My last place, my last days. Bangkok. I have a lot to do. Work, write invoices. Picking up a new pair of glasses that I ordered a month ago. Have a wooden spoon carved, revalidate my London-Munich flight ticket, get my camera repaired again. Most of my last two days are spent shopping. Everything is going well. I have exactly 120 euros left. Done :-)
At home I’ll be playing Christmas in the summer. Father Christmas is red with envy, he’s seen my rucksack. I carry my shopping through hot and humid Bangkok back to the lub*d and make a nice pile of presents.
British Airways has drastically changed its baggage regulations during my trip around the world. Kite luggage is still 23kg free. But kiteboards are no longer allowed. Imagine going on a trip with two suitcases and on the last flight your airline tells you: “Nope, we only accept one.” I had enough time to get used to this blatant meanness.
What drives me up the wall is checking in my kiteboard. My simple questions: Where do I have to take the board for airfreight and when, and how much will British Airways’ baggage mess cost me? The question is so simple, the journey infinitely difficult.
I walk two times 5 kilometres, twice to the 21st floor of the Chan Issara Tower to the British Airways office. i try 14 different telephone numbers that BA employees give me. Either no connection under this number, Thai voicemail boxes, or simply not responsible. Everyone who is not responsible is nice: and refers me to a new person who is not responsible. Within 24 hours I’m on hold for more than 2.5 hours and waste almost 10 euros on completely fruitless phone calls.
After almost 7 hours of annoying enquiries, I’m more than fed up. With respect: I don’t give a shit about saving face, which is oh so important in Thailand. On my seventh call to the hotline, I shout at the operator really meanly. I want definitive information right now!
She gives me another phone number. I start shouting. The people at reception look up. I make a call. Yes, this woman can help. She promises to send me an email. It doesn’t arrive until the evening.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.