Agatha Bertram Travels

Travels with my aunt and some others

  • Remarkable
    • Communities
    • Exploits and Expeditions
    • Food
    • People
  • Africa & Middle East
  • Americas
  • Asia
    • India
    • Japan
    • Vietnam
  • Australia
  • Europe
    • France
  • Useful
    • Books
    • Events
    • Health
    • Travel
  • About
    • AKA Agatha Bertram
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

Long Flight, Focus, Read, Remember

July 1, 2015 by AggieB 10 Comments

2015 St EtienneA while ago, I was working in the Foreign Service.   My job was to pick up a Federal Minister from the airport in Rio De Janeiro and get him to a Summit that Australia was involved with.   Wracking my brains for small talk I said “how was your flight”?

“How was it?” he replied.

“Well I got on at one end, flew for a while and then got off at the other end”.

I thought this was hilarious, and it stuck with me.

I’ve unwittingly adopted it as my travel modus operandi.   People bang on about long flights and transfers and the horrors, but really you get on at one end and then fly for a while and get off at the other end.  The same for connections and transit airports – although airports do annoy me if they do it wrong.   I hate a nation that can’t queue properly.   Not in a racist way.

I have twice missed flights because I was too vague about allowing time to get to the airport, park etc.   Once was terrible – a 05h00 flight, where I was going meet clients at the airport and fly with them to the outback of Australia, have a meeting with people on-site and then fly back the next day.   So my clients were on the flight, I missed it and then pretty soon after that they weren’t my clients anymore.

So now very paranoid about getting to the airport on time, and not only that but getting through immigration in good time.

I have twice told people who were meeting me at midnight off a flight to meet me on the wrong day.  There’s that thing where the flight lands at 10 minutes past midnight and so the date is the next day, but in fact it is still the same day.   My niece rang me when I was transiting Heathrow, because she was the one picking me up in Perth, Australia.  She said “are you at the airport?”.

“err, yes.   How did you know.   Oh.   You mean Perth airport”.   Sigh.

A few years ago I went to live in Japan, working for a Japanese company.   I was never really sure until I got on the flight that I had the job, so I left work on Friday evening in Australia telling my colleagues that I may or may not be there for work on Monday.   I stayed in Japan for three years, working in motorsport.   But I was very conscious as I got off the plane in Hokkaido that I hadn’t even read a guide book, let alone learnt any of the language.

I’ve followed this pattern recently in India, and come to think of it in France where I am based now.   My 2015 Dakar flightpartner is French, we have been together for almost three years.   Recently I read Sarah Turnbull’s ‘Almost French’ . What a revelation!   He’s French! He cares about personal appearances and mixing food flavours.

But I think perhaps I should try to focus a bit more, and in fact this year I have become quite martial in my packing.    This is because I went on a road trip through Argentina and Chile at the start of the year.   A fifteen day road trip for about 2,000 people.   My bag goes one way and I go another, and if I’m lucky I’ll see it again the same day.   Each days starts in the dark at about 05h00, and you have to grope around in the dark to find the things that you left in dark the night before.  The weak ones get left behind.

I’m so lucky to be able to have adventures and for me its all about the adventure.   But I’m more than happy to get to the airport three hours before departure if it means I won’t miss a flight!

Don’t forget to link back to AroundTheWorldin80Shoes to find out more about ‘travel personalities

  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • Reddit
  • +1
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn 0

Filed Under: General, Travel

Comments

  1. Catherine says

    July 2, 2015 at 6:25 am

    Oh gosh haha! I can’t believe you got your flight times so wrong, especially the Perth one! I’m always super paranoid about my flights to Perth as they’re so expensive, so I always make sure I’m at the airport 3 hours before. My Dad has always been obsessed with getting to the airport really early, and I think this has sort of rubbed off on me :/

    C x | Lux Life

    Reply
    • AggieB says

      July 2, 2015 at 7:55 am

      Hi Catherine, I KNOW! My Dad too, and I even remember my Grandmother waiting out the front of her house waiting to be picked up to go to the airport. Thanks for hosting the linkup. Sally

      Reply
  2. Emma @ Adventures of a London Kiwi says

    July 2, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    Can I say a hell yeah – I’ve recently discovered the joy of longhaul – an almost unlimited set of hours in which to enjoy your favorite pursuits (mine, reading!)

    Reply
    • AggieB says

      July 3, 2015 at 8:48 am

      I flew to India recently on British Airways and the collection of movies and TV shows was unbelievable! They had box sets of TV shows. I didn’t want the flight to end. Love your link up.

      Reply
  3. Kate says

    July 3, 2015 at 9:25 am

    Oh wow, I can imagine missing that flight with your clients did not go down well at all! And the midnight flights too, oh no! I can imagine it’s such an easy mistake to make too.

    Reply
    • AggieB says

      July 3, 2015 at 4:53 pm

      It was terrible! I was at the airport, trying to get onto the flight. They wouldn’t let me on the flight, there was a bit of a scene. Awful. And now I sent people who are meeting me at the airport my actual itinerary, rather than relying on my interpretation :). Thanks for reading & commenting. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Frankie The Mayfairy says

    July 5, 2015 at 11:48 am

    You are so happy go lucky! You must have the most amazing adventures, just getting off planes with no language or guidebook knowledge 🙂

    Reply
    • AggieB says

      July 6, 2015 at 10:21 am

      Haha, yes I do have good adventures. But it is not intentional – I just seem to have an aversion to getting prepared. Thanks for dropping by.

      Reply
  5. Anna parker says

    July 5, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    Midday and midnight bring involved in travel plans worries me too, I haven’t ever had an issue but I can see it’s easy now!

    Reply
    • AggieB says

      July 6, 2015 at 10:25 am

      Yes – I take special care now because it seems to happen a lot. But then there is the problem of communicating as well – ‘actually I am arriving on such and such a date, but really it is the day before. But it depends on which day you thought it was in the first place …’ and so on. Thanks for dropping by !

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe to receive periodic wraps of the most popular posts.

Search

Thought for today

Fact 1: The state changed its name in 2000, and caused a lot of bitterness because of the amount of stationery that had to be changed.  Uttarakhand was formerly known as Uttaranchal.

Dehradun, May 2019

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

#Aggiebtravels

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

#allaboutfrance

Lou Messugo

Affiliates

Web Hosting

Categories

Africa & Middle East Americas Asia Australia Books Communities Equipment Europe Events Exploits and Expeditions Food France General Health India India Japan Japan Markets Movies Oman People Remarkable Snapshots St Etienne Travel Uncategorised Useful Vietnam

Archives

  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • November 2018 (1)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (2)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (2)
  • February 2017 (2)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • November 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (1)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (2)
  • April 2016 (2)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • February 2016 (3)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • September 2015 (1)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (5)
  • June 2015 (3)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (5)
2016 03 bike_white

Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions

All content, layouts, designs, and graphics are my own unless otherwise noted. Logo and Illustrations by Ignacio Brito
2016 03 suitcase_white

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This site uses cookies: Find out more.