Hey all!
Remember how I went on a Belgo Britalian adventure late last year. Well I've been sitting on a diary and a wack-full-of-pictures (well I'm still organising the pictures). Since I've neglected this blog I figured I'd turn it into a travel blog for a while and try and share some tips I learned along the way—plus they'll be plenty of pictures and observations thrown in there just to keep things interesting.

Day 1

Hey-Zeus Christ!

I haven't got on the plane and I almost want to go back home.

Now I got to Pearson International quite early, which is always good practice in case unforeseen problems arise. Plus it gives me time to explore.

I decide to check the bags early so I don't have to haul the heavy things around any longer than I have to. I line up. I'm putting the cover on my backpack so none of the straps get caught in the conveyor belt—that's taking me sometime time. Hey I'd rather keep this thing in backpack mode for as long as possible given that the thing weighs about 15 Kg.

Naturally the airline worker is a none too pleased that I'm not immediately ready. That's understandable. He's has a lot of people to check in over the next two-and-half hours (which he's probably not paid very well to do) and if somebody wasn't ready pretty darn close to immediately I'd be a skosh bit perturbed.

I finally finish and place the thing upright on the conveyor belt. the airline worker places pockets side down.

Since whatever force running this universe hates my blasphemous ways and likes to express its displeasure in an Alanis-Morissette-style-'Ironic'-sense-of-humor, the bag gets caught. The fancy lock, which airport security can open to inspect my stuff rather than slash open my bag, happen to look mighty tasty to the hungry belt.



After rolling his eyes and surely cursing under his breath the airline worker shuts off the conveyor and halfheartedly attempts to free my bag with the brute force tug method. Unsuccessful, he say "you're losing your lock." He's already cut the fabric strips attached to the zipper and freed my bag before I can respond.

I hardly blame the guy for doing what he did. He got the bag free and all I lost was a lock and the fabric loops on the zipper. Nonetheless it would've been nice if he with what is likely a ton of experience anticipated this and put my bag down on the opposite side of the lose zippers. Surely I'm not the first person to check a large back pack on this discount airline that specialises in flights to Britain.

But I digress. After freeing my backpack the worker begrudgingly hauls it over to the oversized luggage where I'm confident it will be marked with some secret code that tells the baggage handler to kick it, punch it, throw it and abuse unmentionable it.

The lesson for you all is if you're traveling with a backpack put any covers you have including a rain sheath and or make sure all lose straps are taped down or, zipped away or otherwise not free to be sucked into a piece of moving machinery. Also insist the thing goes down on side that has the least straps zippers, pockets, etc.

Remember how I said I showed up early? That allowed me to visit the overly priced international travel store to replace my lock and pick up an electrical adopter that I had forgotten.

Addendum: Unsurprisingly when I landed in Gatwick my other lock had gone missing too and my luggage did not show up with the other oversized items. Although I was joking about them tagging my bag with the airport equivalent of a 'kick-me' sign, I'm now thinking that may have happened. You'll be damn sure I'll be throwing on the rain sheath on my next flight.