THE AMAZING RACE

Thursday, December 3, 2009

It’s starting; The snow will start flying, the wind blowing and the temperatures dropping. I can feel the barometric pressure; That burning feeling in the eyes. In the distance I can see a dark sky coming from the west. 
Those who have been subject ot the Canadian winters will understand, how happy we are to leave all this behind us and go south for four months.
Our bags are packed, instructions passed on to those who will take care of our affairs and our daughter Elizabeth has moved in. She will ensure that everything at home will be fine.

Last night, we had dinner together and walked around the village for one last sniff of the 18C below Zero temperature. Boy was it ever cold. Scarfs, mittens and toques were brought out for the first and last time.

In the morning we take care of a lot of last minute things. There just does not seem to be enough hours in the day. The last few weeks have been a constant race, trying to get everything organized; Packing, shopping, banking, accounting, planning and more planning.

Our friend Gill picks us up and takes us to the airport well in time to check in and enjoy a glass of wine before boarding.

We start with a delay, when the flight crew discovers, that the on-board toilets are frozen. Gee, have they never heard of antifreeze? Of course this can only happen in
Canada. or perhaps in Russia?

We wait and wait nothing happens. Of course, when you have 600 passengers waiting in their seats, someone will eventually need to use the bathroom. We receive permission to leave the aircraft, and some  do. After half an hour we are asked to board the plane again. I start doing my calculations: Flight from Edmonton, scheduled for departure at 4:00 pm; Scheduled time of arrival in Toronto, 9:30 pm; Flight to Santiago scheduled to leave at 11:45 pm. Allow 30 minutes to disembark, find our way to the other gate and board the next plane. That leaves us with 2 hours and 15 minutes to spare. We already lost 1.5 hours and we’re not even in the air. Will we catch our next flight? Apparently, we’re not the only ones having a connecting flight, but the captain  assures us that everything will be taken care of in Toronto, and accommodation will be found for us. We’re not interested in hanging around in Toronto, we want that flight to Santiago tonight. But there are families with babies. That must be a lot worse. Parents only bring enough diapers and clean clothes for the scheduled time.
When we find out, that 17 of the passengers are booked on the same flight to Santiago. One of them is sitting right next to Ramiro, His name is Sebastian. He came to Canada about a year ago to work and is going for 6 weeks. It’s a surprise to his Mom. Dad and most other family members know that he is coming. He is getting pretty nervous. How will I let my Dad know that I may be arriving on Saturday instead of Friday? We assure him that he won’t have to worry. We will catch that flight! But will we really?
To give myself some peace of mind, I start to do my own reasoning: Both flights are with Air Canada. Putting up 17 people for the night and feed them will be pretty costly. Considering that we did not receive the refreshment they promised us after waiting for half an hour, I figure they are on a tight budget. They will likely hold that flight for us.

We finally land in Toronto at 11:15 pm. Everyone wants to be the first one to disembark the plane. But we have to wait our turn. We’re in seat 26 so are about midway. Sebastian explains that he needs to wait for a friend, who speaks little English and has a baby with her. They’re way in he back.
Once we enter the hall, we quickly ask for directions to the gate we need to be at and run. Up the escalator, down the stairs... Stop, Passport control... Long hallway, no moving sidewalk. The door to the gate is already locked. But there is a lady in uniform; Another control... STOP. Where is the darn gate, it’s 11:40!!
One more long hallway. It seems a mile long, but ah, there is a moving sidewalk. An Express Sidewalk. It’s going super fast. There we see the gate. I need to use the washroom. Is there enough time? A sigh of relief, only 5 of the 17 passengers are ahead of us. They will wait for the rest!!