Earning Your International Wings
Despite maintaining communication with the constant check-ins and asking clarifying questions, I still made errors along the way. It is challenging to ask the “right” questions when you hardly know what to even expect. There was a huge learning curve each step of the way.
Prior to this trip I never had to go through a check-in process. Consequently, I had a moment at the airport in which I got the pleasure of hearing my name being called overhead by the airline because they needed to speak to me. I confusedly walked up to the desk at the gate I had been waiting at for my flight with my passport and boarding pass in hand and the gate officer informed me I did not check-in to the airline. I had managed to bypass this vital step. Fortunately for me, they checked me in at the gate right before I boarded the plane. At this moment I learned that for all international flights, you have to check-in with the airlines, which is before security, and in foreign airports, you pass through immigration and passport control afterward.
