So, Joe posted this on Facebook, but for those of you interested who do not have facebook, I figured that I would post it here too. What he doesn’t matter, and makes it even more funny is that on his original flight, they were going to take his surfboard free. When he got switched to Air Canada, they charged him $100 for an oversized item, and then lost it! Good old Air Canada, at least they are predictable!
Oh yes, the other funny thing is that Joe just got a new tatoo (yes, Mum and Dad, he really did…). It says “Life is Happiness”. I see a subtile humor there…
Today, Joe is swiming with the fishes. Well, actually, the plan was to go swimming with sharks with his “traveling family”. Of course with his clothes M.I.A. I dread to think what he is wearing!
Well, here is Joe’s post:
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Hey Kids,
So the flight from Calgary to Hawaii was uneventful, and now I’m safe and sound with my travelling family. Wait, the flight wasn’t uneventful…it sucked. It went a little like this.
I woke up at 330 am calgary time, so that i could catch my cab to the airport at 4. but if it’s 340, then why is there someone ringing the doorbell? dash to the door in the dark, fall partway down the stairs, greet my cab driver in my underwear. The guy says “let me guess…your alarm didn’t go off!”…ummm. wrong mr driver. my alarm went off…you just got here 20 minutes early. when you’re leaving your house at noon, twenty minutes isn’t much, but at 4 am, it’s like….i don’t know…more of the sleeping time. whatever.
So we head to the airport. Somehow, I managed to book the chatty 4 am driver that wants to tell me all about how India has the best weed and hash that you can get anywhere, and how if you go it’s just “hills, hash and good people”. fair enough. he proceeds to give me his card, just in case i decide to go on a fear and loathing in delhi type trip.
Get to the airport, check in, and try to find some breakfast. this is what i discovered;
at an airport you are allowed two choices for breakfasts (on the other side of security); tim hortons muffins, or the other choice. tim hortons muffins are not a breakfast. they’re a snack or a “part of THIS complete breakfast”. but they are not independently a breakfast, unless you get 3-4 muffins. combine that with the fact that all the muffins are something-bran, you’re pounding your body with fiber and coffee, then sitting down in a confined space with a stranger. Take that old lady in 12C…
the other choice is to have the Breakfast Burrito. I love breakfasts and i love burritos, but they should not be offered at an airport. Breakfast burritos are what I eat when i have a day of sitting on my couch watching reruns of the A-team planned, but they are a poor choice of food for a 4am stomach. Simply put, bad coffee and burrito= i’m REALLY sorry old lady in 12C…
So i bought both. why not?
We get to the plane, and suprise! the flight is cancelled. if we all want to please walk back out to the ticketing booth they’ll rebook us on other flights. We had to go back through canadian customs (and fill out the forms; what country did we visit prior to Canada? I think i wrote “upstairs”). Changing a flight normally takes about 10 minutes. Ok, not so bad…wait. there’s a full plane of people who have to change their flight.
shit.
i guess standing in line for 3 hours with a stomach full of burrito and coffee is just as funny as a plane. funnier actually, because in a plane people can get up and walk the isle. not in line. you step out and that spot is GONE. then who know’s where you’ll be flying to.
so finally i get my ticket to leave at 4pm.
on Air Canada. I don’t enjoy Air Canada. We don’t see eye to eye. Air Canada is like an old ex-girlfriend to me that you know you are going to run into, that it will be unavoidable, and that it will piss you off…except that Air Canada has the power to lose my luggage.
And thats what they did.
I don’t know how you lose a 7’6 surfboard bag, but in their defense, the board bag was camouflage color. It was the only one I could get a hold of in Costa Rica when I was there, and I never thought that the camo pattern would ever work against me. apparently the bowels of the airport where bags are sorted and scanned is wall papered in camo just like my board bag, so it’s somewhere between here and calgary. i hope closer to here.
Cause all my clothes are in that bag too. I mean, if they’re charging me for an oversize bag, why only put a board in there? why not load it up with my clothes for the trip as well? oh yeah, because that means when they lose it you have no clothes! On the plus side, I think Gonzo, the 4-year-old i’m staying with has an extra speedo I can borrow…look for the photos!
Life is Happiness,
Joe
p.s. it all evened out. I did get a FREE beer on my flight to honolulu, so me and Air Canada are totally back on speaking terms.
