The trip home
I'm not sure why it is, but I seem to be able to take simple trips and turn them into bigger ordeals than they would need to be. I have flown all over the globe, in and out of airports all over the place, you would think that a flight from Seattle to Toronto would be a walk in the park. Well of course this isn't how it went... As it turned out, packing everything I had into 2 suitcases resulted in both bags being at max capacity ~ even with the overweight allowance... =( That said, aside from LAN, Air Canada does have one of the lower charges for overweight bags, so I was only to happy to part with a few bills if that meant that my bags and all of their contents were going to make it back to Toronto.
I get into the airport, find my gate and settle in for what should be an uneventful journey. I am to arrive into Vancouver, 90 minute connection to a domestic flight ~ this should not be a problem. I get off the plane in Vancouver and yes, in west coast fashion, there is rain in Vancouver. I get my bags, ask the woman if there is a separate area to pass customs for connecting flights and am told I need to go to the Customs Hall. Of course as we get in, so have flights from Hong Kong, Bangkok, London and a few other international destinations, and the lines are not in my favour. After standing in line for 30 minutes and noticing that it is now 1:25 and my flight is at 2pm, I advise the woman I have a 2pm connection and she tells me I am in the wrong line, and I didn't read the signs that said to go to the 'Connection' line. Yeah, ok, whatever. There was no sign from the satellite gates where the prop planes come in... There was however another couple on the flight with me from Seattle who were also on the flight to Toronto. I mentioned that she might want to fetch them as we were now encroaching on the 30 minute mark. We managed to fly through the shorter customs line, gather our baggage, however with all the construction for the Olympics, it was not clear where we were to dump our bags for the connecting flight. What also was a pain in the @ss was that we had to exit the secure area to traverse the airport to the domestic side for our connection. Yes that is right ~ this means with under 30 minutes, we needed to pass security AGAIN. My newly acquired friends didn't know where they were going so we played follow the leader through the airport. Arriving at the domestic side, I found the Gate B15 ~ which is wierd cause when going to Toronto we are usually out of C41 or C43. Yes, I have flown it often enough to know... So we get through security up to gate B15 ~ but this flight is going to Calgary. So with 15 minutes to 2, I ask and we are in fact at gate C50. BUGGER, and we haul butt down to the other side of the domestic terminal. I haven't run for a flight like this in a LONG time. So once I get on the plane and settled in, I'm please to hear that with the strong tailwind, we will get in early. I think that listening to these predictions is sometimes like listening to the weatherman. They only disappoint you when they are wrong and despite promised that we would be at the gate 15 minutes early, it was in fact 28 minutes late... Go figure. Although I guess this wasn't the end of the world as my ride to the 'Pete' got a bit lost on his way to the airport... at least he didn't need to wait long.
I get into the airport, find my gate and settle in for what should be an uneventful journey. I am to arrive into Vancouver, 90 minute connection to a domestic flight ~ this should not be a problem. I get off the plane in Vancouver and yes, in west coast fashion, there is rain in Vancouver. I get my bags, ask the woman if there is a separate area to pass customs for connecting flights and am told I need to go to the Customs Hall. Of course as we get in, so have flights from Hong Kong, Bangkok, London and a few other international destinations, and the lines are not in my favour. After standing in line for 30 minutes and noticing that it is now 1:25 and my flight is at 2pm, I advise the woman I have a 2pm connection and she tells me I am in the wrong line, and I didn't read the signs that said to go to the 'Connection' line. Yeah, ok, whatever. There was no sign from the satellite gates where the prop planes come in... There was however another couple on the flight with me from Seattle who were also on the flight to Toronto. I mentioned that she might want to fetch them as we were now encroaching on the 30 minute mark. We managed to fly through the shorter customs line, gather our baggage, however with all the construction for the Olympics, it was not clear where we were to dump our bags for the connecting flight. What also was a pain in the @ss was that we had to exit the secure area to traverse the airport to the domestic side for our connection. Yes that is right ~ this means with under 30 minutes, we needed to pass security AGAIN. My newly acquired friends didn't know where they were going so we played follow the leader through the airport. Arriving at the domestic side, I found the Gate B15 ~ which is wierd cause when going to Toronto we are usually out of C41 or C43. Yes, I have flown it often enough to know... So we get through security up to gate B15 ~ but this flight is going to Calgary. So with 15 minutes to 2, I ask and we are in fact at gate C50. BUGGER, and we haul butt down to the other side of the domestic terminal. I haven't run for a flight like this in a LONG time. So once I get on the plane and settled in, I'm please to hear that with the strong tailwind, we will get in early. I think that listening to these predictions is sometimes like listening to the weatherman. They only disappoint you when they are wrong and despite promised that we would be at the gate 15 minutes early, it was in fact 28 minutes late... Go figure. Although I guess this wasn't the end of the world as my ride to the 'Pete' got a bit lost on his way to the airport... at least he didn't need to wait long.
posted by Carrie @ 6:00 AM
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