An Eventful Trip: Traveling

I got back from my trip to British Columbia to see my family just this past Saturday, and took a day to relax before writing this account. I am sure that this will take several entries, too, so as not to end up with a giant posting that will scare any readers away.

It didn't begin well. My plane leaving Montréal was late, so the connection in Toronto was very short — 15 minutes to be exact. I knew that there would be problems because of that, and my travelling mood was not helped by the 'helpfulness' of the airline staff. Knowing that my connection would be closer than it ought to have been, I asked even before landing if they could find out what gate my next flight would leave from. The 'helpful' response? "Look at the screen when you get into the terminal." I should have known that the subsequent problems were coming.

I had a rather lovely visit with my friend Colin in the Calgary airport, and dutifully delivered his coveted pepperoni (an amusing story on its own, but that will have to wait for another time).

Back to my next flight, to Kamloops, B.C. Before we got on the plane, they announced that there was a possibility that our flight would not land in Kamloops because of weather, and that we would be forced to return to Calgary. (Aaargh! This is why I haven't flown to B.C. in the winter for years!) Luckily, that was not the case, and we landed as we were supposed to.

My luggage, however, did not arrive. Reporting the missing luggage was the easy part, and, unlike experiences from the past, I got a certain amount of reassurance from the airline's having a web site to follow the tracing of my lost bag. (This proved to be a diversionary tactic, as they really didn't update the site!)

Two days later, I got a call at my sister's house in Kamloops to say that my bag had been found. The call was from Winnipeg (notice how that wasn't a part of my itinerary!), and the person told me that he was suspicious, as it was tagged to go to Thunder Bay next. Needless to say, that one helpful person saw to it that my bag was sent where it should be. It arrived on the morning of my third day without luggage and then the airport people took several hours to arrange delivery, almost 3 days after my own arrival.

The trip back was less eventful, and my bag and the box I also checked arrived on the same flight as I did.

I believe I might return to my previous practice of travelling there only in the summer months.