It all went wrong in Hong Kong

i have to type fast, but here's the scoop.

we had a layover in hong kong for five hours. so we got off the plane and took a train into the city then a ferry across to an island and took lots of pics of the skyline. it's all so high tech and definitely not lacking in funds. it's very clean and sterile. it's like new york but more high tech. it's also kind of like san francisco b/c it's on a hilly island in the middle of the water. beautiful too!

okay, we made it back for our flight to aukland, NZ and had already checked our two suitcases from bangkok straight through to aukland. so we just had a huge backpack and smaller one to carry on in hong kong. well, as i try to go through the gate, a woman stops me and says my back pack won't fit in the over head compartment. i tried to nicely explain that it did in every other plane that is the same make and model of the one we're taking. she refused and showed me the dinky little basket that i was supposed to fit my bags in which were way smaller than the overhead space. so, then they told me to go check more bags in. julie was in the exact same boat. so, we go to check more stuff. they proceed to tell me it will be $250 U.S. !!!!!!!!!!! uhhm, hello, that is the price of another plane ticket somewhere. we had to pay supposedly b/c of the extra weight. of course we were overweight with luggage b/c we packed for a month in thailand and two different continents. we both hurredly realized we were about to miss our flight so we just scrambled sitting on the floor in front of the checkout desk with everyone standing in line behind watching us. we both silently prayed for a miracle. we needed everything to fit as carryon. they told us to throw away stuff. what was i supposed to throw away. so i started chunking shoes. good shoes! then i had a revelation!!!! i pulled out all of the clothes and yelled for julie to start putting on all of her clothes and i would too. we already had pants and a shirt on. well, we then had three more pairs of pants on top of that. we were standing there in a panic just putting clothes on top of clothes. julie stuffed more shirts in her sleeves! i have never done anything more ludicrous or hilarious in my entire life in an airport. i passed inspection and made it through the gate without having to throw anything away. wow!

we sat in the airplane hot as could be from all of our clothes we put on and had to take them all off and repack for our huge over head compartment space we had to put them in. a lady from NZ sat next to us. julie told her our story about the luggage. she said, she already knew b/c she sat there watching us. we made the biggest scene ever. note to self, don't ever go to hong kong airport again!

oh no, we have to go back through hong kong and do the same thing on our way home from new zealand. please pray that we can pull it off again.