Lost
Our trip home on Saturday night is worth recording, just for the shear bizarreness of the situation. The first hiccup happened whilst checking in at the terminal, when the machine refused to accept both Stephen’s and my passports, but I wont even dwell on that as we managed to sort it without too much bother. The flight home was amazing, with us sharing three seats between us, due to the low number of passengers flying. I would estimate we had a half-full plane. The only drawback was the waiting at Gate 38 where there were no seats. We made the trip in good time and it certainly seemed a lot easier than the trip over, with the extra seat to sprawl out in. We collected our baggage and got through customs at 11.15pm, quite a bit earlier than anticipated – that’s when the fun started.
There is now a new layout at Auckland’s international airport, which I am mentioning for those who haven’t travelled recently. This includes a new drop off and pick up area, and an area further away for taxis and shuttles. We had decided to pick our car up that night to save battling the traffic in the morning. We figured it would be quicker that way. Normally, one would ring the car company as one exited the terminal, and I pulled my bag out of my suitcase to do this, but soon became aware that there was still a distance to the new shuttle area. We followed the arrows, arriving about 10 minutes later. I then rang the car company and the van arrived promptly. But just as I was about to throw my luggage in the back, I realised I was missing my blue, canvas, shoulder bag. I have never lost a bag before. I told Stephen to go ahead to the car and come back to the airport for me afterwards, while I retraced my steps. Fortunately, I had my phone with me, but not my money or credit cards which were in the bag. It was about 11.40pm by this time.
I got all the way back to the terminal when I spied one the helpful yellow-jacketed people, whose job seemed to be helping people find their way. I explained I’d lost my bag. ‘’A blue one?’’ she enquired. It was a huge relief as I realised it had been found. There was a further 10-minute wait as the bag was retrieved from lost property where it had already been deposited. The bag must have fallen off our heavily-laden trolley as we left the terminal, which, now in darkness, was not easy to spot.
I made my way back to the pick-up area about midnight, to wait for Stephen, after first phoning him to tell him I’d found the bag. He mentioned there was some problem locating the key to our car. I received a further ring from him some ten minutes later telling me to catch the shuttle. They had found the key, but now couldn’t locate the car. I walked to the shuttle area and was picked up and taken back to the car yard. Apparently, the car had been placed in a different yard. It was located, but on Stephen’s way back to the original yard, he got lost, and looking rather suspicious, was pulled up by a cop, sirens blazing.
One would have thought that would have been enough drama for the evening. We duly made our way to the 24-hour motel where we were given our room. It was now about 12.45am. We drove around the outside of the building, arrived at our room and noticed it had not been cleaned. The bed was unmade and dishes were lying in the sink. We continued around the building back to the front entrance (the whole journey would have taken three minutes max) only to find there was a sign, back in 15 minutes. The man must have scarpered as soon as he checked us in. We waited outside in the cold for another 20 minutes before phoning. ‘’I’m picking someone up, I’ll be another 20 minutes.’’ There were no passengers when he returned. I suspect he’d gone off for his dinner.
At quarter to two we were let into our now ‘’upgraded’’ room. We had stayed at this same motel on our way down and the room was no different than the last. I did query in the morning, what the difference in rooms were as I had found none. I also pointed out that a sign that says back in 15 minutes when one can’t even get to the airport in that time is misleading. Lots of excuses and apologies, but no refund of the money.
Each of these instances had a good outcome. I lost my bag, it was found. And even the fact that I noticed I had lost my bag while still at the airport was remarkable. It could have been next day before I discovered that. The key and car were lost, they were found, the room was uninhabitable, a replacement was found. On a spiritual level I would normally wonder what all that was about, as it just seemed one thing after another but so far, I haven’t come up with any explanation. I have been sick since Sunday, possibly Covid. I am just thankful that we made the call to return home early and I can recuperate in my own bed, rather than worrying about being well enough to travel home on Wednesday as we had originally planned. And I am thankful that each of those losses had a good outcome.