Thursday, July 22

We go to Mary’s to drop off my key. She & her 3 daughters are looking forward to taking care of Honey. We get a quick tour of her house, and holy cow she has a pool in her house! After departing Mary’s we go home to have lunch then head to the airport. The drive to the airport brought a quick storm. Though the TV had told us to expect flash floods, I didn’t believe it. We saw hail along the side of the road, but we missed the hailstorm. Once we get parked at the airport, a loud siren goes off. No one knew what it was, but I heard the driver’s radio say it was a lightning warning. We arrive at the airport around 1:15pm. Our flight is scheduled for 3:50pm. At 3:30pm, they let us know our plane is in Pueblo, CO, most of the flights are stuck in Colorado Springs or Pueblo and we will be delayed. They tell us at 4:00pm, that the plane will leave Pueblo at 6:00pm, that the airport at Pueblo is not equipped to deal with so many planes. At this point we know we’re going to miss our connecting flight in Toronto. We only had 1 hour 15 minutes to make that connection, so Geoff talks to the people at the desk to see what can be done. They assure him someone will be waiting at the gate to assist us once we land in Toronto. Geoff then goes off to contact American Express, to see if we can set up a phone card through them. He is successful, and attempts to reach the City Inn in Glasgow to hold our reservation. At 5:10pm, the airline informs us that our plane has left Pueblo, and is on its way to Denver. We board the plane shortly after 6pm, and we are finally airborne. We finally get to Toronto at 11:15pm. Before we exit, we’ve learned that we have been booked on a new flight, since we missed ours. Geoff tells me it’s the same flight we would have been on. Meaning, we’re stuck in Toronto for the next 23 hours! Tired, and angry we de-board the plane, and are told to wait in a line for an agent to come and explain to us the situation. A few short minutes and the agent shows up to tell us what we already know. We’re stuck, sorry, talk to an Air Canada agent at the desk to get your new flight info. Oh yes, and because the flight delay is due to weather, they won’t do anything for us. Oh, they will recommend some hotels we can stay at that discount us poor plebes. We make our way through customs with no problems, and find the desk. We try to be reasonable, but we’re very tired, and they tell us something that just upsets us; that the flight out of Toronto was delayed and didn’t depart until 11:40pm (the exact time Geoff’s watch was showing when we learned this). We rail at them, had we known, we could have run for it, we have no checked luggage, and they could have held the plane for us. The agent is adamant, there is no way we’d have made it as it takes at least 30 minutes to get to the gate. Plus we would have to deal with customs and luggage. But there was no line at customs, and we had no checked luggage. We’re very upset, and I’m crying because I’m tired, and frustrated at being stuck in Toronto. I’m not keen on spending $80 Canadian on a hotel room. Geoff being sensible says a good night’s sleep in a hotel is better for us than sleeping in the airport. It’ll leave us better prepared for the day. We head off to the 4 Points Sheraton in Mississauga, and I sleep great until 8am. We head downstairs for breakfast, have a hot shower and watch some TV until checkout at noon. There was another couple from our flight that crashed at our hotel. They were destined to go to Ireland for a wedding, and were going to miss it. How much does that suck? We go back to the airport for a full day of sitting. My day is brightened by the fact that I can eat Harvey’s and Geoff’s keen on having some Tim Horton’s. Okay here’s the part where the story where it hits it’s lowest point. Here are the 3 things that make Lester B. Pearson the suckiest airport ever!

1. No Tim Horton’s.

2. No Harvey’s.

3. NO TIM HORTON’S OR HARVEY’S

I couldn’t find any Hickory Sticks either. We started to question whether we were even IN Canada. There is something so wrong if you are in a Canadian airport and you can’t enjoy Timmy’s, Harvey’s or snack on Hickory Sticks.

You’d think it’s hard to kill 10 hours at an airport, but somehow we did it. I credit 20 Questions, Eye Spy, and yummy chocolate. What also helped were seats without armrests, so we could stretch out and sleep. At last, we get to board the plane for Glasgow, and it’s packed. Since I slept great at the hotel and Geoff didn’t sleep as well, I let him have the window seat. It’s easier to sleep in that seat; you can lean against the window. I dozed a little but I felt awful, and totally exhausted by the time we land.