Flying with the ashes, and I'm not talking cricket!
I'm off on my big adventure, the first part of which involves taking Dad's ashes back to Scotland. I was pretty convinced that I'd be able to get an upgrade, but it was not to be
It didn't get off to the best of starts as I was told that my hand luggage was too heavy, almost 10 kg when the allowance was 7 kgs, who knew that when airlines say carry on luggage is limited that they actually weigh it now! I was told I could check it in as both bags weighed under the total luggage allowed, I was able to persuade the check in guy that I could take the ashes out and carry them separately, however I still had to check the 2nd bag in. It turned out ok in the end and I bought one of those fold out day packs to put the container in, but it was upsetting and I burst into tears once I left the counter - should have done that sooner perhaps?
The 1st flight was 17 hours to Doha and Qatar airways have the best leg room and wider seats than any plane I've been on before, and I had the added bonus of the middle seat free. You can't choose your fellow passengers unfortunately and across the aisle from me was a very big lady who did yoga stretches in the aisle. It is very disconcerting to be half asleep, open your eyes and see the most enormous bottom in your face. She was very tall as well as very big so yes her arse was at my eye level when I was seated. Not only that but she had a long braid of hair which she flicked out of the way and which waved across my face as she stretched. I came this close to causing an international incident but managed to keep my rage contained. Thankfully she wasn't on the 2nd flight.
Security has certainly increased since I last did a long haul flight, Dad's ashes have been scanned so many times they will probably be glowing in the dark by now. Doha had the longest wait to get thru security that I have ever seen. I thought my luck was in when I was in the part of the line up that were told to move a different way, however we had to walk around a long corridor to get to the other side of the security checking area only to face about the same length of queue. I had 1.5 hours in transit and needed all of that time. When I did get to security I did my explanation of "My bag has ashes in it" and the guy misunderstood and said "Yes cigarettes are ok" so then I held the queue up trying to explain what I meant and the guy not understanding until I said "My father is dead and he's in a box in my bag, I've got the documents with me" So another lot of looking thru the papers and looking at the box. I bet the people behind me were thinking "WTF, just my luck to be in a queue with some woman carrying ashes" I got thru then did a sprint that would have beaten Bolt to get to my gate in time, where you guessed it, my bag was scanned again!
I was in a bit of a hot sweaty mess, and in tears again by the time I got seated, but joy of joys I had a whole 3 seats to myself and no annoying yoga posing passengers in sight. It was sheer bliss to be able to lie down and I actually got some sleep.
Manchester airport was another round of more security checks, 1 when you arrive, then when you get into the other terminal, then again going into your gate. I could have paid another 40 quid to get an earlier flight but the Scrooge in me decided it wasn't worth it and I waited 6 hours for my scheduled flight, only to find it was delayed an hour, curses! If I could have gone back in time I would have paid double 40 quid just to get out of there sooner
By the time I got to Inverness, picked up the hire car and got to my B&B I had been travelling for 2 days, been thru 6 security checks, cried three times, had someone's bum in my face and ponytail flick twice AND didn't get an upgrade. Not entirely successful, however Dad's ashes are back in Scotland so mission accomplished.
For anyone else travelling with ashes my tip would be call them "Human cremated remains" and try crying at the check in counter and NOT afterwards, rooky mistake!
And here's my view of the yoga posing passenger
It didn't get off to the best of starts as I was told that my hand luggage was too heavy, almost 10 kg when the allowance was 7 kgs, who knew that when airlines say carry on luggage is limited that they actually weigh it now! I was told I could check it in as both bags weighed under the total luggage allowed, I was able to persuade the check in guy that I could take the ashes out and carry them separately, however I still had to check the 2nd bag in. It turned out ok in the end and I bought one of those fold out day packs to put the container in, but it was upsetting and I burst into tears once I left the counter - should have done that sooner perhaps?
The 1st flight was 17 hours to Doha and Qatar airways have the best leg room and wider seats than any plane I've been on before, and I had the added bonus of the middle seat free. You can't choose your fellow passengers unfortunately and across the aisle from me was a very big lady who did yoga stretches in the aisle. It is very disconcerting to be half asleep, open your eyes and see the most enormous bottom in your face. She was very tall as well as very big so yes her arse was at my eye level when I was seated. Not only that but she had a long braid of hair which she flicked out of the way and which waved across my face as she stretched. I came this close to causing an international incident but managed to keep my rage contained. Thankfully she wasn't on the 2nd flight.
Security has certainly increased since I last did a long haul flight, Dad's ashes have been scanned so many times they will probably be glowing in the dark by now. Doha had the longest wait to get thru security that I have ever seen. I thought my luck was in when I was in the part of the line up that were told to move a different way, however we had to walk around a long corridor to get to the other side of the security checking area only to face about the same length of queue. I had 1.5 hours in transit and needed all of that time. When I did get to security I did my explanation of "My bag has ashes in it" and the guy misunderstood and said "Yes cigarettes are ok" so then I held the queue up trying to explain what I meant and the guy not understanding until I said "My father is dead and he's in a box in my bag, I've got the documents with me" So another lot of looking thru the papers and looking at the box. I bet the people behind me were thinking "WTF, just my luck to be in a queue with some woman carrying ashes" I got thru then did a sprint that would have beaten Bolt to get to my gate in time, where you guessed it, my bag was scanned again!
I was in a bit of a hot sweaty mess, and in tears again by the time I got seated, but joy of joys I had a whole 3 seats to myself and no annoying yoga posing passengers in sight. It was sheer bliss to be able to lie down and I actually got some sleep.
Manchester airport was another round of more security checks, 1 when you arrive, then when you get into the other terminal, then again going into your gate. I could have paid another 40 quid to get an earlier flight but the Scrooge in me decided it wasn't worth it and I waited 6 hours for my scheduled flight, only to find it was delayed an hour, curses! If I could have gone back in time I would have paid double 40 quid just to get out of there sooner
By the time I got to Inverness, picked up the hire car and got to my B&B I had been travelling for 2 days, been thru 6 security checks, cried three times, had someone's bum in my face and ponytail flick twice AND didn't get an upgrade. Not entirely successful, however Dad's ashes are back in Scotland so mission accomplished.
For anyone else travelling with ashes my tip would be call them "Human cremated remains" and try crying at the check in counter and NOT afterwards, rooky mistake!
And here's my view of the yoga posing passenger
Lol, glad I've seen the full picture now and read the story, now makes sense, the 'preview' picture did have me wondering!
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