One Last picture from the night before of the Singapore Skyline from the Skywalk/Treewalk at the Gardens by the Bay. This was a very nice picture “B” took.
It was a late night and now we had to get up early to get to the airport. The earliest train was 5:50am so we planned on getting that one or the 5:57am train. We got to the train station at 6:02 and the first train hadn’t come yet. The first train didn’t show up until almost 6:20. This gave me some stress since it was a 40 minute train to the airport, and then we had to get to check in. Our flight was at 8:30, and we had received an email the day before that we had to go to a ticket agent with regard to one of us, and couldn’t use the automated check in. So, we got there, and made it to the ticet counter and that is when everything started going sideways. The agent scanned our passports, and when “B” passport got scanned (it was also the last one she scanned) she gave the screen an odd look and tried again. After a couple tries she then asked us for our ETA. We showed her our flight reservations and she said that isn’t what she needed. She then asked about our visas. So we showed her out Singapore visas emails. After a little bit of back and forth she said, no your Australian ETA – which meant visas, but we didn’t know that. Well, we didn’t have those. I did a lot of looking before our trip, but somehow missed the fact that as US citizens we needed to have Visas for Australia. The woman let us know that we needed the Australian ETA app on our phone to request Visas for Australia. Well, the WiFi wasn’t working correctly in the airport, so we booted up our pocket Wi-Fi, and tried that. We both downloaded the app, and started that process. By now it was 7:30, and the ticket agent informed us we wouldn’t be able to make our flight that had been delayed to 8:40 at that point. We asked why? She said that we didn’t have visas to enter Australia, and therefore they couldn’t put us on the plane, and that the app could take a while to clear the visas and it was too close to the flight taking off. But we were insistent that we could get this to work. So, we chugged through the app for all 4 of us. The girls were stressing out a lot. We tried to comfort them, but they could tell we were both stressed out as well. We got through the app, and the visas were approved within 5 minutes, but by then it was 7:45 and they said no to our flight. At that point we were like, “So now what?” The next flight to Cairns was 4 days later. That wasn’t going to work. So, then we started working with a manager. He can over and told us the same thing. We kept insisting that we could make the flight. It was now 8:20, but he wouldn’t let us try to run to the plane. He said there was no way to get us on the plane. He said he would try to find us something else. I had to step away at this point. I was feeling the stress build up, and I don’t stress much at all, but this was getting to me. So, I went to talk with the girls since they weren’t doing well. I told them that God had a plan, and that it would all be ok. That He knew why this was happening even though we had no idea and it was messing up our trip. I was able to clam them down some, and then I returned to where “B” was working with the new person. The guy, David, was asking us about different cities in Australia. “How far away is Sydney from Cairns? What about Brisbane? Perth?” Brisbane was the closest and it is 1700km (1100 miles) to Cairns. That is like driving from Phoenix to Dallas or Billings, but the speed limits are slower (so think 20 hours without stopping for any reason). David had no concept of how far things were from each other, but he was trying. So, we all were trying different options to see what they could do for us. We were told the Brisbane flight was at around 10am and so they had to know by 9:15 if we wanted that flight. We looked and looked, and nothing was working. After doing this for a while we decided that we needed to get to Australia an so we decided on the Brisbane flight and we would figure out how to get to Cairns from there. It was 9:10 when we made the decision and then David said, “Oh you waited too long I can’t get you on that flight.” I thought “B” was going to lose it then and there, and I almost did as well. I looked at him and said, “You said 9:15, it was 9:10 when we said Brisbane, you will get us on that flight.” He didn’t think they could get our bags on the plane and us to the boarding gate on time, but I said we would make it. So, they checked out bags special (we weren’t sure they were going to make it to Brisbane, but we hoped they would), and we ran. We got through security very fast and then ran some more, we made it to the gate and they were waiting for us, thankfully. We got on the plane and had seat that were somewhat spread out. The 3 lady all had middle seat in 3 successive rows somewhat toward the front so that wasn’t too bad, and I had a window seat towards the back. Then the flight was delayed due to weather, and I think our original flight was also delayed due to the same storm, but that is neither here nor there.
We were on a plane. We were happy about that. It wasn’t perfect, but it was getting us to Australia. Since I was towards the back the seat wasn’t great compared to our other flights, and I felt a bit cramped honestly. I don’t get that much on planes, but I did here. I think it had to do with feeling rushed and stressed too. I ended up sitting next to a couple from Brisbane that was returning home from Nepal. They let me ask them a bunch of questions during the flight, and they asked about my story, and I gave them what I just wrote here. They were wonderful people. They answered every question and gave some other helpful tidbits. The woman even used her internet to try and find us a flight from Brisbane to Cairns, and was shocked when the cheapest flight the next day was almost $1000 per person. She was like, “That is so wrong, it should be less than $150 per person.” But it had to due with the last minute nature of it all. With that being said they both agreed with me that renting a car and driving the 21 hours (not counting stopping along the way) was a better choice given our situation. The flight was very bumpy for the first half. Not one of my favorite flights for that reason either. Landed about 7:30pm.
“B” worked with Hertz to get a car. I got a SIM card for my phone so we could try and get some of our reservations for the next day rebooked/moved if possible. Got the only car they had available, and God blessed us with one that fit us and our baggage and had room to spare. It was a Kia Carnival with a diesel engine. This is basically a minivan with 3 rows and room for 8 passengers. So we put a girl in each row in the back so they could leave each other alone and hopefully sleep some on the drive. We got the car at 9pm, and then started the drive to Cairns. I started off the drive, and so we put in Cairns into the GPS on my phone and started driving. I think I drove until about 2 or 3 am, and then “B” took over for a few hours so I could get a little sleep. I don’t remember much about that drive except that it was dark and there are a lot of signs to watch out for kangaroo and to be careful not to fall asleep while driving. “B” drive for a couple hours until just after the sun started coming up and then I took over again and drove through a lot of fog. We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds. My girls had their first ever McDonald’s breakfasts and they were very unimpressed (and so was I, not nearly as good as I remember when I was a kid). Drove some more, “B” then took over for an hour or two, then back to me, then back to her for another couple hours. We stopped for dinner somewhere as well, no idea where, and finally got to the Hertz in Cairns at 9pm the next day. Yes, it took us 24 hours to drive it. It was the longest drive my family has ever done in one straight shot. I have memories of doing this with my family as a kid to Chicago, and I liked it to some degree, but this was a slog. I know it has a lot to do with the circumstances that got us to Australia, but boy was I happy to get to Cairns. Oh forgot to mention that during the day we were able to call the places we had reservations with that day and get everything moved to the day after the next day with no fees. That was a huge blessing. It was going to mess up our Wednesday plans, but we were willing to do that. We were not going to be able to move our Tuesday plans which was the Great Barrier Reef, and that was the big reason why we needed to get to Cairns by the end of the day on Monday, and we did that. When we got to Hertz we were there to get the car we originally requested which was a hybrid Toyota Rav4. We thought the hybrid would be nice since we were going to be driving huge distances, and it claimed to get 40-45 mpg. But the Kia was doing a bit better than that on the dive to Cairns, so I decided to ask what the upcharge would be to keep the Kia. It was a much larger vehicle so I knew there would be an upcharge, but we thought we would ask. Initially the upcharge was going to be $25/day, and over 24 days we thought that was too much to spend, but the guy at Hertz said, “Let me see what I can do.” And he came back to us with, “I did some hinking around (yes he said something like “Hinking”), and I can let you have the car for no additional charge.” Apparently, that Kia wasn’t a good fit for the Cairns rental area and it would do better in Melbourne where we were ending our trip so it worked out for Hertz to let up drive the car down to Melbourne for them. I was very happy about that since it meant we didn’t have to move anything out of the car, and it meant more space for everyone in the car (this proved very nice, and at times a bit frustrating, during the rest of the trip). So, we left Hertz and got to our Airbnb in Cairns, which was our treehouse stay. We missed our first night due to the airline issues, and that made us all very sad (especial “G” since this was the place she was most looking forward to staying at). I tried asking for an additional night, but they already had someone staying the day we left, so that was sad, but God has His plans. It was a terrible 2 days in many ways. Between Waking up Saturday morning until Monday night at 11pm I think I had had a total of 9 or 10 hours of sleep. I prayed a lot. I felt God’s peace on me. I know He was watching over us. He blessed us with a better car, I think, then we were going to get. I don’t recall any family drama during the 24 hours of driving which I must say really surprised me, so that is another God intervention, let me tell you. After the week we had in Singapore and then what happened as we were trying to leave who knows what could have happened emotionally, verbally, and more if God wouldn’t have been there with us.
Look at this car – it is huge! Well, maybe no huge but the largest car I have driven for an extended period of time. This picture came a few days later, not on the LONG day mentioned above.