Earlier today I was getting very annoyed. I arrived at Auckland airport to check in for my Air NZ flight to Osaka. It was only 1pm, and the flight is not until 10.45pm, but it seemed like a better idea than hanging around the hotel lobby.
On the first attempt, all was going well until the man behind the counter asked me if I had an onward ticket for Japan. No, I said, I was going to take the ferry from Hakata to Busan in South Korea. Could I not book that online, he asked. Well, I didn't really want to do that as I wasn't sure when I'd want to leave. But I was pretty much forced into it. So I went over to the (luckily free of charge) internet booth and booked a ticket for the 5th of July. This gives me about 3 weeks in Japan and 2 in Korea before I go to Hong Kong (I'd already booked that flight to meet up with my girlfriend Linda). It was about what I was going to do anyway.
So I went back to the check in desk (bearing in mind I hadn't eaten since the night before and that was just jam sandwiches on the plane) and talked to a different person this time, he said I needed an actual print out of my booking confirmation, rather than just the details written down in my notebook. He told me in a very patronising way that this was what I needed when I used airports. Well I'd been doing fine without any printouts since I'd left the UK, and flown to Bali, Singapore, Bangkok, NZ and Australia (and back to NZ). Of course the computer terminal doesn't allow printouts, so I was told to email the details to one of the people at the ticketing desk. Well JR Ferries never emailed me a confirmation, its just on their page which I have to access by password. I couldn't even copy the page and paste it into hotmail. So I took a photo of the screen showing my booking details, then laboriously copied them onto a blank email. It looked a bit dodgy, but when I went back to check out they accepted it (after disappearing for some time to check it out in a back room). So, with luck I should be going to Japan after all. Good job I turned up early!
What a pain. It seems things are made as difficult as possible for overland travellers. The situation in Thailand was the same, I wanted to travel overland to Cambodia, which no one books until they get to Bangkok, but they wanted to see proof of onward passage so I ended up flying. After spending what seems like the past two days in an airport, I can safely tell you that they suck, and being stuck in a metal box for hours crammed in with your miserable human-kin is no smilefest either. Yesterday I had the joy of an extremely overweight woman sitting beside me, taking up half my seat, and in front of me was my favourite kind of person, that is the type that continuously try to recline their chairs further and further back until I'm almost breathing in their hair. And then there was the bloke who just poked me in the arm to ask me a stupid question (Which one is the window seat? Hey, its the one on the diagram thats near the window-looking object). I'll stop there before the rage consumes me utterly.
At least the hotel last night was nice. I had a bath, several cups of green tea (my own tea bags) and watched the first half of the first match of the world cup in a double bed in my own room! Luxury. Most expensive room I've had yet (about 70 pounds), just a shame I arrived after midnight and couldn't have a full night of it.
Ok then, til next time, sayonara
Rob
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