Calgary and BC Ski Trip – The Journey Home.

Today we return home. Will and I returned Sue and my rentals first thing, so as not to get billed for an additional day. We had a nice breakfast and packed all our stuff for the journey home.
It was with sadnesss in our hearts that we had to leave this beautiful place and our friends. Even though I have known Julie for 10 years through work, this was really our first chance to get together as with our spouses. Sue and I both felt that Julie and Will were awesome individuals with whom we had an immediate bond. It was like we had been best friends for years and we were just getting together for an annual event. I think based on this vacation we will be starting a new tradition. Plans are already in the works for next years skiing adventure.
It would be nice to say the journey home was uneventfull, but alas this was not the case.
The drive back through the mountains was pleasant and having left around 12:00pm we arrived Calgary about 3:45.
We used our GPS programmed for shortest distance and this lead us through a somewhat staggered path through Calgary’s West End.
It was nice to drive by Olympic park and see people skiing down the hills.
I had been to this part of Calgary before and I had that feeling of uncertain familiarity as we passed various buildings and roads.
We stopped at a drive through to grab some quick dinner to hold us over on the flight back and gassed up the Honda Civic before returning it.
The GPS Guided us straight into the airport and into the departures areas, then around to arrivals so we could return the car. Technology that works is so nice.
We returned the Car with no additional charges and made our way to the baggage check area.
We had used a new check in via mobile browser to check in for our flight already and we were given a digital boarding pass on my iphone that we just had to show to the various airline people at the requisite checkpoints.
The self service baggage check in had a huge line that went past the westjet counter by twice its lengh. We waited for about 30 minutes in line to check our bags then headed back through security.
The security line wasn’t too bad and after the usual protocols we cleared security and headed for our gate.
We arrived at our gate with about 45 minutes before our scheduled boarding time.
I grabbed a cappuccino and checked email while sue did suduku puzzles.
I wondered around the airport and picked up some munchies for the flight and also found this area called the chinook lounge that I wish I’d know about before sitting at the gate for an hour. This place had nice comfy chairs, computers, TV’s, beverage dispensers and fireplaces. There was hardly anyone there. Note to self, remember to look for lounge areas sponsored by your airline when you first get to the airport if you have more than a 30 minute wait.
Our flight was delayed by about an hour for unexplained reasons and we boarded about 18:50 and took off about 19:10. The flight back was quiet and I had the usual Gin and Tonic and we ate our previously purchased munchies. WestJet has Satellite service on the plane provided by Bell Expressvu. This was kind of cool, and we could watch our favorite shows while flying home. We watched Supernatural and Battlestar Galactica.
After touchdown in Toronto around 12:30am of the following day Toronto time we headed to baggage.
The baggage had already stared appearing when we got to carousel 4 and it wasn’t long before we had snagged our smalled of two bags and waited for the other. And waited, and waited and waited. Our other bag somehow managed to stay in Calgary. We went to lost luggage reporting area and answered the requisite questions. By the time we got out of bagage it was about 1:35 am.
Now it was time to see if our pre-paid, pre-arranged Airport Limo service was waiting for us. As you have probably already thought, no of course it wasnt. We had to call them. Normally this would have been an easy task, but when they gave us a ride to the airport the driver didn’t have any business cards and neither of us could remember the name or phone number of the company. Think, Think, how can we find the number.
Luckily we have vonage voice over ip that records all incoming and outgoing calls.
I used my IPhone to login to our vonage account and lookup the phone records for the day before we flew, found the number and called the Limo company. I got the answering machine. I left a message, but before I finished call waiting was beeping in my ear. Some unrecoginized number was calling me back. I hung up the first call and answered the call waiting. It was a rep from the limousine company. They had no record or our pre booking. I insisted they better find it. They said they would call me back and they did about 5 minutes later. The Airport Limo was on its way in about 15 minutes and they would pick us up at pole 29.
We went outside to wait and while we were standing there, some fellow gave out a gut wrenching scream and collapsed banging his head off of the luggage carts.
Sue ran out to see if she could help him. she didn’t have any rubber gloves so she couldn’t touch him, but she tried to get his attention as he seized violently his head still resting in the luggage racks. one of the limo attendants called 911 and the metro police and the airport inspector EMT showed up within minutes to help the poor fellow.
By the time they got there he had stopped seizing and was awake but somewhat groggy. Sue had assesed that he was alert and didn’t have a concussion and he was responsive to voice when the Police and EMT’s took over.
A few minutes later our Taxi arrived and we loaded our bags (minus one) and headed home. The driver was very nice and appologized for the mixup. We told him we understood and our flight was late anyway so no harm done. He explained he lived close to the airport so he was able to get there in 15 minutes and he was glad he was up and not out partying….lol.
about 30 minutes later 2:30am or so we arrived home and collapsed. 12 hours of travel starting with driving then flying and lots of waiting really tires you out.
Thats it for this Journey, can’t wait till the next.
Writing has been a long time love of mine since my first introduction to creative writing in highschool and I’d like to give thanks to those individuals who inspired me along the way. This being my first attempt since University other than the technical writing I have been doing at work for 10 years I think its appropriate.
The first person I need to acknowledge is Owen Gray, my grade 13 English teacher. It was through his guidance I first realized that I could write things and that just because I was a techy didn’t mean I couldn’t better my writing skills.
Secondly, my longtime friend and school chum, Ed Bagares deserves a mention. I have lived vicariously through Ed’s letters of his travels for years. He has been around the globe and experiencing different cultures and people since our early days at University. It was with his writings in mind I embarked on this new hobby.
Third I should mention Brian Peters. Author of Hypersonic (his first novel) Brian is an IT specialist like myself and good friend. Brian’s ability to work a full time job but explore his passion has prompted me to give this a try.
Thanks to all of you for being who you are. I have felt an awakening of my creative spirit and I hope to propel this into a hobby career.
Cheers.
PS. Our Missing Bag arrived safely to our door in the evening of the next day. Thanks WestJet.