Thursday 4 December 2014

Long Journey & Airport Trouble

Whenever it comes the time that I need to make that long journey I always gets nervous. It’s like murphy law … whatever can go wrong will go wrong. I was bound to travel from Cairns to Sydney via Tiger Airways, then had a super long layover but not long enough to justify a trip into the city hence needed to sleep like a homeless at the airport and then fly out to Auckland on Qantas. 

Still travelling from Cairns to Auckland was pretty smooth sailing with tiny little adventures.
The hostel Asylum supposedly booked for me the shuttle bus which cost AUD 12 did not show up at 8am as it was supposed to. Hostel guy gave the most relax explanation like any Auzzie will tell you,
“No worries it will come, maybe it’s just picking up some passengers and will reach here in 20 minutes” says the guy behind the desk.
Cairns Airport
It’s always no worries until something happen and then the shoulder shrugs kicks in and you are still left stuck with your own problem. I for one having miss planes before know how painful it can get decided the price is not worth risking it and flag down a taxi instead. Airport ….. and the fare was AUD 15.
So reaching the airport an hour and half before departure on a domestic flight, anyone would think that would be more than enough time right? Sometimes I forget how efficient Singapore and Malaysia airports are …. The queue for getting boarding pass was ridiculously long and they combined multiple destination and the next queue for clearing security checks was even longer. Judging by the time left I would have to run once I cleared security since budget airlines can be a pain in the ass sometime and leave without you.
Then something happen. All the lines in the security check point went stop and nothing moved for a while. Someone whispered, security breach. We all thought someone brought something dangerous pass the x-ray machine or make a stupid joke or pulled a prank. The guy beside me started cursing the random person that cause the delay and disturbance.
“Some people should just be banned from flying” he said
More waiting and we then realized the airport was locked up. No one could get in or out. Everyone that was inside the airport (waiting area) was being brought back outside the security check point. Planes were disembarked and even the staff inside the airport was evacuated. WTF just happen and at this point we were beginning to think it was something really serious.
First announcement – Apology due to technical error, assure us all plane will not leave any man behind.
Second announcement – Apology again due to SECURITY BREACH …..
WTF happened ….
The guy next to me was suddenly reminded by his wife to check his blood sugar. Out came the diabetic kit and as he struggle to get the blood onto the machine. I could tell he needed something in him soon. Shaky hands were not good signs for diabetic …. True enough and airport crew was asked for help. We were stuck in the line …. Can’t go anywhere and they rushed to grab any food they could find. A mars bar did the trick and after 15 minutes he was good as new. As if the Security Breach was not a scare enough the guy next to me had to almost go into a fit.
He asked what the security breach is about and finally we got the answer …. One of the X-Ray machine was not working properly so for a period of time a lot of people was entering the waiting area without being scanned properly. So they had to lock up the airport, get everyone re scanned just to make sure.
I was glad I had an 18 hours transit connection …. 2 hours delay … some poor guy’s and girls must have missed their connecting flight …. And someone just claimed his insurance that he luckily brought …..

And the long journey was just beginning ….

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