Well, here I go for the 2nd time, as last night's post was lost when the BTF dropped offline at around 11pm!I recall PD complaining about the same thing once, and I now know how he feels.
I guess I better get this part over with before proceeding on to the more interesting stuff like shopping, shopping & more shopping.
Our final morning arrives all too quickly,and it's time to start packing, always an arduous task after 3 weeks in Bali.
Three hours later.Three very large & full bags, plus 3 roll-on cabin bags packed to the hilt, and 3 other bags of various shapes, and everything wrapt inside another larger object, with the wood and declarable items on top, and I can now relax and have some lunch.
Hubby's stress levels have been steadily rising as he's watched a seemingly never ending array of items being carefully packed away, and I wish he would go to the Gracie Kelly Bar for a couple of hours like last year.
A friend suggests weighing the luggage on the hotel scales, but hubby says he'd rather not ruin the rest of the afternoon. I decide a couple of scotch and dry are in order, as there's no point in both of us being stressed. Another friend suggests paying for an upgrade, and thereby having an extra weight allowance anyway.
We have lunch with a local friend, who tells us that this "problem" can be taken care of easily enough, by doing business the way that the local people do - namely "monkey business". Hubby is mortified by the suggestion of "paying" our way out of the country, but I take this suggestion onboard for another time when I could be travelling by myself.
6PM and we are checking in at the airport. A 50,000 rupiah note is amongst our tickets and passports, and this is duly handed over to the check in operator. Our luggage is being weighed, and she notes the weight of each bag separately on a piece of paper - 31kgs, 32kgs (just made that one!), and 24kgs. OMG 87kgs!
Meanwhile, our 15 year old daughter is standing well away from the counter with our 6 pieces of hand luggage, and trying not to look apprehensive.There's probably another 40kgs or so in this lot.
Our passports are handed back to us along with the note, and the young lady says " not this counter, you pay the money at the next one!" Ah well,we must've got our departure tax mixed up!
We look at each other and then back to her, and wonder why the check-in is still taking so long. We exchange pleasantries with her, such as remarking on the lovely colour of her uniform, how wonderful our holiday was, did she have a Balinese name as well as the one shown - I think you get the picture?
The time drags on, and still nothing is happening, until finally she looks up and say" Sorry sir, but ..( of course we are expecting to hear, .... you have to pay excess baggage), but instead she says " I cannot seat you all together on the plane, it's full and there's many families." Our relief is almost tangible.
We happily agree that it's not a problem for us at all, "sing ken ken", & I give her two koala keyrings that I have left in my pocket. This seems to please her very much, and she actually thanks us again for them when we see her at boarding time.
I am not sure what the moral of this tale is, but we departed Bali feeling pleased with her honesty, but uncomfortable at the thought that we had actually initiated this situation in the first place, albeit that it happens pretty frequently by all accounts.
(And darl, I promise not to buy so much next time!!)