So the week leading up to my cruise... Wow!
Passport....
It all started on the Sunday before I was due to fly out – the following Thursday (though I still hadn’t received my flights… Will come back to that!). I’d just been in Tamworth the week before tutoring on a regional music camp, so I hadn’t really started packing. I thought come Sunday night that might be a good thing to start thinking about doing! Now, I know where I left my passport – it is where I have left it for the past 18 months. So when it wasn’t there, I started to worry… I searched in a few more draws, in every box in my room, every cupboard – quite literally turned my house upside down – nothing! It was getting late so I thought I’d leave it to the next day when my mum was coming up and she could help me look (she always said I had boys eyes!)
It’s now Monday, still no sign of passport. After a few minutes of mum being in the house, she declared that we had been broken into and robbed as her rings she had left there previously went missing. This made so much sense, as I knew I hadn’t touched my passport in weeks, and I was fairly sure I hadn’t lost it…. So I got on the phone to the Passport office and reported my passport missing/stolen. Now, I personally hadn’t had anything to do with stolen/missing passports previously, so this was news to me; if you cancel a passport suspected stolen and then you find it, you can’t un-cancel it! So as the passport office man is informing me of this and he cancels my passport, mum walks into the room with the “Stolen” rings…. So we probably weren’t robbed. I proceeded down to the post office to get the new passport forms, and as I walk back into the house, there’s mum with my “Stolen” passport in hand…… Apparently what happened was that last time she was up, she saw my passport in its usual spot and thought “That’s a horrible place for it – so easy to find! I’m going to move it”. She then “forgot” she moved it (obviously!) until she found it… Needless to say I was pretty ropable (putting it mildly).
I contacted my agency in America to explain the situation, and they were pretty nervous, because if I didn’t have the same passport that I had given them previously, there was a possibility that HAL would not be able to book my flights, and that my contract would be either cancelled or delayed (neither were good options!). So I’m in a pretty bad way by this point – Monday night, having drinks in Sydney with my gorgeous girl and in sheer disbelief that this could have all just gone down the toilet!
Then things got better. I went into the passport office at 9am Tuesday morning, explained the situation and presented my HAL contracts. They were incredibly helpful, and understanding and I had a brand new passport by midday… 3 hrs?! A document that usually takes 10-14 days to process etc. took 3 hrs?!?! I was astounded and relieved to say the least, as were my agency; Lime Entertainment, who were consequently very impressed at the Australian Passport office!!
It’s now Monday, still no sign of passport. After a few minutes of mum being in the house, she declared that we had been broken into and robbed as her rings she had left there previously went missing. This made so much sense, as I knew I hadn’t touched my passport in weeks, and I was fairly sure I hadn’t lost it…. So I got on the phone to the Passport office and reported my passport missing/stolen. Now, I personally hadn’t had anything to do with stolen/missing passports previously, so this was news to me; if you cancel a passport suspected stolen and then you find it, you can’t un-cancel it! So as the passport office man is informing me of this and he cancels my passport, mum walks into the room with the “Stolen” rings…. So we probably weren’t robbed. I proceeded down to the post office to get the new passport forms, and as I walk back into the house, there’s mum with my “Stolen” passport in hand…… Apparently what happened was that last time she was up, she saw my passport in its usual spot and thought “That’s a horrible place for it – so easy to find! I’m going to move it”. She then “forgot” she moved it (obviously!) until she found it… Needless to say I was pretty ropable (putting it mildly).
I contacted my agency in America to explain the situation, and they were pretty nervous, because if I didn’t have the same passport that I had given them previously, there was a possibility that HAL would not be able to book my flights, and that my contract would be either cancelled or delayed (neither were good options!). So I’m in a pretty bad way by this point – Monday night, having drinks in Sydney with my gorgeous girl and in sheer disbelief that this could have all just gone down the toilet!
Then things got better. I went into the passport office at 9am Tuesday morning, explained the situation and presented my HAL contracts. They were incredibly helpful, and understanding and I had a brand new passport by midday… 3 hrs?! A document that usually takes 10-14 days to process etc. took 3 hrs?!?! I was astounded and relieved to say the least, as were my agency; Lime Entertainment, who were consequently very impressed at the Australian Passport office!!
Flights
So I had my (very unnecessarily stressful!) new passport! That was fine. However I still didn’t have flights booked to Singapore, where I would be embarking. I had been told all along that my flights would come a few days before, and that I should just “Be ready” to leave between Wednesday morning and Thursday evening. So I’d been contacting the Guys at Lime pretty regularly to figure out what was going on here and they just said they were coming….
Thursday morning….. Nothing! I had to be playing on this ship in less than 48hrs (let alone orientation and training I had to go through!) and I still didn’t know when I was flying out! Then at 6:45am I get an email saying that they had booked my flights – for 7:40am?! Lime even picked up that this may not work… and I confirmed that it would be impossible so they said they would re-book. Finally at 8:30am I received an email confirming that I would be flying out at 12:15pm. Awesome!!!
Thursday morning….. Nothing! I had to be playing on this ship in less than 48hrs (let alone orientation and training I had to go through!) and I still didn’t know when I was flying out! Then at 6:45am I get an email saying that they had booked my flights – for 7:40am?! Lime even picked up that this may not work… and I confirmed that it would be impossible so they said they would re-book. Finally at 8:30am I received an email confirming that I would be flying out at 12:15pm. Awesome!!!
Singapore Airlines
So I had my flights, and I had my luggage all sorted – I would carry my alto and a bag (containing clarinet, flute, computer) as hand luggage and I would book through my suitcase and my tenor, which had been padded and packed VERY well!!!
When I got to check in, they inform me that I can have only 1 carry-on bag and a laptop bag weighing less than 5kg and that I would need to book through another bag. I was very strong in telling them that I couldn’t do that as these were musical instruments, and I was freaking out enough about the 1 I had to book through! My only other option was to book another seat. I didn’t think HAL would be up for that, but I gave LIME a call anyway, to see what they said. Eventually I ended up packing my clarinet into my suitcase and shoving everything bar my laptop into my alto case so that my “Laptop bag” would pass. Eventually after much discussion, I got through, and (bonus) NO excess fees! Turns out that a “Seaman” (Lol) gets a 40kg luggage allowance! Sweet!!
After that everything was fine. Flight was good, Singapore is lovely, taxi driver was hilarious, hotel was beautiful! And on top of that, I found out that a friend of mine from school now lives in Singapore and tours around Southeast Asia with Puppet shows! Amongst other things. So we met up for dinner and caught up on the last 5 years of our lives!
So that was the stress and craziness that was the week leading up to my cruise, and I learned a few things that I feel obliged to pass on:
- Don’t let anyone go through/move your stuff… ever!
- If you have a work contract that requires you to go overseas, the passport office will sort you out!
- Cruise liners have a “portal” for all their employees, where they will post your flight information as soon as it is booked (regardless of your situation with agents etc.) so try and get onto that sooner than the day you fly out.
- Singapore Airlines need some exceptions written in for musicians! They have no idea of what instruments are worth both in monetary terms and in value for so many other reasons – they are more willing to make exceptions for a laptop before an instrument! Frustrating!!
- Bailey’s on ice – or any of the other fine beverages Singapore Airlines offer on their service - makes everything better!
When I got to check in, they inform me that I can have only 1 carry-on bag and a laptop bag weighing less than 5kg and that I would need to book through another bag. I was very strong in telling them that I couldn’t do that as these were musical instruments, and I was freaking out enough about the 1 I had to book through! My only other option was to book another seat. I didn’t think HAL would be up for that, but I gave LIME a call anyway, to see what they said. Eventually I ended up packing my clarinet into my suitcase and shoving everything bar my laptop into my alto case so that my “Laptop bag” would pass. Eventually after much discussion, I got through, and (bonus) NO excess fees! Turns out that a “Seaman” (Lol) gets a 40kg luggage allowance! Sweet!!
After that everything was fine. Flight was good, Singapore is lovely, taxi driver was hilarious, hotel was beautiful! And on top of that, I found out that a friend of mine from school now lives in Singapore and tours around Southeast Asia with Puppet shows! Amongst other things. So we met up for dinner and caught up on the last 5 years of our lives!
So that was the stress and craziness that was the week leading up to my cruise, and I learned a few things that I feel obliged to pass on:
- Don’t let anyone go through/move your stuff… ever!
- If you have a work contract that requires you to go overseas, the passport office will sort you out!
- Cruise liners have a “portal” for all their employees, where they will post your flight information as soon as it is booked (regardless of your situation with agents etc.) so try and get onto that sooner than the day you fly out.
- Singapore Airlines need some exceptions written in for musicians! They have no idea of what instruments are worth both in monetary terms and in value for so many other reasons – they are more willing to make exceptions for a laptop before an instrument! Frustrating!!
- Bailey’s on ice – or any of the other fine beverages Singapore Airlines offer on their service - makes everything better!
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