Westbound and down under! I am back on Australian soil for another season of basketball – I just wish it would have been a bit easier to get here…
I am sorry for the delay in blogging. I actually posted the last blog from Perth (Which was my last prior to my computer crashing), but had so much to say about my Taiwan experience that I didn’t think I could keep anyone’s attention if I continued on. It was difficult to leave out the travel details of my trip from Taipei to Perth, but I resisted. I have now been in Perth for exactly one month and life continues to roll. The weather has been beautiful – mostly sunny and having temperatures in the 30’s (Celsius that is) which, as a base, 30 degrees is 86 degrees Fahrenheit – and we have found success on the basketball court.
After completing my responsibilities with the Bank of Taiwan basketball team I was quickly departing for Perth. The season was already underway in Australia while I was still playing in Taiwan. I had communicated with the Wanneroo club extensively over the period I was in Taiwan to let them know if we were in position to qualify for the playoffs. We agreed that as soon as I was finished in Taiwan I would immediately fly to Perth and join the club. If I had qualified for the playoffs, I could have potentially missed an additional month of the Australian season. As it turned out, I only “missed” the first two games.
When traveling for extended periods I tend to over pack. I look at a shirt and think it would be nice to have that in case of … or I grab an extra pair of shoes and think that they would come in handy when I was going to…. Regardless of what combination of things I know I need and what I think I will need I always have too much and have things I packed and never use. With this being said, airlines know about my type of people. They set weight limits for people like me so that we do not bring everything we own and if we do pack everything we own, they take it upon themselves to empty our wallets in excessive – excessive baggage charges. No that is not a typo, the charges are ridiculous.
When I flew to Taiwan I was comfortably under the baggage limit. That airline allowed for 46 kilograms (100 lbs) per person. This is where you can be impressed with my converting abilities; the metric system is now my life. After looking up the baggage limits for Qantas, the Australian airline I have flown numerous times traveling from Australia to the US and vice versa, their limits were half the 46 kgs I was allowed to bring to Taiwan. Qantas’ baggage limit for travel to the US, however, is 46 kgs. With all the clothing, shoes, gifts and souvenirs I had received from playing in Taiwan I was surely well over the 23 kg limit.
I arrived at the airport with everything that I owned – books, clothes, toiletries and anything else you can think of. In flying home from Australia last year I was well over the limit as well. I was charged a flat $250 baggage fee. I was assuming this time would be no different – well, was I wrong. I weighed my bags in at 43 kgs. I was given a slip of paper that reported this and was directed to the excess baggage counter to pay a penalty and would then have my boarding information processed. I walked up expecting the $200 penalty and was told I would have to pay $600 dollars. My jaw dropped, chest collapsed and my head literally shook. I said, “600 Taiwan Dollars?” Nope, I heard it correctly the first time. The woman showed me her chart, which indicated that each kg over the limit cost $30 USD. I let the woman know I would be right back, returned to the counter, collected my bags and walked straight to the garbage bins.
I went through my belongings, with the $15 per pound rate in my head, and started chucking books, t-shirts, toiletries, towels and shoes. I ended up getting rid of 9 kgs of stuff. I returned to the ticket counter and the woman looked at me with a bit of sadness in her eyes as she knew what I just did. We weighed the bags again and she said you are still 11 kgs over. I said, “how about 5 kgs.” She smiled and wrote out a new slip. I returned to the baggage counter, pulled out all my remaining Taiwan Dollars, US Dollars and charged the remaining amount. To think this was just the beginning of my troubles.
I arrived safely in Hong Kong where I was connecting to an overnight flight direct to Perth. I was set to be departing at 11:30 pm and was scheduled to arrive at 7 am the next morning. There was no plane in sight at the boarding gate and as 11:30 approached I knew there was going to be a delay. They delayed us 3 different times and finally at 1:30 am they announced the flight was cancelled. Prior to the cancellation the airline was kind enough to give out vouchers for the airline restaurants with the exception of McDonalds. Well, Qantas, at 1 am the only restaurant in the HK airport that is open is McDonalds. Thanks.
We were told we would be flying to Sydney and that we would then be put on a connecting flight to Perth. The flight I was supposed to take from HK to Perth is 8 hours. The flight from HK to Sydney is 11 hours. The flight from Sidney to Perth is 5 hours. Thus, not including layovers, I just doubled my flight time. I was not pleased. For those of you that are not familiar with the geography of Australia and where HK is relative to that, this series of flights is similar to being a traveler in London trying to return to New York City and being told that you will first have to fly to Los Angeles and connect there. I finally arrived in Perth at 7 pm the next day; 12 hours later than scheduled and with heaps more frequent flyer miles.
I went straight from the airport to watch my team battle the Lakeside Lightning. I have two very good friends that play for Lakeside, which I had not seen since I left North Carolina in November. I was also able to reconnect with my friend Casey, his girlfriend, Kym and Meagan Chegwidden and Heidi who is the female import for Lakeside. Unfortunately the wolves were on the losing side of the night, but they played hard and battled throughout the game. After the game I was introduced to the players on the team, the coaches and my new roommates.
Now that I have arrived to Australia, have enjoyed my first month and have my computer fixed I will leave you from this point and post again shortly.
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