. So when you rolled over it with your carry on it could tell if it was over weight. Note to self always carry luggage. So obviously mine was over weight, because thats how I pack. So after the flashing lights and beeping had subsided, a representative told me that my one carry on had to be checked. I was impressed, but he noted that it would be free of charge, so he took the bag, gave me a sticker tag and sent me down to the plane. There's another lost suitcase. I was pretty sure I was now going to show up in Kuwait and have only my laptop bag. 

Now here's the thing about carry ons, you put important things in them, like documents you need to get into a country. Of course I had my passport with me, but there was also a series of colourfully stamped pages that went along with my visa, which would let me into the country. So when I got to customs in Kuwait it hit me. I was short a very important piece of paper. So I explained it to the customs agent who looked at me like I was an idiot, and proceeded to be passed of to a series of customs officers as I was escorted to retrieve my bag from the carousel and then escorted back in order to officially enter the country. I picked up the rest of my bags- which all arrived!