Sunday, January 23, 2005
The long journey home
1.“This is the shortest time it took to get home!” I said.
Normally, it takes me about 24 hours to get back to Edmonton. This time, due to better connections, it would have taken only 20 hours. However, this turned out to be famous last words. As our plane approached the Edmonton airport runway, we had to abort the landing, due to the freezing rain outside ( -5 degrees). The plane rose, and circled the airport again. We made a second attempt, and then the pilot aborted a second time.
“Ladies and gentleman. It seems that the freezing rain has damaged the landing sensors on the runway. We have enough fuel to attempt another landing. If it is not successful then.. well… we’ll make a decision then.”
That obviously wasn’t a very positive statement. A buzz filled the air of the aircraft. Dallas kept shaking her head and muttering something about “Damn Canadian weather”.
Our third attempt failed, and then the plane sped up and started a hard climb. I thought they would take us to Calgary, only for the pilot to tell us that the airport in Calgary was also closed and all the highways were closed as well. So where did we go? We flew 1200km BACK to Vancouver.
2. “Act of God”
Since Air Canada doesn’t control the weather, that meant that we had to pay for the hotel in Vancouver ourselves. In regards to the landing sensors being damaged, they said that I could complain to the Canadian airport authority, but not to them.. Oh well, we got a modest hotel at a discounted rate, and it wasn’t far. It was midnight by the time everything was said and done. I called home to find out that the highways to the airport were closed. My sister asked us to take a shuttle bus the next day into the city, and then she would pick us up. Too icy on the highways ( assuming they MIGHT open the roads up.) Great. If we do make it back we may still be stranded, and then we have to pay for transport into town anyways… time for a drink.
3. “The Chance Meeting” or “Famous Last Words Part X”
After we safely landed in Edmonton, we had been traveling about 43 hours now. We only got a few hours sleep in the hotel in Vancouver, but thankfully I had to foresight NOT to take the 630AM flight. Not only would we have gotten less sleep, but then we would also not have landed, as I heard that the weather was still inhospitable in Edmonton at the time.
We called my sister telling her that we will make the next shuttle bus soon. However, right after that, our luggage was delayed and we missed that bus.
So then, as fate would have it, we met Chris Feng, a friend of ours, in the airport. It was a chance meeting because he had his own long story of mishaps. He had just came back from sleeping in the Toronto airport all night because the groundstaff began to go on strike.
He was getting a taxi home ( courtesy of Air Canada). So I called my sister, for the 3rd time to tell her that she could pick us up at his place shortly.
Immediately after that though… Chris’s luggage never came out, and we had to line up for the baggage claims to complain and assess which country his luggage was flying off to.
Then I had to call my sister again.
4. “Where’s my taxi??”
Given the weather conditions, many taxi’s didn’t want to go out to the airport. Not only that, but for some reason, Chris’ taxi had to be of a particular company. We ended up having to wait awhile for such a taxi outside in the cold. I didn’t have a winter jacket on, and neither did Chris so we were going in and out all the time to warm up.
But finally, we made it home and it was a balmy –20 degrees outside.
Normally, it takes me about 24 hours to get back to Edmonton. This time, due to better connections, it would have taken only 20 hours. However, this turned out to be famous last words. As our plane approached the Edmonton airport runway, we had to abort the landing, due to the freezing rain outside ( -5 degrees). The plane rose, and circled the airport again. We made a second attempt, and then the pilot aborted a second time.
“Ladies and gentleman. It seems that the freezing rain has damaged the landing sensors on the runway. We have enough fuel to attempt another landing. If it is not successful then.. well… we’ll make a decision then.”
That obviously wasn’t a very positive statement. A buzz filled the air of the aircraft. Dallas kept shaking her head and muttering something about “Damn Canadian weather”.
Our third attempt failed, and then the plane sped up and started a hard climb. I thought they would take us to Calgary, only for the pilot to tell us that the airport in Calgary was also closed and all the highways were closed as well. So where did we go? We flew 1200km BACK to Vancouver.
2. “Act of God”
Since Air Canada doesn’t control the weather, that meant that we had to pay for the hotel in Vancouver ourselves. In regards to the landing sensors being damaged, they said that I could complain to the Canadian airport authority, but not to them.. Oh well, we got a modest hotel at a discounted rate, and it wasn’t far. It was midnight by the time everything was said and done. I called home to find out that the highways to the airport were closed. My sister asked us to take a shuttle bus the next day into the city, and then she would pick us up. Too icy on the highways ( assuming they MIGHT open the roads up.) Great. If we do make it back we may still be stranded, and then we have to pay for transport into town anyways… time for a drink.
3. “The Chance Meeting” or “Famous Last Words Part X”
After we safely landed in Edmonton, we had been traveling about 43 hours now. We only got a few hours sleep in the hotel in Vancouver, but thankfully I had to foresight NOT to take the 630AM flight. Not only would we have gotten less sleep, but then we would also not have landed, as I heard that the weather was still inhospitable in Edmonton at the time.
We called my sister telling her that we will make the next shuttle bus soon. However, right after that, our luggage was delayed and we missed that bus.
So then, as fate would have it, we met Chris Feng, a friend of ours, in the airport. It was a chance meeting because he had his own long story of mishaps. He had just came back from sleeping in the Toronto airport all night because the groundstaff began to go on strike.
He was getting a taxi home ( courtesy of Air Canada). So I called my sister, for the 3rd time to tell her that she could pick us up at his place shortly.
Immediately after that though… Chris’s luggage never came out, and we had to line up for the baggage claims to complain and assess which country his luggage was flying off to.
Then I had to call my sister again.
4. “Where’s my taxi??”
Given the weather conditions, many taxi’s didn’t want to go out to the airport. Not only that, but for some reason, Chris’ taxi had to be of a particular company. We ended up having to wait awhile for such a taxi outside in the cold. I didn’t have a winter jacket on, and neither did Chris so we were going in and out all the time to warm up.
But finally, we made it home and it was a balmy –20 degrees outside.
# posted by jason @ 3:01 PM 
