In transit: a rookie error

Just when I think I’m a seasoned traveller, I make a rookie error based on an assumption.

Picture this: me checking in at the Singapore Airport counter in Adelaide. (I like to check in just to see if I can get a better seat, just in case you are wondering why I don’t do it online.) I went to check my luggage and was asked by the desk lady (because I’m stopping over for 12 hours in Singapore) did I want to pick up my luggage in Singapore? She said something about just dropping it off as I checked back in. The words “dropping it off”‘ and “check back in” should have been my alarm ringing right there.

I usually check my bag right through to my final destination, and this has served me well in the past. (I discovered why it didn’t get checked through to Amritsar when checked in at Delhi airport for the final leg of my journey.) For some stupid reason, I thought: yes please! I’ll have access to my stuff, and I can carry less carry on. Winning!

Except (and to cut a long story short) that only works IF you are staying in Singapore itself, not a transit hotel in the airport. Luggage pickup is on the OTHER side of immigration and one cannot pick up one’s luggage and take it back into the airport. Doh! Of course! I know that! The Adelaide desk lady didn’t ask where I was staying, and I didn’t elucidate because, well, I didn’t know or think that I’d have to.

So, when I realised I had to go through immigration to get my bag, I quickly found out what I needed to do from the friendly Changi Airport desk staff. Basically, I could check my bag to Delhi from Singapore airport, which is what I did. Fingers crossed it will be there when I land in Delhi, which I’m sure it will be*.

Note to self: never deviate from one’s tried and tested travel process without questioning one’s assumptions.

* It was.

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