Travelling Woes

So, as most of you know, recently I flew home for week and a half to see my family, friends, and get in some quality time with the Alberta snow and cold to remind myself why I moved to the coast in the first place. The plan was to fly in to Calgary and have my friend April pick me up at the airport. From there we'd head to Banff for 3 fabulous days of skiing (or snowboarding, in my case), and I'd catch a ride home with my family, who were also livin' it up in Banff that weekend. Then I'd spend a few days shopping for stuff I can't get here in town. Then the next weekend I'd head down to Nordegg for the Tri-ice to wield a few ice axes and practice my Godzilla/Crampon walk for the weekend. Then back to Edmonton for a Monday flight back home in the evening. Sounds fantastic, right? Well here's what happened.

The night before I was scheduled to leave, I was working an evening shift. Not so bad, since I should've been off at 11 pm, plenty of time to get home and sleep, and be at the airport at 6 am the next morning. Well, it was probably one of the worst nites I've ever worked. Three super-stat crossmatches, and it was really busy in ER. One guy had blown his hand completely off on a mining accident, and he was bleeding like a sieve. So they kept calling for more units on him. And it was busy everywhere else in the lab, too. And then they brought us a CSF. Yeah. So I stayed until 12:30, at which point I told Dave I really had to leave, since I had a 7 am flight the next day. Thankfully he understood and said he'd be fine. Dave's good that way.

So the next morning I get to the airport, and everything started off well. They didn't charge me extra for my snowboard bag (which I thought they would), and I didn't get any patting from the anal Campbell River Airport screening people. The flight to Vancouver was fine, and I got something to eat and a coffee in the Van airport. I'm sitting at the gate for my 10:30 flight, and at 10:35, they announce we'll be delayed about 15 min, because they have to change a tire on the plane. OK, so they change the tire and load us all on the plane about 45 min late (15 min delay my butt). After sitting at the gate in our seats for 30 min, the pilot comes on to say we'll be further delayed, they just need to fix some hydraulics in one of the engines, but only another 10 min delay. After another 30 min he comes back on and says the plane is unserviceable and the flight is now cancelled. But they'll put us all on the next flight to Calgary leaving from another gate at 1:30 pm. We all get off the plane and go get our tickets changed for the new flight. I did manage to get a hold of April so thankfully she wasn't sitting at the airport for me for the four hours that I was late. That particular flight took off another 20 min late. But finally I made it to Calgary, and finally Banff, where the snow was fantastic and I had way too much fun.

The ride home was fine, as was the rest of the week. To get to Nordegg, it turns out I had to take my sister's Cavalier, since no one else was willing to lend me theirs. I tried to get Beau to lend me the WRX, but for some reason he just kept saying no. Something about impressing the ladies. Anyways, Jana's car had been sitting unused since early October, so it was buried in about 2 1/2 feet of snow and ice. And everyone was pretty sure we'd have to jump it to get it started. But lo and behold, "Betsy" actually fired right up on the first try. Not bad, I thought, maybe it'll be all right after all. So I dug it out of the snowbank it was sitting in and drove it around for a couple days just to make sure it was OK. I got my Vanilla Latte on Friday afternoon, and away I went, planning on getting to Nordegg around 8 pm. I stopped for a burger in Drayton Valley and continued on my way. Halfway between Rocky Mountain House and my burger stop, the car really started pulling to the right. So I pulled over to see what the problem was. It was nearly dark and I couldn't see a thing, but thankfully my Mom's paranoia paid off and there was a flashlight in the emergency kit she'd bought for Jana to keep in her trunk. Sure enough, flat tire. 50 km from nowhere in the dark on a semi-deserted road. Super. So I rip apart Jana's trunk and start changing the tire. Apparently her hubcaps are held on with the nuts for the actual tire. I learned this after some cursing of the silly thing for not coming off. It's now pitch black and about 30 cars have passed me, without even slowing down, and not a soul stopping to ask me if I needed help. Chivalry is dead, my friends. But luckily, my mom didn't raise no fool, and I am capable of changing a tire. I get the ridiculous donut on the car and away I go again, after my delightful 1 hour delay, and whacking my head on Jana's fender at least once. Now I have less time to get to Nordegg to register for the icefest, and I can't go over 90 km/h because of the donut. I did make it in time, just barely, but I made it. Thank you, Mom, for your paranoia, 'cause without that flashlight I'd probably still be sitting there fumbling with that silly hubcap.

Oh, and to top off the night, when I got to the Goldeye Centre in Nordegg, I looked down at my hand and there was blood everywhere. I had apparently scraped my hand on the pavement and not noticed, and had been bleeding ever since. Somewhere along highway 22 there is a tiny chunk of my skin. The icefest was wicked, and on my way back through Rocky I stopped at the Canadian Tire to get a new tire for the car. Apparently a Sunday is a bad time to get a flat in Rocky Mountain House. The only place I could get a new tire was the Kal-Tire, and only after I called the guy they had on call and woke him up from a dead sleep to come change my tire at 2 in the afternoon. They charge and extra $125 to have the guy come in if he's on call. End result is I got the tire and made it back to Spruce Grove alive.

So Monday comes and I'm all packed for my 4 pm flight back home, when Westjet calls at 11:30 am to tell me my flight's been cancelled, and the next flight they can get me on is at 8 am the next morning. Why? Because apparently there was bad weather in the east and my plane was going to be too late for me to catch my connector in Calgary so I could get to Comox. I call Air Canada, but to get home that day would've cost me $600. So I call my mom to tell her she's stuck with me for another nite, my Dad to see if he's willing to get to work early the next morning to drop me off, Slacker to tell her there's no hurry to get me since I no longer need to get to the airport 'cause she was going to be giving me a ride, and Glen, who was supposed to be picking me up at the airport. Glen had to take time off work to get me in Comox, since I would be landing at noon. My flights the next day were uneventful, though I'm really starting to hate those 2 hour connector waits in the Calgary airport.

Overall, the trip was totally worth it, and I'd do it again, even with all the problems I had. But it just goes to show you what can go wrong when you plan a trip involving any kind of travel. Though it does make for a pretty good story.