Travel Day Begins Early…Always

The alarm sounds sharply and all you want is to throw it against the nearest wall. It’s 4:00am, only 2 short hours from the time you went to sleep. It’s travel day. Travel day is always two things, exciting and stressful. Even if you have everything planned to the exact minute, something will always go wrong. I love the saying…we plan and God laughs.  No statement could possibly be truer for those that travel full time.

The whole thing is a process. One that we have seemingly perfected over the last 6 months of this whole travel thing. You pack the night before, you get up an hour ahead of the minute you need to walk out the door… just in case. You call the car, wait forever for said car, and then head to the airport. Sounds easy doesn’t it? You would think.

Have any of you been to Asia? It’s an amazing place. One you should add to your travel bucket list this very minute. The point of this is not to be negative, it is to be honest. I want to prepare anyone interested in a REAL look at full time travel. These are the things no one told us when we boarded a plane 6 months ago. So, I feel it is my job to tell you.

The Airport

We arrive to the international airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 6:00am. We had two and a half hours until our flight was to leave. My thought was “Perfect, this will be a relaxing check in. Coffee, breakfast and a relaxing wait.” You remember that whole God laughs thing? Well, here begins the laughing.

We walk through the automatic door of the airport to total chaos. I mean TONS of people. We fly early often to avoid these kinds of crowds. I’m talking JFK airport on Christmas Eve kinds of chaos. It happens to be the day of the political election in Malaysia, so we don’t know if that had anything to do with the insane crowd.

We do the self check in, and get our tags for our bags. We go to what appears to be an automated machine to check our bags. This doesn’t give me any kind of peace of mind that my things will arrive safely. Yes, less human error, but really, just a computer? We weigh the first bag, mine, knowing I’m 2 kg over. It lets the bag go, and takes it away. Then Jimmy puts his bag up there and we get a notification we are 2kg over and we have to fix it, only the other bag is already gone. So, we have to do the crazy shuffle to get everything to come out right on weight. Thankfully, our friend Panchi from Argentina is traveling with us, so she took some of the weight in her carry on. We think we are home free. The laughing gets louder. Can you hear it?

We walk to start the immigration process, and there stands a man with a scale. This strikes fear in the heart of all full time travelers because that means, your carry on will be weighed, and you are surly screwed. You see, in Asia, they allow only 7kg for a carry on bag. That’s like nothing. So we are not required to weigh the backpacks, thank goodness, but Panchi has to weigh her carry on. The same carry on we just put 2 extra kg into. Panic! She is 3 kg over. That’s 6 pounds. To pull 6 pounds out of a bag is impossible! We stuff things in our CPAP machine bags, backpacks, my purse. She even carried her computer to lesson the load. He takes pity and lets her pass. Home free! We walk forward to a massive immigration line that isn’t moving…at all.

We wait in the immigration line for 45 minutes. This is unlike any immigration experience we have ever had when leaving a country. We are leaving, like what do these people really care right now? We are leaving! Well, they care, they care a hell of a lot apparently. We get through and are asked to scan our bags only. Sweet, we don’t have to strip for a change. Goals!

Not so fast. We continue to our gate only to find there is another check in. This is the one where you basically strip to make sure you don’t have any crazy things you’re trying to smuggle. Yes, I know this is all for MY safety, but 3 checks, really? We get through laughing as a girl behind us was trying to get full sized shampoo bottles, and two bottles of perfume on in her backpack. Does no one read the rules? LOL! The look of shock on her face was the best part.

Wait…There’s More

We proceed to our gate, and stop for the needed coffee with a side of breakfast. We wait until boarding time, thankful for nothing eventful to report. We line up as normal to board our plan, but the line stops suddenly again. Why? We proceed only to find there is ANOTHER check point. This time a security guy is checking your passport and asking crazy questions. Smile, and be chatty. They won’t ask you things if you do that.

From there we had a very smooth and pleasant flight. Air Asia has proven to be a wonderful budget option for us as we travel. We actually really enjoy it. They are always so accommodating, and the staff is great.

Hello Sri Lanka…FINALLY

We arrive in Sri Lanka. We were able to get a SIM card right as we exit the plane, and the immigration line was immediately following. Super easy! We got our bags, no problem. Now this is more like it!

We were able to exchange our Malaysian ringgit into Sri Lankan Rupies. The price was better than anything we found in Malaysia.  We found our driver we arranged through our hotel, and SURPRISE, he brought the small car. We have three huge bags between the three of us, so we pile in with luggage in our laps and begin the hour long traffic filled drive from the airport to our hotel. I mean, car horns, tuk tuks weaving in and out of traffic at an alarming speed. Car sick anyone? No? Just me? Jimmy and Panchi did great, naturally. We arrive at our hotel, and everything is wonderful.  It was, as promised, a very eventful travel day.

Not every travel day is like this, but sometimes they are. You have to be prepared to roll with the punches. Do I always do a great job at this? Hell no! Do I always try hard? Hell yes!

At the end of the day, we get to live a life most dream of. The stresses and craziness that comes with it is a small price to pay compared to what we are gaining.

I hope this inspires you to go out and do the things that make your heart happy. Is it always be comfortable? Hell no! But, is it always be worth it? Hell yes!

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Love & Safe Travel,

Amanda