I have travelled a considerable amount in my young life, for work, for pleasure and really just for the Hell of it. I must say overall I've been pretty darn lucky when I've travelled. Sure, I've had alot of "adventures" and "experiences" that were more stressful than they should have been but all in all, by comparison to some, I've been blessed with good travel karma. UNTIL NOW.
The red flag should have been raised when the flight out of Sudbury was running late but it's December, delays are pretty much a regular thing so I didn't think too much about it. Besides, once on the plane it was all good. We arrived at Pearson with plenty of time to get through Customs (a new system that is now automated in 3 steps yet you still need to go through a border agent in Step 3 so I don't understand why they automated the first part because if anything it takes MORE time now than it did before...) but were cutting it close by the time we got through and made it to our gate in the OLD part of terminal 1 in the middle of nowhere (7 min walk from civilisation anyone)? We finally make it all the way out there only to find out that our 12:50pm flight has been delayed until 15:00. Grrrreat! Especially considering our connection in Newark was at 15:30. Oh well, what can you do but kill time with exploring the terminal and watching Breaking Bad on Netflix? Just before the 15:00 flight I got myself a sandwich because I figured I probably wouldn't get much to eat until California because the connection in Newark could be tight with all the messed up flights. Of course that flight was delayed until 16:45 and so Kyle, Dad, Moo and I hit the Molson Pub for some beer and hockey. Kyle of course lucks out and gets this wicked burger while Dad and I are pissed cause we choked down sammies thinking we would have been on the plane by now. FAIL! Oh well, we just had more beer and tried to figure out what team VIT was.
We finally get on the plane and make it to Newark where we find out we need to go to a different Concourse to catch our flight to San Francisco - a flight I might add - that we have NO IDEA at what time it leaves at. So we get on the shuttle and scurry over and arrive befuddled not knowing where to go or who to talk to because our original flight left over 3 hours ago. A few minutes of trying to find Customer Service or something and Dad goes to a gate desk and asks. The lady looks us up, looks up at us with slight panic in her eyes and is like you're on the 7 pm flight! (And in case you're wondering, it was after 6:30pm at this point). So she hands us our papers back and whistles down a go-cart thingy and tells him to get us to our gate STAT! So here we are racing through Newark airport, dodging holiday travelers left, right and centre with our driver yelling "beep! Beep!" Like the roadrunner! We get to the gate breathless like that scene in Home Alone 2 and we don't even have current boarding passes so the guy has to look us up as well and is rushing to get our stuff printed and throw us on this plane. Of course because this isn't our original flight, our seats are all over the plane. Mom and Dad lucked out and got 2 seats at the front with no one in front of them while Kyle and I got separated and sandwiched in a "middle seat". 6 hours later of no moving, no leg room because my carry-on was under the seat in front of me and no food, because they don't serve a meal on that flight and you can't get me off that plane fast enough. We meet in the terminal and Kyle says he highly doubts our bags will have made it because we barely made the connection. Good thing I packed necessities in my carry-on! Dad is complaining of a sharp pain in his temple and left eye after landing. It's all bloodshot... I figure it's a pressure thing?
Anyways, we truck along, exhausted and now cranky to baggage claim (in case) and I send Dad to go get the rental car saying we'll meet him up there but will see if the bags come out first. We wait a while and then I go to the counter and she informs us the bags will be on the plane that lands at 12:30am but we can get them delivered to the hotel in the morning. TERRIFIC! We set that up and head for Rental Car Centre but stop at Subway for some subs on first. We haven't eaten since early afternoon at Pearson. We finally get to Rentals and Dad is NOWHERE to be found. WTF?! We search all over and nothing... Now because of his eye thing getting off the plane, Mom is now starting to have an anxiety attack. Kyle goes back to baggage to see if maybe he went back... he comes back alone. Now I'm getting annoyed and a little worried too. So I go talk to the counter person to ask if he checked in for the car. She checks and says NO! HOLY SHIT now I've lost my appetite and am really starting to freak out on the inside. It's been well over an hour, he can't get lost, he never checked in, where the F is he? So we head to the medical clinic but it's closed so we head back to bagage hoping to find someone to ask how to find a missing person in the airport. Of course it's now well after midnight California time and everything is closed so I'm walking around bagage and Kyle searches the bathrooms to no avail and I'm starting to LOSE IT when all of a sudden Dad walks through the doors from the parking lot. I yell out a THANK GOD ! Almost in tears at this point and he's all pissed off because we weren't outside waiting for him and he had circled the airport like 5 times already because finally parking and coming in. WHAT?! I told him we'd meet him up there and he said he'd come pick us up? UGH! Miscommunication at it's finest. That aside the real question is why did the counter girl tell me he hadn't picked up the car yet? Had she said yes, we would have known right away where he was and ran back but because she said NO and because of his complaint about this burst in his head and bloodshot eye, we thought something really bad had happened. Not a fun feeling whatsoever (and I'm not one prone to panic).
It all worked out and by the time we left I'm sure our bags had arrived but we were so tired and just needed to sleep...it was nearly a 24 hour day by the time we got to bed. If this was any indication of how the rest of the trip would be, Moo and I are in for one heck of a LONG 2 weeks... wake me up when it's all over!
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