toronto to columbia, with some problems in between

my mom has told me that i am a very lucky person. i tend to believe that; even more with air travel, where my lucky stars have rarely failed me.

therefore, today i shall consider the payoff for all the great flying-karma i have gotten before. (and even then, i can see at least 5 things which went WELL, and could have went far-far worse).

upon arrival to toronto, it turned out that due to bad weather in chicago our flight has been delayed by 1hr 45min (i.e. departing at 4:45, instead of 3). mind you, we had a connecting flight, at 4, from chicago to columbia (which is about an hour and a half of driving from tim’s parents’ place).

here is where it went nicely – we randomly ran into oleg’s sister, who was flying out to san fran via same gate and a later flight. i imagine she was fine, as she had a direct flight to sunny cali, where as it was the rained in chicago and snowed in denver that caused the bulk of problems for 1000s of passengers today. she watched our bags while we figured out what we want to eat – which allowed us to pick a sit in place. we brought our bags with, and had decent nourishment for insane prices (if its in the airport, it must be expensive), which is great as it paid off later.

upon inquiry towards the powers to be about what is the state of affairs with regards to our flights, the response was a death-bored-stare and “everything in chicago is delayed. your flight is delayed too.” [so buzz off, i imagine is what they would say if they could]. we took those words, despite tim’s strong instincts to the contrary, and boarded the plane.

upon boarding, it turned out all the overhead cabins are full, and our little carryon suitcases had to be checked in. SUCKS! i repacked work laptop into my bag, grabbed my jacket, and sent my suitcase on its merry way to columbia. upon settling in, they announced that we will spend 2 hours waiting on the tarmac for take off. we pulled away, went through a safety demonstration, and then spent about 1.5 hrs chatting cellphones, reading from laptops, or napping as we simply waited for chicago to clear up.

i am tempted to use upon too often.

arrival to chicago was sudden – the land appeared about 2 seconds before we landed, that’s how bad the visibility was. unfortunately, our flight to columbia was cancelled. completely. for the day. the machine suggested we “stand by” (i.e. hope that there will be 2 empty seats for us) for a 12:15pm flight next day. mind you, the time was around 7pm at this point. not a happy prospect!

we did some running around (i am sick and tired of the chicago airport – it has one really pretty transfer and everything else is just boring), and with james’ (tim’s dad) help figured out that going to raleigh/durham airport would work (except, it is a 3 hour drive for them to pick us up…). there was a flight departing at 8:15, we found the gate, and were overwhelemed by insane amounts of people who were having difficulties.

united has 4 hubs: denver, chicago, washington and someplace else that i can’t remember.

denver got shut down completely due to 2 feet of snow (now we solved the mystery of where is all the canadian snow!). chicago got shut down for about 4 hours (that we were waiting in toronto – apparently some flights were 7 hours delayed, such as the one that flew in from raleigh and was going to fly back at 1 – but instead was flying back at 8).

imagine a network, that is heavily based on 4 hubs. shut down 2 major hubs (chicago and denver both seemed to have the most routes from the map). imagine the shutdown spreading through the network.

yeah.

people were crying (well, one girl, who honestly seemed more annoying even though i did feel bad for her), and stressed out, and frustrated, and yet most managed to keep a good cheer. i was impressed by how well the workers at the united terminal were working – cheerful, kind, apologetic for the delay and yet dignified. i am honestly impressed that some people actually seem to care about their work. (the toronto workers of united weren’t nearly as impressive, as they mostly seemed to want to get rid of us).

we waited through yet another line up (remember, at this point we have crossed between 2 terminals about 3 times, that’s 3 instances of taking shoes off, taking out 2 laptops, putting each one in a seperate plastic box, putting everything through the xray, putting everything back together. i bet i can do all this in my sleep now!), and got to the excellent people at the check in counter for 4 flights, including raleigh one. they put us on a waiting list (5th and 6th), and said “be back here at 9”. the time was 8:15.

fast forward through some more running around and going through security to get our suitcases. no suck luck. i’ll spoil this ending: we still don’t have them, they should be delivered to sumter tomorrow… all of my highly condenced packing has gone to waste! at least i have both my laptops, and my cameras with me!

thus, very lightly packed, we bought a sandwich, some drinks (last time we ate was at 1, in toronto – no flights this short serve meals – and this was 8:30pm). and then a magical, miraculous moment…

our names were called over the speakers

i felt like i won the lottery. my name! called out! THAT MEANT THEY HAD SPACE FOR US.

cue awesome moment: we got exit row seats. and even though we both were aisle, there was no one next to me, so i got window. it was gorgeous. spacious. calm. heaven! that’s what business class must feel like. except without the stress of feeling like you are responsible for rescuing people.

i bought wired beforehand, and spent most of the calm flight reading it. what an excellent journal!

right now we’re in raleigh. there’s att web here for $8usd/24 hours, and tim’s dad is supposed to be here in about 30 minutes. i decided against the money waste.

positive things about today:

my mom gave us a ride to the subway, and was able to pick up the presents that maha forgot at the bar!

i was able to pack LIGHT despite having to take a camera case, 2 laptops and clothes to last through 5c-20c weather. apparently in vain as i dont have them here…

since our bags got checked and never returned the travel and running around was nice and easy – tim kindly took my camera bag, and so i only had my little handbag with the laptops. what an excellent purchase, thank you mom and maha for convincing me! so, it was nice and light – easy to bounce around all the security, stairs and people that we had to navigate.

the sandwich we got in ORD was tasty.

the salad i got in YYZ was super tasty.

the wired this month was super interesting

all the flights themselves, after take off went pleasantly and easily (and quickly)

the only annoyance of the day was a guy (i am firmly convinced, russian, ~30y.o.) who cut an entire line of about 50-60 people, 70% of whom were heading to chicago, like us, on the 3pm (this is at 1:30, toronto). as he cut the entire line, someone asked him where is he hurrying and he said “chicago 3pm” and to my gread pride canadians stood up and forced him to wait it out. he still ended up standing at the head of the line for the next 30 minutes, but the amount of scoffs, arguments and very loud jokes and comments was so worth it. after going through that line up, tim and i were looking where to get a snack, and saw him cutting another line – for food!

james and chelsea picking us up despite the distance.

aaand apparently they are here! YAAAY we are free from the airport hell!

remember kids, don’t FLY THROUGH CHICAGO!

PS: updates: our suitcases are lost. we filed a form of “delayed baggage”, that was supposed to be delivered today with the 12pm flight, but, alas, they are lost. i am SHOCKED. this is my shocked face: :|