The Challenges of International Travel Pt. I

Travel is always interesting.

Last October, I was going from Montreal to Toronto to Vancouver to Seattle. Except there was a tragic school shooting in Montreal at the exact time that I boarded the plane. Because there was a period of time when they thought it was a terrorist attack with a bunch of cops dead they shut down the airport just as we were taxiing to takeoff.

So we sat on the tarmac for 150 minutes until the cops shot the idiot who was shooting up Dawson College. Which would have been OK, except they had no food nor beverages the passengers on-board. After about an hour they started playing a movie, which was very, very crappy, but into which we all became engrossed. Then they stopped playing it just before the conclusion of the film, just when we landed into Toronto.

In Toronto, I was told to run to the other terminal where I was assured the other flight was being held (they had told us the delay in Montreal was due to inclimate weather in Toronto (when we landed it ws about as perfect a day as one could imagine), which meant they were not responsible for refunds). I ran like a madman, and whn I arrived at the gate the woman looked at me like I was nuts when I asked where the flight was - it had left :10 previously.

I made it to late at night Vancouver and the airport hotels were full (I was told again by Air Canada that they were not); I ended up staying in a hotel at a casino. I don't gamble.

Of course, Air Canada lost my luggage in the process and there's no better way to show up to a business meeting than in jeans and a t0-shirt that one has been sweating in for hours. Thanks to Nordstrum, my favourite store in the world, that wasn't an issue when I arrived in Seattle a day late.

Speaking of lost luggage, see part two!