Just returned from visiting family in BC... Sooke on Victoria Island to be exact...
It was a great little holiday... drove out from Banff after attending CanUX 2007(which is another story altogether)...
So it comes time to come back to Ottawa, but nothing can be simple....
The journey back was quite a drama...
Started off arriving at the Victoria airport at 1:00pm for a flight to Vancouver, to connect to Ottawa.... But as weather rolled in there was too much wind in the Georgia strait for planes to make the run to Vancouver and all flights were cancelled til at least 4:00pm... this would be too late to get anything, and these flights may be cancelled... So let's just get our own way to Vancouver...
Hop back in the van... Get to the ferry terminal at about 1:30 next one is at 3... Wait in the terminal for the ferry to arrive... get on the 3 o'clock ferry to Vancouver... Conveniently there is the option to get a bus on the ferry to go to the airport... lined up for the bus tickets on the ferry... many, many folks in line...
Had to walk off the ferry as there were too many for the airport bus (folks in same situation as us) that was on the ferry... another bus has been called to come and get us...
After waiting for the bus in the ferry terminal area for 20 minutes... got to the airport at about 20 after 5...
Had to figure out flight booking and seating (couldn't get two seats together) as the plane had been changed since initial arrangements at Victoria airport....
Waited for 10:30 flight to Toronto... Five hours in the airport.... good thing I could plug my laptop in and get some work done... Laura read and slept...
Finally got on the plane... convinced a guy to switch seats so we could sit together... oh look there's a tiny baby sitting in the seat directly behind us... thankfully she was a good flyer and only cried a bit on take-off and landing)... Laura slept.. well not really... and I read/watched the movie for the flight.... Is there a doctor on the plane.... someone collapsed in the aisle, needed medical attention...
Had to delay the landing in Toronto, as with the tailwind we got there before 6am, but they can't land before 6 or they get a $10K fine... circle around a couple of times and finally land.... Wait for the medics to come on the plane to get the collapsed lady off first... fifteen minutes later we can finally get off the plane... Laura's tired... I'm tired... hungry....
Here we are in YYZ airport... twenty minutes til boarding time for flight to Ottawa... quick grab a bite to eat and a drink... get to the gate...
Get on the plane... again the plane has changed since the seating assignments were made... whole rows aren't where they're supposed to be... so here we are in the middle of the plane with no seats.... Lets just take these... nobody's in 'em.. fine.. let's go....
Some dumbass has checked in... checked a bag... and didn't show at the gate.... gotta get their bag off the plane... can't have random bags flying around... Fifteen minutes later we're finally on our way....
Quick flight to Ottawa... basically get up to altitude.. then start heading back down... zip zip done.... not enough time to really think of sleeping...
Land in Ottawa... more snow... Look there's a plane at our gate.... it's ok take your time, we'll wait for you to finish... hang out on the apron for another 10-15 minutes... yeah our gates open... let's get off the plane... get our luggage and get home... sweet bed waiting....
Cool.. luggage comes up by the time we get to the carousel... amazing.. no waiting.... grab a cab and get home.... holey sh!t... look at the line-up for taxis... hey there's one of the folks from the bus line-up on the ferry... hey there's another...
Finally get a cab... and then we hit traffic... 9am... tuesday... traffic! Who'd a thunk it?!
Done.. home... enough!
so the original plan... Leave Sooke at 12:00pm to get 2:00pm flight from Victoria to Vancouver.... 3:35pm flight from Vancouver to Ottawa.... Arrive in Ottawa at 23:05pm (monday)... Home bed sleeping by midnight....
turned into....
Leave Sooke at 12:00pm... Airport... Ferry... Bus... Fly... Fly... Cab... Home at 9:45am (Tuesday) with little (Laura) to no (me) sleep in between... finally get 2 hours of sleep at 10:00am before I have to take the car in to get winter tires put on.... I LOVE WINTER!
Tone's of fun....
cheers
s!
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1 comment:
Hey, just a thought, maybe if you would have called your brother (the family that didn't get a visit) in Vancouver, he could have arranged it so you wouldn't have had to "enjoy" your departure so much.
Consider it for next time. I live twenty minutes from YVR
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