Australia - A State of Readiness
October 30 - November 1, #1
Are we ever really “ready” for life’s milestones? After a whirlwind of box checking, farewell dinners with friends, family goodbyes, cabin winterizing, and wrapping our truck in a “u-haul orange” tarp; our house on wheels was once again stuffed into cardboard, loaded in the back of a minivan rental, now headed south on I-5 bound for SanFrancisco International airport.
In two days time, just five minutes after Halloween, we would depart the USA from Gate 13 headed for Australia, and arrive fifteen hours later in Melbourne on the “Day of the Dead”. Somehow that realization had not struck us until we were in the final stages of storing away the stuff of suburban life in Oregon. Not exactly the markers one would choose for the start of a next life adventure, or was it?
If we had any doubts, they were dissuaded by a perfectly white feather that mysteriously appeared in our rental van. Immediately curious about the significance, a quick Google search revealed they are a sign of new beginnings and protection from above. Further confirmation that after 10 years of planning, followed by 7 years of anticipation, this was meant to be our restart of life together.
SFO friend or foe?
Our house on carts at SFO. Note we are strategically under the defib station!
We arrived at the airport with 30 minutes to spare before returning our rental and hatched a tactical plan - park the van, assess logistics for unloading our house and score a couple discarded luggage carts to avoid the fee. Thankfully the international terminal was a mild state of busy because our heads were frantic, knowing we had to relinquish control of our house for the next 24 hours. This was Round 2 of traveling by air with all our gear, and after our first experience at SeaTac, we were desperate to regain some confidence in the baggage handling system. However, we had already upped the stakes - this was our first long-haul international flight and the unknowns were unnerving.
Our bike boxes were both just under 70 pounds and our three gear boxes were just at 50 pounds each. After attempting to pay the checked bag fees online in advance, we were met at the counter with a circular conversation involving first two, then three, agents about how each of the bike boxes required an additional overweight fee of $200 per bike. Somehow, in the end, we were only charged one additional fee but our confidence meter was dropping. We watched anxiously as our bike boxes were trolley’d away to the overweight baggage station and pushed through the portal doors, out of sight.
For the last two days on the road we had lived on tortilla wraps made from the last of our backpacking food reserves. Mentally spent, we slumped into the nearest string of depot chairs and sifted through the remains of our food bag to refuel and regroup. Somewhat revived, we braced ourselves for the security line and were amazed to find it non-existent. Apparently our plan to depart just minutes after Halloween had some unexpected benefits.
Over 986.4 miles driven in 16 hours across two state lines, and 4 hours of airport logistics to clear security, we were down to the final 4 hours before our flight and it still wasn’t sinking in that we were about to leave everything familiar to us. In search of a place we could attempt to block out our surroundings, at the end of the terminal, just above our gate, we stumbled upon doors leading to an outdoor deck kitted out like it was attached to a up-scale California hotel. We slid into the last two wooden recliners and tried to convince our bodies to decompress as we watched the tarmac for our plane to arrive.
Baggage Schooling - Round 2
I had carefully selected United over other airlines based on our baggage requirements and was surprised to find the App allows passengers to “track” their bags - although my skepticism remained high. After our last experience, we put AirTags in every box. As boarding calls began, our stomachs dropped, the App still showed only our gear had been loaded and not our bikes. Would this ever be a straightforward endeavor??
The agent at the desk although decked out in Halloween attire was not in a festive or helpful mood. In his most authoritative German-accent, no matter what we asked, he would only repeat, “I am going to be direct with you, your bikes are with Security and there is nothing I can do. It is up to Security to release them, OR they could be on the next flight, OR you can file a claim?!?!” Really??
Someone clearly got the short straw in the holiday schedule lottery…
Our gut instincts knew none of this made sense - could this really be our plight at every airport?? In disbelief, I did the only thing I knew from years of travel, when the person in front of you is determined not to be helpful - call the Mileage Plan Customer Service and hope for someone that has mastered their role. Finally, the simple explanation delivered over the phone. “Go ahead and board the plane. The bikes are being held until you check-in, and then they will be released for loading”. Feeling warily confident we headed down the ramp, refreshing the App as we went. Sure enough the bike status updated before we reached our seats.
Customs Australia-style
Victory in Victoria!
Fifteen hours later we arrived in Melbourne 30 minutes early, breezed through Customs after a few clarifications on our declarations, found our gear boxes already on the carrousel, received a gracious offer from an Australian mom to watch our boxes while I got a luggage trolley, (which are available in abundance at NO cost (what’s up USA??)), and after meeting up with Nivaun at the oversized baggage ramp, just a few nervous toe-taps later - both our bike boxes rolled down the conveyor looking completely in tact!
Our boxes and carry-ons precariously stacked on two under-sized luggage trolleys, we joyously followed the “WAY OUT” signs to the final Customs queue only to discover the black strap maze was far too narrow for our wide load. Thankfully, the airport attendant realized our predicament and unlatched a strap to let us through mid-way up the queue. Not wanting to be any more obnoxious, we tried to reestablish our place in line at the end of the queue, only to find we were being summoned further to the Customs counter ahead of everyone else.
At that point we embraced our notoriety, followed the Customs Agent up to the front, answered a few questions as we jostled our boxes past the desk, and with some assistance pushed them across the threshold. In a matter of minutes we were cleared, but not “out of the way”. If we hadn’t gained attention being escorted to the front of the line, we then managed to disrupt the “way out” trying to maneuver our boxes back on to the trollies down the narrow hall around a sharp corner to the final set of doors. We had MADE IT!! Gauntlet #1 of international travel DONE! With much relief and amazement we burst through the doors, our house in tact, grateful to Australian Customs for making our first morning in Australia a truly G’Day!