Sprinting through the airport with 20 minutes to catch your flight? 0/10 reccommend

I thought that I was getting to the airport in plenty of time. I got up super early in the morning, got everything ready, and left 15 minutes before I had even planned on leaving. Everything had been double, triple… quadruple checked. I felt confident that this travel, however long and uncomfortable, would be a breeze. Boy was I wrong. I got to the airport over 2 hours before my flight, which was scheduled to take off at 1:15pm, and thank the Universe I did- I was told that I needed to leave the airport and be back in less than an hour with a negative covid test- something I didn’t think I needed because I’m already vaccinated. I guess when I looked at my flight requirements I saw an “or” where there was actually an “and”.

I told the baggage agent that I didn’t think that that was even possible and she told me that she had seen it done before. A switch flipped in my mind- Ok. Go time. If other people had done it, I could certainly give it the old college try. And on top of that, I wasn’t ready to just lose all of the money I had spent on my trip because of one thing I had forgotten. I jumped in an Uber and raced to Ala Moana- the location of the nearest and quickest rapid antigen covid test. I left my baggage in the trunk of my Uber after asking a man I had just met if he would drive me back to the airport after my test- it seemed like the fastest solution possible because I didn’t know how much longer it would take to call another Uber to the mall. I had my AirTag in my suitcase so I had a small reassurance that if anything happened, at least I could track my luggage.

In the Uber to the covid test, I bought a membership to the clinic so that I could get a Telehealth visit and put myself first in line, so to speak, when I got to the clinic because I was so strapped for time. So far, the adrenaline coursing through my veins had kept me positive and optimistic that this was all still possible somehow. When I got there, the staff working had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned my Telehealth visit. I quickly put myself into their appointment waiting list via a QR code on the door.10 minutes passed and it was 11:50am- it started to feel like an impossible task at that point. Another wave of anxiety kicked in and I felt myself start to physically shake. I was checking the time on my phone every 10 seconds as if something would magically change, and feeling nervous for the driver because I felt like I was wasting his time by making him wait for me.

Finally, as if by literal miracle, a nurse came into the lobby and said, “Wait… you were the one who has a flight to catch to Japan soon right?” I practically jumped up out of my seat. “Yes!”, I exclaimed. She quickly ushered me to a room where she stuck the uncomfortable stick up my nose and quickly rotated it in circles- prompting more than one sneeze. She went back to get the results, print off documentation stating that my test was negative, and then came to the lobby with a credit card reader so that I could pay. My hands were shaking so badly at this point I could barely steady myself enough to insert my card. I paid as quickly as possible, got my documentation sheet, and hurried my ass back to the car where my uber driver was waiting patiently.

My negative ~covid test~

I looked down at the clock… it was 12:05pm. Before I had left the airport, the baggage agent had told me that they would stop accepting baggage for the flight at 12:15pm. Ala Moana is about 20 minutes from the airport usually- once you get onto the freeway, it’s a straight shot. But, getting out of the maze that is Ala Moana mall parking and down Piʻikoi street… that’s a whole other story. I didn’t know whether to tell my Uber driver this or not. I didn’t want to make it seem like I was asking him to speed or risk getting any kind of ticket for me. But, I decided to tell him because I realized that I wasn’t asking that of him, I was just keeping him in the loop about what was happening.

racing against the clock

He asked me if my suitcase could potentially be taken on board as a carry-on if it turned out that we didn’t get there in time. I said it was possible, but I wasn’t too sure because It was definitely bigger than a carry-on and I would have to take a lot of stuff out of my bag including all of the regular sized toiletries I had and the knife I had brought with me. But, realistically, again, I wasn’t going to let anything that I deemed insignificant in the scheme of things derail this trip. It would be disappointing to have to throw those items away but I knew that my trip meant more than some easily replaceable belongings.

We got to the baggage claim drop-off lobby at 12:22 (my ~angel number~ of course). The agent that I had spoken with was the last one at the counter and I saw all of her coworkers already 50 feet ahead of her, walking in the direction of security. I saw her start to walk in that same direction as I quickly scrambled into the airport. We locked eyes and she recognized me. I rushed over to the counter as fast as I possibly could- dipping and dodging the retractable seatbelt-material ropes that they make mazes out of to outline the lines they want people to wait in. I was bending underneath the final rope in my path when my backpack strap got stuck to the rope. I fell down. Literally. Like I’m glad people weren’t watching because it was comical. I felt like I was falling in slow motion, and not in a cool, action movie way- in a video game, banana-peel type of way. She rushed over and helped me get untangled before she yelled for the rest of her team to come back to the counter. “I didn’t think you were going to make it”, she told me with an obvious look of surprise on her face. (Okay girl like...did you not just encourage me that this was possible?) “Yeah, I honestly didn’t either.”, I replied. She quickly got all of my travel documents printed out and was nice enough to print me off my boarding passes for my connecting flights. Then, I met Yuri. Yuri, one of the baggage counter agents coworkers, told me that she would come with me through security and to the gate to make sure that the plane would wait for me. She ran (yes, ran) with me through the airport to security- which was (hilariously) the furthest security check from my airlines baggage drop counter. She insisted on holding my stuff for me and fanned me with my passport when she noticed that I was drenched in sweat.

Here I was- thinking that I would get to the airport early, in a cute outfit, and be one of those people who look far too organized and professional to be taking a flight. I was quite literally the exact opposite. The security line was long and I don’t think Yuri had any power in terms of line-cutting abilities so we waited it out together. While we were waiting in line, I was going back and forth in my head about whether or not it was a good idea to ask them to hand check my film. The TSA says that the X-ray machines are fine for film rolls but every film company (including Kodak- my preferred brand) describes almost exactly the opposite. Film that goes through the scanner becomes milky, grainy, foggy and, in rare cases- is ruined entirely. I didn’t think I had time to ask this, but I did anyway. One of the main reasons I went on this trip was to shoot film and I wasn’t going to let this small hiccup (lol) stop me. I asked and they obliged and started to hand-check my film while I got in line to go through the X-ray machine myself.

I waited and was able to get through in the nick of time. I hurriedly laced my shoes (I decided to wear tennis shoes that day with laces that needed to be triple knotted because of their length- another smart travel decision of course), got my film from the TSA agent who had hand-checked it and started to sprint towards my gate, barely keeping stride with Yuri, who was- to my surprise, incredibly speedy.

Yuri, my literal hero

Of course the international terminal was the furthest away (because no part of this adventure could be easy, right?). I needed to stop and catch my breath halfway there because my backpack- weighed down with 2 cameras (including a large and heavy DSLR, my laptop, all of my chargers, film, snacks, a metal water bottle, a change of clothes and all of my travel documents) was slowing me down- smacking into my back, hard, with every bounding stride I took. I didn’t go on any runs leading up to my trip but I made a mental note in that moment that I needed to get my cardio back in order as soon as I got home. We sprinted the rest of the way to the gate right as they were boarding the final group, group 5. I got onto the plane sweaty, tired and on the verge of tears but I made it.

The worst was finally over...or so I thought.