Well, the trip didn't start off to well. Tuesday morning I drop the kids off at the grandparents for the week (my wife was out of town for the week as well), and I'm off to the airport. I begin taking my normal route to work, but decide at the last minute to grab a breakfast burrito at Sonic to eat once I got to the airport. So instead of making a left on a certain street, I made a right. Bad decision.
It's only a few blocks to the light, and I'm about halfway there and I see a cop sitting in the driveway of the church on the corner. I look down at my speed and I was doing 40 on what I though was a 35 mph street. No problem, right? Wrong... he flips on the lights as I pass, and I pull over into the parking lot. What the hell? Good thing I had plenty of time to get to the airport.
So, he comes over and does the "license and registration thing" and I give him my info. He procedes to tell me he clocked me going 40 (which I was) in a 25 mph zone. Huh? I could have sworn that street was 35 mph, it had a freakin double yellow line and everything. Anyway, long story short, I keep my mouth shut and stay polite, and I end up getting a ticket for doing 30 in a 25. In 20 years of driving, this is my very first ticket, I was a little pissed to say the least.
What a great way to start the day. So after getting the ticket, I go to Sonic as planned and it's off to the airport. Now, if you've ever parked in the Salt Lake City airport, you might be familiar with long term parking lots A and B. I've always parked in A, and usually don't have any problems getting a spot. Well, because of construction, they have blocked off 3/4 of the A lot, so there is not a single spot anywhere. Fine, out of my comfort zone, I'll head over to the B lot. What a friggin joke that lot is. There is no rhyme or reason to that lot. I spend 25 minutes going up and down each row, in several different sections, and cannot find a single spot. I finally end up in the very last section of parking, and there are 2 open spots in the far corner, in the very last row. Great, I guess I need the exercise anyway.
I finally get into the terminal, and of course every airline has a short line EXCEPT for the one I'm flying; United. Great, this day is just getting better and better. My original schedule would have put me at the airport just over 2 hours before my flight, now with the ticket and parking, I've got 1.5 hours before my flight. I finally get through the line and find that United in Salt Lake has electronic check in (which is fine, I love using it when I fly JetBlue, it's so much easier and faster), but they only have 1 guy behind the desk, trying to handle like 9 electronic check in stations. Terrific.
I finally get my chance at the machine, and it asks for a credit card for identification. Interesting. So I use my normal card, and it can't identify me. Fine, maybe I can just use my name. Wrong. It asks for information that I don't have since I booked my flight through Travelocity. So I start over and break out my other credit card; success!! It finds my travel info, and proceeds to ask me for my passport information, since I was traveling to Canada. Well, right now, you don't have to have a Passport, just a birth certificate, which is what I had. So I wait 5 minutes trying to flag down the 1 guy to ask how to enter my information. As he runs by, he says to pick up the phone and someone will be right with me to get me checked in. Ok. I pick up the phone and proceed to wait 15 looooooooooooooooong ass minutes, and no one has come on the phone. By this point, I'm really frustrated. As the guy runs by again (by this point another person had shown up, but was only working the "first class" desk) and I just about grab him to keep him in front of me. I explain the situation to me and he grabs my info to get me checked in, and gives me a "Well, this would be alot faster if you had your passport" comment. Uh, no s**t sherlock. But since you don't have to have a passport to get into Canada, why don't you just use my friggin birth certificate to check me in before I come over the counter and give you a swift kick in the passport.
FINALLY, I'm done and off to the gate. Get through security with no problems, and I calm down as I walk down the terminal. I sit down and relax, and finally get a chance to eat the burrito that cost me a friggin speeding ticket earlier in the morning. So, the good thing was, I only had to wait 45 minutes before my flight took off, right? Yeah, I wish.
Overhead speaker,
"Due to weather delays at the O'Hare airport, United Flight 654 to Chicago has been delayed for approximately 1.5 hours; the new departure time is now 12:26"
My original departure time was 10:53. Boy, this day just keeps getting better and better. I'm glad I got that burrito now.
We finally board the plane about 12:15, and just as we get everyone on the plane, and it feels like we are ready to take off, overhead speaker
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Traffic control has delayed us again, and given us a new wheel up time. We are now looking at a departure of 1:30".
You know, I was just saying the other day that I don't get to spend enough time sitting in a cramped airplane seat while the plane sits at the gate. Hooray for me!
The only thing I was really worried about at this point was making my connection to Toronto. But, the attendants assured me that all flights were delayed, so my connecting flight would have similar delays and I shouldn't miss it. Cool. And as if to confirm all this, I get a call from one of my co-workers also flying through Chicago to Toronto to let me know his plane has been delayed just about 3 hours.
Anyway, we finally take off about 1:20 and we're on our way to Chicago. We arrive to Chicago about 2 hours late; instead of arriving @ 2:45, we arrive about 4:55, and I get off and immediately look for my connecting flight. That flight, with an original departure time of 3:45, now shows a departure time of 5:53, sweet. I was supposed to ARRIVE in Toronto at about 5:53, but at least I didn't miss the connecting flight.
So I take a leisurely stroll underground (Chicago has an underground walkway between the United B and C concourses) to the C concourse. Now, my day had pretty much been crap the whole day, but as I walk down to the 2nd to last gate for my flight, I see a beautiful shining light at the end of the tunnel. Yes!!!! Right there before me, but a few feet from my gate, was a Starbucks. Oh, hark the Angels sing!! My prayers have been answered. You know what, you could delay this plane another hour if you want, I don't care, I've got a Venti Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino. I'm in HEAVEN!!
And then they delay my flight another hour.
I finally arrive in Toronto at about 9:20 (instead of my original arrival time of 6:10), but I'm just glad to be there, and I guess a 3 hour delay isn't really that bad. It definitely could have been alot worse, right?
And then it got worse.
Customs! Yeah!! Every line was about 40 people deep, and of course the line I pick is the slowest. I finally got through and walked out to pick up my bag at a little after 10pm, but at least I'm finally free of the airport. I call the guys I'm hooking up with and they come pick me up, and we're off to Pickering, Ontario about 45 minutes away. Unfortunately, it was dark so I didn't get a chance to see much of Toronto on the way out of town, but it definitely didn't look to be the "culture shock" I though it might.
Anyway, that's enough for now, I'll post some more stuff later about my trip.
Here are a couple pictures:
The lines going through Customs in Canada:
A view down the C Concourse in Chicago O'Hare Airport:
