A small hiccup

Well, here I sit on the eve of my trip...gifts all sorted, bags all packed. However I’m a tad excited in a different way to how I was anticipating.

Last night, as I snuggled in my bed with dreams of trains, planes...and dare I say it....parading rockets dancing through my head, I decided to take a look at if and when I would be able to check in online for my flight. Alas, it is 36-2hours prior to takeoff. My eyes scanned the e-ticket sent to my by BestJet for what I thought was the hundredth time and to my absolute horror I noticed something that had my bouncing straight out of my bed in an awkward but I’m sure hilarious start (I may have skinned a peripheral or two)...

There, right there in black and white LCD on my phone was:

TAYLOR/ANGIE
MAGDELENE

We can talk about my middle name later guys...

Anyhow, WTAF?????

To the non-traveller, this looks about right. However, unfortunately my full name, as written in actual black and white ink on my passport, is ANGIELA MAGDELENE TAYLOR.

Just 2 little letters 😞

Now I am sitting here until 10:30am waiting for the Air China hotline to open so that I can desperately plead my case and praying like nothing else that this isn’t going to cost me a stupid amount of money to fix. Needless to say, I’m running in minimal sleep right now, which is probably a good thing. I just don’t have the energy to be freaking out as much as I probs need to be...well not on the outside anyway. I am absolutely going to North Korea. Not sure if I am going to, dare I say it, have to buy a completely new excessively expensive day before flying ticket, but like any tricky mistake of my own doing (how on Earth did I manage not to notice in all this time???? - I bought my flights back in April!!!!) I’ll just work out what I need to do and just find a way to do it.

I haven’t even left Toowoomba yet and the fun and excitement has started 😳

In the meantime, let me share with you my past week.

I’m very grateful that I’ve been on leave since last Sunday so I’ve been able to get everything nicely in order for my time away. Earlier in the week, I spent my time racing around making sure I have all the gifts finalised for the 2 Korean guides and bus driver, as well as all the bits and pieces I know I’ll appreciate having during my 24 hour train journey from Beijing to Pyongyang and then again back, as well as my time in country which will have me cut off from any communication with rest of the world and very limited access to anything that I might need that I do not have with me.

After pretty much 9 years with the Ambulance Service, a big focus was my first aid kit:

  

I ended up getting a whole collection of mess together also with a letter from the doc stating these are for personal use only. A girl can never be too safe!

I also spent some time putting delicious vegetarian freezer meals together for my boy whilst I’m away

Just because today has been a day...I’m having some issues with posting photos on my blog 😬

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Well, here I am now standing outside my gate at Brisbane International Terminal, all checked in and passed through customs.

So let me tell you what happened regarding my air tickets...

At 1030, I called Air China to ask about having my name amended. No, sorry, that can only be done via the agency you booked with. I booked my flights back in April through BestJet via SkyScanner.. 

So I got in the phone to BestJet. Who informed me that it was now too late to change the name and I would have to deal directly with the airline. The helpful consultant then advised me to just show up at the Air China check-in desk and they ‘should’ be able to just change the name then.

Uh no. There is no way I was going to wait until the last minute to know whether I would be able to board my flight, which was scheduled for 1930 Sunday night.

So with a mad dash to make sure I had everything with me, I jumped in the car with Pheonix and headed straight down to Brisbane Airport with the intent of appealing with the Air China staff in person. 

Alas, the Air China admin office was all but boarded up. A helpful Virgin Australia usher took pity on me and assured me that most flights have a bunch of people with misspelled names on the ticket and it can easily be changed at checkin up to 2 letters without penalty with most airlines.

I headed back to Sequoia’s place at Kangaroo Point. We decided to take a look at whether there was any other Air China flights scheduled to fly in the next 2 days so I could go back in and try to catch someone. Uh oh! No flight, including my own on Sunday night, could be found on any of the Brisbane Airport departure schedules. Yep, now I was getting really worried.

So with due diligence, I called Air China again. After about 20 minutes on hold, I was informed that yes, my flight had been cancelled. No mention of when this had occurred, but what they could do was offer my other flights via Melbourne and Hong Kong. At this stage, I thought, ah ha! You guys have messed up so maybe now you can help me with the name misspelling!!! But no, still had to go back to the booking agency. 

Meanwhile, Sequoia is on the phone with Best Jet, who are adamant the flight has not been cancelled, even though I was standing next to her on the phone to Air China confirming that the flight was cancelled. Another 30 minutes on hold with BestJet finally had then concede my flight had been cancelled. They are now just offering a refund - which I just decided was a best outcome with the name issue and all. Full refund will be issued within 12 weeks, but now the misspelled name is no longer an issue.

Now to find a reasonably priced flight the day before I was due to fly 😳 I’m definitely being looked after, as I managed to find return flights with Cathay Pacific Airlines, leaving just after midnight that night which would put me in Beijing the day before my tour safety meeting and give me the opportunity to catch up with all my tour mates before we all officially meet. A brief stopover in Kong Kong and voila....here I am sitting on a bus I fervently hope will take me to my hostel for the night....