I get to the check-in counter and the woman behind the counter tells me my bag is 9 kilos too heavy.

Okay, I’ll just pay the surcharge.
There is no surcharge maam you must take 9 kilos out of your suitcase and come back in line to reweigh it.
What?!
Yes, maam go over there.

Over where?
Over there in the back of the line.
What!?
Yes, over there.
I have to wait in this line again?!
No, No, just come back to me.

I proceed to take my overstuffed suitcase to the side and empty it onto the floor taking out books and other souvenirs that added weight to my suitcase. I stuff as much as I can into a small plastic bag, my backpack and my computer bag and return to the front of the line. A passenger yells at me not to cut, but I have a ‘very annoyed’ look on my face and he closes his mouth.

I put the suitcase on the scale again and she tells me to go back and take four more kilos out.
No, I say, I am doing it right here.
No maam you can’t.
I ignore her, open the suitcase and proceed to throw any article of clothing I think I won’t need ever again onto the floor.
Maam you can’t do this.
How many more kilos? I say.
Two.
I throw more clothes onto the floor.
Maam you can’t leave those clothes there.
I’m not, I am throwing them away.
What?
I have too many kilos and something has to go.
How many more?
You’re fine now.
Thank you. Did my waitlist for Business Class come through?
No maam.

I proceed to the immigration area…lovely…it’s a one hour and forty-five minute wait to get through the line. Thank goodness my flight has been delayed for three hours.

I get through immigration and proceed to the next line – Security. This line is short, only about 30 minutes. The woman security guard spent an additional ten minutes making sure I wasn’t an Irish terrorist.

It is now 1:30AM my flight doesn’t leave until 3:10AM, I’m tired, but the road is leading home.