Circumnavigate Log #7

Things that strike me humorous:

Carry-on Luggage Limitation checks: These are the metal enclosures you are supposed to insert your carryon luggage into make sure your bag will fit into the overhead compartment on the airplane. The thing is, they are always much smaller than the actual compartments. Are you supposed to try putting your bag in there right before you board? I can just imagine holding up the whole boarding process because my bag is stuck. “I’m sorry,” they would say. “You packed too much. Please unpack some things.” Really?

When people hog the whole width of the moving walkways: If I have to get from one end of the airport to the other, it’s really nice to walk briskly along the moving walkways. They are fabulous inventions that allow you to arrive wherever you need to go in the airport much quicker. But sometimes people think that they are like a subway that you board and then hang out until it arrives at its termination point. When they see me clambering up behind them with my broken suitcase, they smile as if to say, “Welcome to our subway. We hope you enjoy the ride, because we sure are.”

The no smoking light in the airplane: Why do these have these lights? Are people really going to light up in flight? If they did, what would they use? They confiscated all your matches and lighters at the five security checkpoints you had to go through prior to boarding. “Excuse me,” some guy might say as he opens the bin above your head, “I have to get my flint and steel so I can light up.”

You know you are on a long flight when the sixth movie shown is a rerun of one they showed earlier.

Circumnavigate Advice #5: Leave left baggage within the secure zone whenever possible. After seven days in Singapore, I made my way to the airport to head to Thailand for four days, after which I would return to Singapore to continue my journey. I had a small suitcase of items collected along the way that I would not need in Thailand, so I paid the fare to store my luggage in the left baggage of Terminal 3 at Singapore’s International Airport. Then I checked in at the Thai Airways check-in at Terminal 1. Easy, I was following my own advice: travel light.

Four days later I arrived back to Singapore, Terminal 1. My reservation for the Transit Hotel said, “Do not clear immigration.” Well, I pretty much had to retrieve my bag since it was stored outside of the secure zone. They stamped my passport and I went to Terminal 3 to retrieve my bag. With all in order, I reorganized a few things and took the elevator up to United ticketing. Since the handle on my suitcase was broken I was thrilled with the idea that I would not have to hassle with the bag until customs in Chicago.

But then I learned the error of my plan. It was seven hours before a United Representative would even show up. At least I had my boarding passes and could easily get back into the secure zone and the Transit Hotel. Emigration wasn’t convinced it would be so easy. They took my boarding pass and passport from me for a small investigation. Who was this passenger with excess carryon luggage with a flight nine hours from now? After 10 anxious minutes, they returned my documents. “You’re good to go.”

Now, it was back to Terminal 1 to check into the Transit Hotel. Though a small tram connected the two terminals, there was significant walking involved. And with my cumbersome bags, it took me at least 15 minutes of walking in one direction. On the way I passed a left luggage kiosk within the secure zone. If only I had known.

In the morning, back at Terminal 3, I rechecked into the United Transfer desk. Graciously they allowed me to gate-check my now painfully awkward handle-less suitcase. As I shuffled to the gated area, past the free movie theater and butterfly garden, I noticed a row of luggage dollies. Why hadn’t I noticed these before?