The Long Goodbye

PChad left yesterday morning for the Shore 2 Shore with a Roar motorcycle ride.  Thankfully he had decided not to leave too early since he wanted to stop in Moncton & buy some waterproof gloves.  He had been gone for about an hour when I happened to look in the place where we keep our passports.  I knew he was planning on driving through Maine, so he’d need his passport, but I wondered if he had remembered to take it.  I looked, & there it was.

 

I tried to text & call his cell phone, figuring he might stop & check his phone before he crossed the bridge, or maybe he even remembered about his passport & would take his phone out to call me.  After about 10 minutes I knew I either had to follow him, or he’d have to just stay in Canada…

 

I quickly told the kids to get their shoes & coats on because we had to bring Daddy his passport.  Of course I also had to stop for gas!  We tried calling PChad’s phone every 10 minutes, hoping I’d get ahold of him before I crossed the bridge & had to pay the $45 toll.  But we had no such luck.  I got to the bridge, & figured I might as well keep going & keep trying his phone.  Chancery had to go to the washroom, so we had another small detour, then soldiered on!

 

We started calling his phone every 5 minutes instead, knowing that we were probably just going to end up making his phone go dead.  Then I got the bright idea to call the motorcycle shop where I knew he was planning on stopping.  I described PChad to the sales guy, & PChad happened to still be there!  PChad was a little confused when the sales guy told him, “You can run, but you can’t hide!  Your wife’s on the phone for you!”  At that point I was only about 45 minutes behind him, so PChad decided to wait for me at the nearby Tim Horton’s.  So, the kids & I got to say goodbye to PChad twice!

 

I had left the Henry & Vincent (our Taiwanese home-stay students) at home since I can’t take them out of province without prior notification, so now that I knew I was going all the way to Moncton & back, I called Miss Geesje to see if she could go pick the boys up & take them to the farm.  Thankfully she agreed & it all worked out!  Then since I knew the older boys were taken care of, & I had driven the 2 hours & spent the bridge toll to get to Moncton, I figured I should make the most of it, so we stopped at Costco & Value Village before heading back home!  The roads were not the nicest, with lots of rain, & mist the whole way, so I also treated myself to a Starbucks for all my troubles!

 

At bedtime we always ask the kids to say their 3 favourite parts of the day & then we pray about them.  Asher said, “Lunch at Costco, right now, & definitely not driving to Moncton!”

Flying Lessons

A few years ago, I wrote about taking a trip to my Grandmother's funeral as being the worst trip I'd ever experienced.  Well, yesterday certainly topped it.

The kids & I are visiting my family for a few weeks, so we flew out yesterday morning at 6:30am to Toronto.  When we arrived in Toronto, we had to go pick up our luggage in order to take it through customs to enter The States.  When we got to the luggage carousel, we had a short wait for our suitcases, but Chancery's carseat didn't appear to be forthcoming.  So I went to ask a customer service rep. if it might be in a different spot since it's a large, bulky item.  They looked for it, looked on the computer for it & discovered that somewhere between Charlottetown & Toronto it was lost, but they asked me to wait a few more minutes just in case it showed up, since you are supposed to take all of your luggage through customs yourself.  At this point I tried to call PChad to tell him the humourous tale that the carseat was missing, but alas, I couldn't reach him on the phone.  My next flight was leaving in 1 hour, so I told the baggage people that I had to go.  The told me to look for it once I got to my destination & if it didn't show up, to put in a "lost luggage" form.

So, the kids & I headed off to clear customs.  Of course my passport was "randomly flagged" for further questioning.  We were ushered off to a small waiting area while the border guards thought up a bunch of questions about my parents, & finally they came to ask me what I did for a living & if I'd been to the Middle East.  As a final comment, the officer left me with this gem, "Just so you know, your flight started boarding 1/2 a hour ago.  I'm pretty sure you've missed your flight.  Sorry about that."  Though he didn't seem to be the least bit sorry.

The kids & I managed to get thought security & to our gate with 2 minutes to spare before the flight was supposed to leave, but the door was closed, the plane was gone, & there was no one at the counter.  So off to customer service we went.  I was told there was another direct flight at 5pm, but seeing as it was only 9:30 in the morning, I didn't feel like waiting that long if I didn't have to.

The other option was to fly to Vancouver, & then to Seattle, arriving at 3 pm.  I asked if I'd have to go through US customs again to do that & was informed that I would, & in addition, I'd also have to go though Canada customs in Toronto.  I decided to take my chances & got the new tickets.  The woman ushered the kids & I off to the secure area where incoming  international flights' arrivals go, directed us to the elevators since we had the stroller, & then she left.  We walked down the short hallway to discover there were doors leading into the elevators, which were magnetically sealed, so we turned around to take the escalator...  To discover there were more doors which were also locked.  We then headed back to the door we had come in, to find that it was locked as well.  So we were trapped in a glass cage.  I may, or may not have lost it then.  A kind gentleman saw my plight & went to find someone to let us out.

We made it back though Canada customs uneventfully, retrieved our luggage once again, got new luggage tags, put them on another belt & were off to find our gate for our flight to Vancouver.  Much to Asher's delight, I asked a golf cart driver for a lift, so we sped off to the gate, a kind traveller let us cut in line ahead of her, we boarded the plane & were off!  The flight was relatively uneventful, we watched TV, changed a few diapers, threatened eachother not to take off seatbelts anymore, you know, the usual.

In Vancouver, we found a pay phone to let my parents know why we they couldn't find us at the airport (we were 2 hours later than they anticipated at that point), but that we should be there by 3 (instead of 11:30).  We then headed off to security, were held up due to a forgotten Swiss Army knife, & had to fill out paperwork for that (did I mention we had a hour until our flight left?).  We made it through, & were off to customs.  Once again, we were pulled aside for more questioning (doesn't seem like such a random thing anymore, does it?) due to the fact that Asher & I have US passports & Chancery has a Canadian one.  I think they also had an issue with the fact that we were flying into The States, but driving back, so we had no documentation proving that we planned on leaving (trust me, at this point, I was ready to tell them I didn't even want to enter The States anymore).

Once again, we were told that we had most likely missed our flight, but there was another one leaving at 4 (an hour & 1/2 later).  AS I passed the departures board, I noticed the 4pm flight was cancelled (of course!), and the next one was at 6pm (at least Chancery would have a chance to get out of the stroller & Asher might have a chance to get to the washroom).  But we got to the gate & much to my surprise, the 2:30 flight we were scheduled on, was delayed 45 minutes!  Finally, something had gone my way!  We had 10 minutes before boarding time, so Chancery was released from her confines & given a chance to be bullied by Asher for a few moments.  Asher took the opportunity to knock a gentleman's suitcase over onto another child who happened to be nearby, spilling the man's documents everywhere.

We had a short flight from Vancouver to Seattle, finally we made it!  I went to file a "lost luggage" form to discover that the airline's policy is to give a new carseat instead of loaning you one (I was glad at that point, that I had decided to take the older carseat for Chancery, which was already a little broken from the last time we had flown with it).  If my old one does get found at some point, they'll send it back to me too, not that I really care about it at this point.

My parents asked if we still wanted to go out for a meal as originally planned.  I told them that we really, really needed to since the kids & I had gotten up at 1am local time & had been travelling ever since (it was now 5pm), and all we had eaten was raisins, dry Corn Pops, & fish crackers all day.  We had literally run through airports all day & not had a chance to stop for anything.  I was really glad I had packed such large quantities, because we were nearly out of food.  Also, the kids had not slept a wink all day, but they did remarkably well considering the circumstances.  But gone are the days of leisurely reading a book on a flight.

I was just really glad that my day ended with a trip to Taco Bell, complete with Dr Pepper in the soda fountain.  Don't you wish you could travel like me?

The Worst Trip in History

We have finally returned home after the worst travelling experience I have ever had. We went to Montana for my Grandma's funeral. The actual time we had there was wonderful. We enjoyed spending time with my family, and all 11 of my cousins were together for the first time in 17 years.

We left on Tuesday afternoon last week to go to a hotel in Detroit as our flight out was early on Wednesday morning. We got to the border in Port Huron only to have Chad's Passport set the alarm off. An officer took our passports away and we were escorted to a parking spot. An officer held a stick in front of the car and instructed us to drive right beside us. Apparently Chad was a flight risk! He had inadvertently turned in his Student Visa when we moved to Canada for the internship, but he should have kept it b/c he's still technically a student. We spent an hour explaining to an immigration officer what happened, and he finally let us go.

We went to the hotel that I had reserved on-line, to discover that it was a MOTEL of the lowest form. We decided to continue to the hotel we had previously stayed at. When I called to cancel the first hotel I was told that we should come see the rooms for ourselves (I told the lady her hotel looked dumpy so we wouldn't be staying there). I said we had, and she then told me that I'd be charged for the room anyway...... chalk it up to experience. We'll be sticking with our old favourite from now on. I paid for 2 nights, one before our trip and one after our trip.... I don't suggest this for the future (more on this later).

Wednesday morning we arrived at the airport bright and early for our 8am flight to be delayed, then cancelled for mechanical problems. The next flight they could put us on would be the next morning, could we go home? Chad said "not a chance, I'm not crossing the border again!" We asked about other airlines and got put on a Delta flight at 4pm. The check-in lady comforted us by informing us that Delta was in the "nicer, newer terminal fully equipped with children's play areas." We got our luggage off the carousel and headed to the "nicer, newer" terminal. We were told we had to wait to check-in as you are not allowed to check-in more than 6 hours before your flight. Luckily at this point we only had about 1/2 an hour to wait.

When we finally got rid of our luggage again, we headed to security. Off came the coats, shoes, out came the liquids, laptop, fold the stroller.... it's much worse when you travel with a little one! The security officer informed us we had been flagged for extra screening. Sure, why not?

Twenty minutes later we were on our way to find a child's playplace. Chad & I had visions of mall-style play areas like we've seen in the Seattle airport..... Little did we know. We passed 2 play areas before we discovered their definition was quite different from ours. The play area consisted of a Little Tykes House. Asher enjoyed it for awhile. Not 8 hours worth, but it was better than no play area at all.

After many hours of bliss, we were boarded onto our plane and off we went. Asher must have decided it was night time b/c he fell into a deep sleep that lasted most of our 4 hour flight. Our layover was surprisingly uneventful. We arrived in Montana and awaited the arrival of our 3 suitcases & carseat. We received 2 suitcases (one with a large hole where the wheel used to be). After discussing with the ticketing agent that the hole was not there to begin with we were informed that wheels are not covered by the airlines. Chad found our other suitcase, but the carseat remained unaccounted for. We were sent to our hotel with promises of a carseat exchange by the next day.

We had a great time. My brothers were there, we had an adjoining room with my parents, so we could send Asher in to visit them, the only complaint was the pool was a bit chilly.....

Our flight out of Montana was at 5pm and check-out was 1pm. I asked the desk clerk if we could have a late check-out of 3:30 so Asher could get a nap, and she said that would be fine and put a note to that effect in the computer. We put Asher down, decided we should sleep too since we would be getting back late.
-1:10, the maid calls, "Will you be staying or leaving?" I told her we were having a late check-out of 3:30. "OK"
-1:20, "Hi, this is the front desk, your check-out time is 1pm." I told her the situation only to be informed that since check-in was at 3 we could stay no longer than 3 or we'd be charged for another night. "Fine, we'll leave at 3."
Asher of course woke through all these calls, so the nap was not as we had planned.

We went to the airport to await our outbound flight. 5 minutes before departure, no plane. The board finally switches to let us know we'll be 1 hour late.... 1 hour later, same thing happens again. At this point I know we're going to miss our connection so I go the the check-in to see if I can rebook. Apparently the flight we were on at 7pm was the last one for the night and the next one they could get us on is 10am. The lady tries to convince me to go back to the hotel and catch a 6am flight from Montana to get the 10am connection. We decided we'd like to get as far as we could in order not to get stuck in the tiny airport in Montana.

We missed our connection, and stood for an hour to get rebooked on the 10am flight. Since it was a weather delay the airline wouldn't put us up, but gave us a hotel discount voucher. We headed for the hotel shuttle area to be informed that our hotel's shuttle came every 1/2 hour, and we had just missed one. When it finally came it was quite full already, not too sure where all the people on the bus came from, but they had to turn people away. This is the point where I was very glad to have Asher along, as there were protestations that the baby had to be allowed on the bus, so we got squished on.

We got to our gorgeous hotel around 11pm, and headed straight to bed, but where was the crib we ordered? 10 minutes later I called for it to be informed that they hadn't received an order for one. It finally came about 10 minutes after that.

Tuesday morning we awoke bright and early to catch the 7am shuttle from the hotel to the airport. We almost caught the 6:30 shuttle, but we were too slow in putting our coats on. The 7am arrived on time loaded with people. They had room for 5 passengers, and were taking crew members first. There were 5 crew members, we didn't have a chance. There was a guy who apparently worked for the airline that kicked up a fuss and said this thing happens every morning and he had to get to work same as everyone else, he pushed his way onto the bus and there was a bit of a scuffle, but that was all they took.

One man got so irate he yelled at the manager, the guest services guy, and anyone else who looked like they worked for the hotel. The manager wanted to call a cab and have the hotel pay for it just to get rid of the guy. That would have been a pretty costly cab fare though, since we were about 1/2 an hour from the airport. The irate guy said there were 2 more busses out there and he was going to take the keys and drive them himself! He signed up for the 7 o'clock bus, and what's the point of a list if you don't honour it?

Around 7:20 another bus showed up and the manager rushed out to tell the driver to take us all aboard and get going. The driver protested that he was the 7:30 bus, but the manager said if he didn't go he'd have a riot situation on his hands, so off we finally went!

We got to the airport to discover that the lines for security were quite long, so we decided to eat at the Burger King before we got in line. I was quite chuffed to discover that a restaurant had the foresight to have a kid's meal on the breakfast menu! I always think that would be really smart, well, BK is really smart! :)

After eating, we got in the security line and in about 10 minutes we were through! The security personnel were really efficient (although they did dump out Asher's water. Apparently juice is allowed, but not water for kids). We boarded out flight on time, and we were on our way home!

We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm, and since we had missed our flight, they had changed our reservation to the next night. Since it was early afternoon we didn't really need the room anymore, so I asked if I could have my money back. "No, we can't refund." I asked if I could get a voucher for the credit. "No, unfortunately not." What he could do is change my reservation for a few months out, so I can call to change it and stay there again, but if I don't use it w/in 6 months I lose my money. If you're flying out of Detroit in the next few months, let me know, and you can have my room.

We were supposed to be back home in Strathroy by 5pm for the Youth Group's Pancake dinner, but it was over at 7, and that's about when we got home. Asher went to bed shortly thereafter, and slept 'til 8:30!

We are home, and happy to be here. Chad says no more air travel in the States..... we'll see how far that gets us!

Passports

In the middle of April Chad noticed that his passport was about to expire. We were going to be moving to Canada at the end of May, so we thought we'd better get a move on and send it off for renewal. We knew the timing would probably be close as it ususally takes about 6 weeks for anything like that.... little did we know......

Here we are in the middle of July, and still no passport. There is a number I can call for an update to assess the progress of the passport. Normally when I call, I get a busy signal. A few times I do actually get through to the voice prompts, and am then told that the agents are all busy, and the queue is full. TWICE I have actually gotten further than that, to be told "there are more than 25 persons ahead of you." At this point I am so glad to have gotten through that I stay on the line for the next 45 minutes to an hour, to finally be greeted by a customer service rep who tells me "we're about 10 weeks behind the send off date, so if you sent it in April 15th, we wouldn't even have it open until July." So, here we are, in the middle of July, and there are currently 24 persons ahead of me in the queue.

My issue isn't actually that I wonder where the passport is (although that's a thought), we put our old address to send it to b/c we foolishly thought we'd get it back in time. So I just want to change the address of where they send it when they finally get through with it. An agent told me I have to keep calling until they are on the day they received it, and then get an application number from them. Then I have to FAX the new address to them. So, when I finally get through to them, and they are on the right day, I can't just tell them the new address, NO, I have to send a FAX with the info on it so someone can loose that and it won't get fixed and they'll send the passport to the old address anyways. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother......

In case you are wondering there are now 21 persons ahead of me in the queue.