(no subject)
Feb. 9th, 2009 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hurly_burlyCanterbury Faire was lovely, and i think we'll go back next year. I found out four days before we left that i needed an australian passport (as opposed to the british passport i already had), so spent a fun afternoon organising photos, a copy of my birth certificate, and someone not related to me to sign said photos and fill out a part of the application. but, after paying the extra $80, i had a passport 24 hours after i realized i needed one, which i think was a good effort.
the trip was mostly smooth sailing (but for the moment of not-good at launceston airport when we couldn't find![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
not_an_elf 's passport), and we spent an entirely pleasant few days pootling around christchurch (with side trips to akaroa and the hot springs at hanmer), and it was all very lovely.
our travel hoodoo waited until the trip home before it struck.
we got into melbourne with 90 minutes between flights, which would have been perfectly adequate (even taking into account a 20 minute stop at duty free) if the baggage carousel hadn't broken down, leaving my suitcase clearly visible but totally unretrievable for 25 minutes, by which time two huge emirates and malaysian airlines flights had come in, filling the queue for customs until they curled through baggage claim for miles. after explaining to the attendant that we now only had 45 minutes to clear customs, recheck our luggage and get on the plane home, we were helpfully directed to the longest, slowest moving queue, and were having our bags searched as the final call for our flight went out. we could probably have still made it had the travellator not broken down, leaving a crush of people standing there waiting for it to start again, apparently unable to walk the last few metres with their bags, with us at the bottom. so, plan was missed, but not by much. an hour of negotiations got us a flight into hobart (five hours late and 200kms away from our car, but at least we were in the right state), and st andrew (patron saint of the stranded and those who need their sewing machines mended) came and got us (and the small girl), and now we are home.
time to feed the birds and go to the supermarket.
oh, and UTI = much ouchiness and sorrow!
the trip was mostly smooth sailing (but for the moment of not-good at launceston airport when we couldn't find
not_an_elf 's passport), and we spent an entirely pleasant few days pootling around christchurch (with side trips to akaroa and the hot springs at hanmer), and it was all very lovely.our travel hoodoo waited until the trip home before it struck.
we got into melbourne with 90 minutes between flights, which would have been perfectly adequate (even taking into account a 20 minute stop at duty free) if the baggage carousel hadn't broken down, leaving my suitcase clearly visible but totally unretrievable for 25 minutes, by which time two huge emirates and malaysian airlines flights had come in, filling the queue for customs until they curled through baggage claim for miles. after explaining to the attendant that we now only had 45 minutes to clear customs, recheck our luggage and get on the plane home, we were helpfully directed to the longest, slowest moving queue, and were having our bags searched as the final call for our flight went out. we could probably have still made it had the travellator not broken down, leaving a crush of people standing there waiting for it to start again, apparently unable to walk the last few metres with their bags, with us at the bottom. so, plan was missed, but not by much. an hour of negotiations got us a flight into hobart (five hours late and 200kms away from our car, but at least we were in the right state), and st andrew (patron saint of the stranded and those who need their sewing machines mended) came and got us (and the small girl), and now we are home.
time to feed the birds and go to the supermarket.
oh, and UTI = much ouchiness and sorrow!