What A Day!

This morning we were both awake before 4 AM... you know how you don't want to be late when you need to catch the early ferry?  We arrived in Sidney at least two hours before we had to be at the airport, so while Shirley was buying some seeds at the nursery I took a walk around and captured a few colourful blossoms... like this Gerber Daisy.

When I was shooting this Calla Lily I had no idea how screwed up my day was going to be.

With plenty of time to burn we did a little exploring and found Island View Beach Regional Park... a place full of people walking their dogs... a great place to walk along the shore and get a little exercise.  That island with the prominent bluff is James Island.

When we went to check in at the airport the lineup was crazy... and when we got to the ticket agent we found out why.  My flight to Seattle was cancelled due to mechanical problems... but they would reroute me thru Vancouver and I could get connections to Phoenix directly from there.  US Air had plenty of room but they told me that I would have to go to the US Airways ticket counter to get my ticket reworked and a boarding pass.

I had about 90 minutes before my connecting plane would leave, but it wasn't enough... they left without me.  You cannot imagine the run around that I got, and even after they printed my boarding passes for the remainder of my flight, they took them back and asked me to go to Alaska Airlines and have them reorganize my itinerary.

Time was slipping away... and after going to Alaska and explaining my plight yet again, they scratched their heads and said that they could not do it either.  And they tried to send me back to US Air.  That is when I got a little impatient.  I told them I was going to miss my connecting flight with all this running back and forth and no one accepting any responsibility to help me get rescheduled on a plane that was soon to depart without me.

I got the attention of a sympathetic ticket agent who grabbed the bull by the horns and walked with me back to the US Air ticket counter.  She told the girl there how the cow ate the cabbage, picked up a phone behind the desk and called their agent at the boarding desk, telling them that I was coming.  So they reprocessed my boarding passes and Kim, the kind lady, walked me thru the security check, met me on the other side and guided me thru to Customs.

That was the straw that broke the camels back.  The lineup there was sooooo looooong at Customs... and moved so slow... so many stipid questions.  When I was just about thru Kim came back to tell me that the plane had closed it's doors.  We missed it.  Damn.

But she told me that she had figured out a routing that would still get me there today... a little later... but it was the best she could do.  I just had to go to Gate 96 and she would have my revised itinerary sent there for me.  And it was there.  It was amazing how fast she got things done and buy the time I got thru Customs and walked clear across the airport to Gate 96 the lady smiled and asked to see my passport and handed me a package all neat and tidy.  Done.

So I was soon on a plane to Portland... where I am now writing this blog.  I called Lorne and told him that I would be later than planned.  My new arrival time would be 12:32 AM.  So if all goes well, I will be there just past midnight.

I know my kids thought I was a little crazy for driving to California a month ago... 4 days on the road with only 4 days there... but airline travel is not all it's cracked up to be.  Such is life.

Maybe tomorrow I will forget about all this hassle once I tee up that little white ball and drive it over the green!  It will be a whole new set of challenges!