I thought that it was typically harder to get in the country than out of the country. That has not been my experience today.
Yesterday I realized that all of my packing was based on the standards of the airline that I WAS going to fly on and not on the airline I had a ticket with. After investigating, I found out that I would have to pay about $300 to check 3 bags. So, I worked hard until 2am on repacking everything into 2 duffel bags for check-in. I got up at 5am to leave for the airport. Upon arrival I found that one of my bags was 10 lbs overweight. The other was 20 lbs overweight! This wasn't the worst news. I expected that, to some extent. What I didn't expect was that it would cost me $200 for every overweight bag.
So, a sky cap helped me get another duffel bag to carry on the plane.
There I was, unpacking and repacking out on the airport curb. Luckily everything worked. I ended up only needing to pay $100! This really was the Lord's guidance.
The only drawback is that my back is killing me from lugging all of my stuff around multiple airports!
As if my luggage were not heavy enough, I found myself going on a Easter egg hunt for my terminal once I got inside the airport. I drug all of my stuff down to the group of terminals where mine should have been found. However, I kept looking from the left to the right to find a huge gap in terminal numbers. No matter how many times I looked, the terminal numbers went from 36 to 39. I couldn't figure it out. My terminal was 38. I was entirely perplexed and frustrated. I even contemplated throwing myself into one of the columns in between, in hopes of finding myself on platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. At that moment a stranger, who was somewhat entertained by my obvious confussion, asked me what I was looking for. When I gave him my terminal number, he asked "are you sure that's not your seat number?" I pulled out my ticket and replied, "no, i don't think s.... yep" haha
When I arrived at the Newark airport, I immediately asked one of the desk attendants about where my next flight would leave from (since my boarding pass did not say). She pointed me toward the air train and said that I would need to go to concourse A. So, I boarded the Hogwarts Express and headed to concourse A. One hour of walking, two bus rides, and one security check-in later and I ended up right back where I started. Thank you random US Airways lady who doesn't know what she's talking about!!
Oh well. Thank goodness this all took place around 1pm and my flight out is not until 6pm.
Zurich, Switzerland here I come!
