Travel Tuesday with 'The Blonde Peruvian'

One of the best things about having guest bloggers is that I get to meet fascinating bloggers from all over the globe and be the first person in the blogging world to read about their mischievious  misadventures.  And occasionally be bribed by them ;-) Amanda from La Blondie Peruana tried sweetening me up so that I would let her guestpost on Travel Tuesdays for me by nominating me for a GLOB award.  Unbeknown to her, I was gonna let her anyways!  Haha, I'm just kidding.  I am so honoured to have Amanda guest-blogging for me, I would have given HER an award just for the privilege!

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First of all, 'Muchos Gracias' to Rachel for having me! I am so excited to be a guest blogger! I don't really know the rules (if there are any) since this is my first time to GB but I've heard about this several times now and finally decided to jump in on the fun.


Well, the challenge was to blog about my greatest travel misadventure and all the mischief I got into along the way. I've done quite a bit of traveling but, besides my honeymoon, I haven't been anywhere outside of the USA...until now!

In 2008, my husband went on a mission trip to Lima, Peru and we had no idea how this one event would forever change our lives. The next year began our adventure to move to Peru as missionaries. Shaun, the hubby, left in October 2009 and I stayed in the states to finish working and tie up a few loose ends.

On December 2, 2009 I boarded a flight to my final destination: Peru. You've all heard the song, "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" and if you're anything like me you sing it to yourself whenever you travel. Well, this time the lyrics were true because, "I don't know when I'll be back again." For now our timeline is one year but we don't have a returning date yet and it's always a possibility that God could call us to be here for longer...Who knows??

Thus begins my biggest "Misadventure" to date. My day started out fairly normal: A 6:45am flight to Houston, TX where I had a 2 hour layover before boarding my connecting flight to Canada...*Insert screeching halt sound effect here* If you know anything about world geography, you should have pieced it together by now. From Texas, to Canada, to Peru?? Anyone with common sense would raise an eyebrow to that itinerary. What was Continental thinking?! So I boarded the flight from Texas to Canada, all the while contemplating if a walk straight to Peru would be shorter. (I still think yes.) At the same time, I was excited to visit yet another country even though I was slightly disappointed that my first time in Canada would be nothing more than a quick glance through the window before jumping on my flight to Peru. Oh well.

As we descended into Canada the pilot announced that our flight attendant would be passing out our customs forms to complete that we had to take with us through customs before picking up our bags. Hmmm...Before I boarded my first flight, I had asked about the process for going into another country for a layover and had been assured that because it was only a layover, my bags would be flown to my final destination. So, as the flight attendant handed me a form, I declined and informed her that I wouldn't need one. She smiled politely and assured me that I would if I wanted to get into the airport. I asked her the same question and she said that everyone coming in or out of the country would have to go through customs and baggage.

*siiiiiigh*

As I walked off the plane I decided my first trip to Canada was going to be a great one, despite the unexpected turn of events. I followed the crowd through the double doors and on the other side were 2 halls where everyone spilt. I looked up, no signs. I looked down, no signs. I turned around to go back through the double doors and ask what I was supposed to do, but of course the doors were one way and were already locked. So, I took the hall to the left and asked the first person I saw...who replied in French. I should have expected this, but my very American mindset told me everyone speaks English in Canada. I had to ask 3 different people and finally someone told me (in English) I had gone down the wrong hall. "Turn around, take the hall to the right and that is baggage claim, then proceed to customs." After thanking them, I took the hall to the right and waited for my bags.

As no less than 5 able-bodied men watched, I chased each of my bags down and hauled them off the belt. Now, in a perfect world, one of the men would have helped me or my husband would have been with me and I wouldn't have had to haul a backpack, carryon and 4 oversized/overweight suitcases by myself. But remember, this is a story of "misadventures"! Keeping an eye on my bags, I ran to grab the nearest luggage cart, only to find it was much too small for my 300 (thats 3-0-0) pounds of luggage. I spent the next 10 minutes balancing the bags perfectly onto the cart, so I could push it myself (since obviously everyone else was too busy standing around in amusement to help). I got 3 of the 4 suitcases and my carryon onto the cart. My backpack was on my back and the other suitcase was awkwardly dragging behind me as I followed the signs to customs.

As I approached customs the two agents working, stopped mid-conversation to watch me half drag/half push myself and my luggage into the room. (At this point, I literally started to feel like a one woman circus and seriously considered charging people to watch my act.) It wasn't until I had come to a complete stop before someone asked if I could use any help. "No, thanks" I said as nicely as I could through my desperate gasps for air. I explained that I had no idea what I was doing, and after they interrogated me about where I was going with 300 pounds of luggage, directed me through another double door to the right, to drop off my luggage. (I have no doubt they were talking about me after I left.) Through the doors and to the right was another desk...that stood unmanned. I looked for someone, then I looked for a bell or something to get someones attention...Nothing. So I stood there, making the most of my time by catching my breath. All of the sudden I heard a voice come from somewhere. "I'm sorry?" I asked and the voice replied, "Where are you going with all of that luggage, young lady?" I peered around my luggage as a very short (but very cute) old man appeared from behind the desk. I handed him my ticket and he made a face. He then proceeded to tell me that I was running very late, and if I left my luggage with him it would not make it to my flight in time, therefore it would be late to Peru. He then explained that I needed to follow the hall to the SECOND set of elevators and to go to the 4th floor where I had to take Train 1 to Terminal E where I would then check-in (again?!) and leave my luggage at the check-in counter.

As I repeated these directions to myself, I ran (as fast as you can run pushing 300lbs of luggage) to the second set of elevators. As the doors opened I quickly realized that these elevators were not made for someone carrying luggage, but I wheeled myself inside praying the elevator would not get stuck from the weight. I pushed "4" and rode to the Train station. As the elevator came to a stop I waited for the door to open. I then heard the wall behind me open up...Oh joy. I then proceeded to back off the elevator into a room with 2 trains, I noticed that neither we labeled "Train 1"...or "Train anything" for that matter. I stood there trying to figure it out and a man walked up to me and asked which was "Train 2", as I explained that I had no idea if I was even in the right place, we had a nice conversation, before the trains arrived. We figured out which was which and parted ways. I chose the train car in the back because no one was in it- and I didn't want to crowd anyone with my luggage. As the sign flashed "Doors closing in 5..4..3.." I ran across the room and slid into the car right before the doors closed. A voice inside the car said, "For your safety please sit down and hold on." I was already situated with my luggage, so I opted to stand, and held the nearest bar. All of the sudden the train shot forward and my cart flew to the opposite side of the train car throwing myself and my luggage all over the place. I hit the floor on my hands and knees as pain shot through me. I looked up to see the sign flashing "Terminal E in 1 min 20 seconds." By this time I was laughing hysterically as I literally crawled through the car to each piece of my luggage and used my feet to kick it all to one side. I laid out on the floor to keep everything in one place until the car came to a stop. As the doors flew open I jumped to my feet and started throwing each bag out the door one by one. I know I looked insane, but I didn't have time to think about it or care!

As the doors closed behind me, I began collecting my luggage and again balanced each piece onto the cart. I composed myself and found the check-in counter. As I walked up, a lady grabbed my arm and directed me to a line that was empty. She then inquired about where I was going and when I told her Peru, she literally pushed me to the front of the line. I explained to the lady at the counter what the man downstairs had said, and as she placed my first bag on the scale, informed me it would be extra for an overweight bag. I then explained that my bags were already paid for and I was told they would fly all the way to Peru, but apparently somewhere there had been a miscommunication. She was pretty rude about it and said that if I wanted my bags to be on my flight, I needed to pay and go because I was already late for boarding. By this time, I lost it. I started sobbing uncontrollably, and tried to explain everything I had been through, AND I had been traveling ALL day and just wanted to get to my husband who SHOULD be with me, I NEVER travel alone and my bags were very heavy...I sounded like a 3 year old trying to plead my case about why I should get another cookie or something. About this time, a manager came by saying that anyone who was going to Peru needed to board NOW and she waved him over. He was also rude and seemed extremely annoyed but because I was short on time, he waved me through to security, informing me that next time I would have to pay (Like he would remember my face or something?!)
As I approached the long line at security there was a woman in front of me who started up a conversation, and when I told her I was going to Peru, she said, "Doesn't that board, like...now?" She told me to go to the "Elite' line and explain that I needed to get through, but I was forced back into line to wait. The woman in front of me wouldn't hear of it and let me in front of her...then she started protesting for me and telling everyone else in front of me to let me through. Everyone was so sweet and understanding and as I got through security I turned around to thank everyone and they were all smiling and waving. The woman was shouting, "RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! DONT MISS YOUR FLIGHT! HAVE FUN IN PERU!" I was laughing so hard because it literally felt like I was in a cheesy movie! I made it to my gate with a few minutes to spare and even had time to take a few deep breaths before boarding my final flight to Peru. 

I don't know when I will fly again, but my hope is that this experience was enough of an adventure that any other time I fly will be a breeze. Granted, being an American living in Peru- I have no doubts that the next year will be filled with "Mishaps" of every kind. Feel free to join me in these "Misadventures" at La Blondie Peruana.

Thanks again Rachel!