By the numbers
Bag 10 kg
1 plane
1 taxi
This would be my second go at trying to fly out of the Gold Coast after the false start earlier in the day. I made it to the airport with heaps of time and I knew the flight might be delayed by half an hour as that was all good. My bag was 10 kilos and I waved it off as it went through to the place from the back of beyond that could be a teleporter to meet me on the other side.
I had rebooked myself on one of the last flights of the day out of the Gold Coast and I was getting tired after being up nearly all day. My day had started around 530am, so I was starting to fun on fumes. At first thought the flight was delayed by half hour and I hoped it wouldn’t extend any further or else there might be the threat of being canned. The airport was cold enough that my bladder wanted to eject the contents frequently. Only to stop once I entered a warm departure line. Plus no evacuation until I ended up in Melbourne.
8pm Was supposed to be the boarding time for 830 departure
830pm a text to say the gate was open with it closing around 845
9pm hit and we still had no sight of the plane, but the gate had opened up without any staff. People were lining up, so I decided to as well. It was warmer than the terminal and my bladder settled.
930pm Staff wandering around and not enough info as more people wander into the gate area
945pm We were told that it would be another half hour as the pilot and crew from another plane were playing plane musical chairs by walking over to our one
1021pm Everyone starting to get ready to board
1030pm We wandered to the tarmac and were in a human conga line waiting outside as people scan their boarding passes while hoping the pilot closes his window while in the air.
1041 we were now sitting down and happy to have a seat on a full plane. I had a window seat where the original booking had an aisle. I read a books the entire flight.
I was happy to be on the plane and leaving the state. After a day of delays and this delay was part of the impact from the morning issues with the Gold Coast airport. Luckily I never had anything planned apart for a wander.
120am We finally land in Melbourne and I found it was my friend the long walk from one side of the terminal all the way to the front where my bag was actually waiting for me instead of the other way round. Turns out there was no more Skybus due to their run finishing at 1am. I decided to catch a taxi into the city and I found the taxi rank with no problems.
The taxi ride was actually pretty quick and the guy never said a word the entire way. He drove fast though and the metre went just as fast. I was dropped off just around the corner from where I was staying since it wasn’t that long of a walk. After I paid the bill, I got a shock I had been locked in the car. I think that was due to runners not paying. Once I was allowed out I bid the guy a good night sand headed to the hotel. Once inside the night manager had a look at my account to find there was an issue. I soon found my booking had been cancelled as my card was invalid for some reason even though I had rang to let them know. I was told to take a seat and wait a bit for him to reinstate my booking. It only took several minutes and I was relieved once I filled out paperwork for my room including getting my ID back as they needed a copy. Not something I wanted to lose.
0237am, I was in my room and heading to bed with an alarm set for 5 hours time. The room was quieter than the hostel around the corner. I was worried that they were doing roadworks out the front of the building on Spencer Street.
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