And so Sam's trip begins

Okay, so I'm not even on an international flight yet, but far be it from me to disappoint our regular blog readers with an uneventful start to an overseas holiday! 

My flight from Brisbane to Sydney is slightly delayed, only by 20 minutes, and I'm not worried because the call to the gate comes with no further delays. As I make my way through the airport I also happen upon this Qantas style christmas cheer.

I  board the plane and there's a young English girl in my seat. Looks on the boarding passes like we've been double booked 😬. She's very sweet and so I sit in the middle seat 'til everyone's on the plane, to see what happens, and we both keep our fingers crossed it's a mix up and not a full plane with a double booking. 

We're joking and bonding, and all the while I'm sizing her up out of the corner of my eye just in case...I'm confident I can win in the event I need to apply either psychological OR brute force 😄.  

She trawls through her phone and works out she's looking at the wrong boarding pass. Moves to her actual seat and, bonus! I am now in a row with an empty middle seat! Score, happy days, all is right with the universe once again. 

I move into my aisle seat and my phone starts ringing - private number. Naturally I decline the call. The phone immediately rings again - decline.  And again - hmmn, this persistence warrants answering the call. As I answer I hear my name called over the plane intercom. So I hang up without having actually engaged with anyone on the phone, and I go see the crew. 

Turns out they thought I wasn't on board because my boarding pass didn't register.

We're all happy its all worked out, until I get another private call! Only they hang up before I can answer and now I'm thinking that given I haven't spoken to the persistent caller on the  phone, there's some possibility they might have taken my bag off the flight. 

And so the adventure begins for me. At least this period of angst will only last an hour - as long as my bag is at the other end. And the pilot is pretty funny so that's a good distraction. 

There's always one...and for some reason it often seems to be me 🙄.