Something funny happened on the way to New Guinea…………
August 17, 2008
Well - it wasn’t really FUNNY -HAHA. But at the end of the day - I sure had to have a sense of humour and an easy going attitude to get me through.
On route to Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea with my client early this month - a few things happened which would certainly stop most people in their tracks.
On arrival at Sydney Airport at 6:00am - I was informed that PNG’s national carrier had changed planes ( smaller plane) and that I didn’t have a seat on it. My client Marcus was already though immigration and in the Qantas Club having the ONLY real coffee we were going to get for 5 days……………………………
I was told that only after check-in closed would I know if I had a seat on the plane. There were 5 of us standing by the check-in counter in a quiet panic.
No amount of jumping up and down and panic stricken phone calls was going to make a hill of beans of difference in this situation. Long story short - we made it on the flight - getting our boarding passes one by one ( I was last) 15 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart.
As punishment for getting on the plane - about - 20 of us didn’t receive our luggage at the other end.
So - I had arrived on a tropical island after a very long day of travel and set for 4 more days of intensive work - “sans luggage”.
Marcus had called ahead to let the crew know that I need to have in my room ” all the things that a woman needs”. They were told to prepare for a “small” woman.
When I arrived - there were indeed - all the toiletries in the world that a woman could want - AND more……….. and a pile of small clothes ( not a small pile of clothes - a pile of small clothes) on the bed. The girls had done their best at the local market.
They had also lovingly put a fruit and cheese platter in the fridge - SO thoughtful. That’s “rockstar” service if you ask me!
YOU’RE NOT SMALL……………..
Never have three words had so much impact on me - or made me laugh so much.
The first thing Tarama ( the girl whose task it was to create my room) said was - after looking me up and down :” You’re not small - they told me you were small - you’re not small”
To which I replied : ” I would have said medium myself”
I was introduced from then on as: “This is Sue. She’s NOT small”
SO here’s how it panned out:
- the clothes very thoughtfully selected for me ( from a limited local market selection mind you) and washed and ironed - would have fit a 16 year old girl - either that or I would have looked like a hooker wearing them.
- one very thoughtful staff member bought me a t-shirt and copped an absolute ribbing from the bosses for it. ( It was very sweet - you guys are SO mean)
- I was given a new pair of steel capped work boots to save killing my new leather boots on the rocky paths. TWO sizes too big tho - so I clomped around like “olive oyl” for a few days - the steel caps doing absolutely NO good if I had have tripped over and face planted the road.
- my luggage finally arrived Sydney -via Brisbane- Via Port Moresby - Via Rabaul -to Lihir afternoon of the 3rd day. I left at the break of day on day 5. Thanks Air Nugini……………………. NOT
Thanks though to NCS for such care and “rock star” treatment. I truly had a ball up on Lihir and can’t wait to come back!
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