Where to start..., I the most logical place would be at the beginning. I started the trip by driving from my home to my friends place in Richmond Hill, (Toronto) so they could take me to the airport the following morning. The morning arrived quickly due to the fact that I was overly excited about the trip. I had to repack my suit cases to try to get them to meet the weight requirements for the airlines. One was a little too heavy but the other was a little lighter. It was just that they were a matching pair and one bag was smaller than the other. There will be more on this later. With this done I was able to spend a couple minutes in my friends hot tub to try to relax before trying to sleep.
The next morning came very fast. The last look at the alarm clock was around 2 am. I awoke just before the alarm went off at 5 am. I was wide awake. I put the coffee on and got into the shower. Before I knew it we were on the road to Pearson airport. I had no trouble getting through security and had both my bags checked in. All I had with me was my "satchel" with my netbook, camera, translator,... etc. I got to the gate and had some time to sit and use the computer.
The airline personel que up the microphone and say the flight is on hold due to the weather conditions at JFK airport. My flight route was from Toronto Pearson airport to New York JFK airport to Shanghai airport to GuangZhou airport. I look at my watch,...... it is about 9:30 am. I feel the first signs of anxiety. I stop what I am doing on the computer and go to weather.com and have a look see....... snow. The whole radar screen was snow. The forcast was for rain snow mix and a rising temperature all day so the snow was going to change to rain. Doesn't sound that bad... The P.A ques up again and says that they have closed JFK due to the weather and my flight is cancelled. I get called to the ticket counter....
I get put on a flight that will get to Newark airport and gives me about 90 minutes to get to my plane. I think to myself, an airport several miles away,... it is snowing,... I have to get my checked bags, get out of the airport and get the shuttle bus or a cab, get to JFK, check in my bags again, get my boarding pass, get through security again, and then find the gate. I see trouble with this plan. The average trip time between the two airports in average conditions is supposed to be about 50 minutes. (My friend checked this out for me on her computer at home while I was trying to find out if there was another option) I was thinking to myself, it is snowing so this cab ride between the airports is going to be taking longer than the average time. I feel a missed flight coming up. The anxiety starts to grow...
As I was sitting there thinking about this I said to myself I need to call the airline directly. I take out my cell phone and call. I tell the woman that answers that I see a problem with their plan to get me to my flight. I told her I need a flight directly to JFK and I need time between the two flights. She asks me to hold while she checks to see what can be done.
After about 7 or 8 minutes holding she comes back on and proceeds to tell me that there is one option and it is with another airline and that they can switch me to it if I want. I will get to JFK with about 1 hour and 55 minutes between flights. I get my flight switched and I have 30 minutes to get to the gate and board the plane. The gate was not too far so I was relieved to get there, get on the plane and sit and relax before a question arises in my mind, if JFK is closed how is this flight getting in? I start to expect to here the captain come on and say the flight is delayed.... After about 10 minutes the captain does come on and say hello and that we will be leaving about 5 minutes late but will make the time up on route. The weather at JFK,... heavy snow. That question is still there in my mind.
It was a rather uneventful flight, aside from a little bit of turbulance, and as we get closer to the airport I keep thinking to myself, if the airport is closed how are we going to land? I expect to P.A. to que up again and tell us we have been diverted to Newark and we will be landing there instead. The captain does come on and tell us that we will be landing at JFK in about 20 minutes, the weather at the airport,... snow. As I look out the window all I can see is the clouds. We have started our descent.
As we finally made our way out of the clouds I get my first look at the ground, it doesn't look that bad. We come in over the water and I see the runway, I expect to see it snow covered or at least snowy in some spots but there is nothing much on it. My first thoughts were, "What the hell are they talking about!"
I have made it and I have some time to spare. I grab a beer at the bar across from the gate of my next flight ans breathe a sigh of relief. The rest of the trip was not as exciting, until I walk to the baggage claim area.... there she was standing. Did I say standing?, she was bouncing up and down with a great big smile on her face! I took out my camera and snapped a quick photo. It is not the best picture I have taken but it was my first sight of her in the flesh. I go to get my bags....
After waiting almost 20 minutes it sinks in that my bags are not going to apear from the depths of the netheregions of the baggage department of China Eastern airlines. I head off to the baggage counter to see what is up. I fill in a complaint and let the airline deal with finding out where my bags are and head for the exit where this wonderful woman has been waiting patiently to get her arms around me! She does drive and she does have her own car, but she has taken a taxi because "she wanted to hold onto me and would not have her hands on the steering and that would not be so good." She would not let go of me the whole ride to the hotel! I did not care that my bags were lost. My only thought was of this woman. I had not felt this much happiness in a very long time.
To bee continued....
Dave C
