NFL - Day 0 - "O Canada"

“Newfoundland and Labrador (NFL)”

6/30/17, “O Canada”

LaGuardia Airport, New York (LGA)

O Canada!  While it is not my home and native land, I have made more trips there over the years over the years than to anywhere else, and now begins the last one I will take before I turn 30.  This trip will bring me to my last Canadian Province, it will bring me to my final four World Heritage Sites in Canada, and in North America for that matter, as Hawaii is technically in Oceania.  This is the True North strong and free, and I have travelled it far and wide.  Once last trip remains, a loop around the isle of Newfoundland and a day in Labrador to see an old whaling site.  That’s it.  That’s all that stands between me and “Canada Complete,” between me and “North America Complete.”

Well, as my reader knows by now, any good summer trip must begin with a recounting of an epic dinner and movie Night -1 with the K-Man, and last night was no exception.  Something I like about the K-Man is that we both hold tradition to a high standard, that our evenings together even follow a type of stare decisis.  The fact that we did something a certain way last time or, even stronger, that we usually do it that way is considered an unassailable argument for doing it the same way this time.  If we are to break from tradition, we must specifically argue for the break from tradition in favor of doing something different.  It is in that way that a stare decisis exists.

Our default place to go is CPK, and, if we are not going to go there, one of us needs to make an argument in favor of another place.  We both like to eat, so the arguments are never unpleasant, but the argument must be made if we wish to break from tradition.  We met at the restaurant this time, as he was coming in from Boston (not Austin, as I had thought, as his text had actually said “Justin”).  When we got there, we were both hungry and thirsty.  We were ready to eat and drink.  I had stopped at Nat Sherman’s to get cigars before I met him at CPK, so we were all set for an epic evening.

Moscow Mules not pictured

More importantly, my cold was starting to become manageable, and I was ready for our evening.  My reader will now need to pay close attention to what we ordered.  He ordered a glass of hot water, a glass of cold water.  I ordered club soda, like always.  This was just to open our appetites.  We each got a Moscow Mule, for no other reason than we got it last time and liked it.  We also got a new sparkling alcoholic drink to share and try in consideration of making that our drink of choice next time.  My reader will note that this was six beverages for two people.

For food, he got a dinner-sized salad for an appetizer, and I got my usual crispy mac ’n cheese, like always.  We then each ordered a pizza.  He got the Sicilian, like he always does, and, like I always do, I went through the menu and made a decision at the moment, this time opting for a wild mushroom pizza with bacon.  It was a good choice.  A very good choice.  We also got bread with butter, “a lot of butter.”  It was an epic feast, and no food was left uneaten, nor drop of drink.  He even got another Moscow Mule to go.  We spent the meal talking about our trip to Russia next summer, but I won’t spoil the details of that.  After dinner, we went to pick up my laundry and then back to my place, where I lit up a cigar, a Kendall I think.

We then walked to the theatre and waited until it was time to go inside.  I had my cup from Tuesday, so I just got a refill on that, as we had no appetite left for snacks at the theatre.  The movie was called “The Beguiled,” and it was billed as a thriller.  It was anything but thrilling.  The acting was excellent, and somewhere deep inside there was a great movie trying to get out, but Sofia Coppola failed at the trip task of writing, directing, and producing.  I always believe that those three roles should be filled by three different people.  You need creative input from multiple parties to have a movie work right, and this failed on that level.  We came to the conclusion that if the movie had billed itself as a dark comedy, we would have enjoyed it a lot more, but we had certain preconceptions that ruined it for us, due it being billed as a thriller.

After the movie, we said our goodbyes, and I finished my cigar.  I fell asleep in my chair when I got home, and I woke up with a start around 1 AM.  I had to shower, dress my bed, pack my tobacco and clothes, and finalize my itinerary.  I got to bed at 3 AM and woke up around 8 AM.  I was in complete panic attack mode at the office, worried about delays and missing my connection, to the point where I could barely breathe at points.  I got done everything I needed to do, and I left at 2:45 PM.

There wasn’t much traffic on the way to the airport, and check-in and security went quickly.  There are minor delays, but I have two hours to make my connection at YYZ, and I am on standby for an earlier flight, too, so I should be fine.  What worries me, though, is if my YYZ-YYT flight is delayed, as it is scheduled to land at 1:30 AM, so any delays will mean an ungodly bedtime and short sleep for a day when I have over 12 hours of driving.

The plane that will take me YYZ-YYT is flying LGA-YYZ as AC 723.  I am on AC 721, and I am on standby for AC 719.  Those are three consecutive LGA-YYZ flights, each leaving about every hour, so any delays will compound.  That is, if my flight, AC 721 is delayed, then AC 723 will likely be delayed, which will likely lead to a delay on my YYZ-YYT leg.  Okay, anyway, so after I checked in, I went to my gate where I sat down and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close.

Toronto Pearson International Airport, Ontario (YYZ)

This is not the first time I have spent the night here at Pearson, but I hope it will be the last, though I am sure I will spend nights at other airports in the future, it will not be this one again.  What brought me here, what hellish ordeal did the past eight hours entail?  Those are the questions this entry will answer.  A lot went wrong, but plenty went right.  Enough want wrong that Day 0 is shot to hell, Day 1 will be torture, and Day 2 will be rough, but it could be worse.  Day 1 will be salvageable, and Day 2 will be close to normal.

After I closed at LGA, I panicked and worried and checked flight times, of all the flights I mentioned.  I did not get on AC 719, but I knew that AC 723 would be close to an hour after AC 721 regardless, so I would have about an hour to make my connection, which would be plenty if I wasn’t held up at the border, always a concern when entering Canada.  I went to get a pretzel dog from Auntie Ann’s, and, when I got back, our inbound plane was pulling up, ahead of schedule.

We boarded as soon as they cleaned the aircraft, and I was comfortably in my seat, my phone charging, ready to go.  That’s when the captain said we wouldn’t take off for another 40 minutes or so.  NOOOOOO!!!!!!  The only solace I took was that if we had to taxi for 40 minutes, so, too, would AC 723, which meant my connection would not be any more difficult.  After about 30 minutes, during which I napped, they made another announcement.  Due to storms, no planes were taking off from LGA.  It would be close to another hour.  This meant Day 1 would be entirely shot to hell, as I would only get a few hours of sporadic sleep over the next 36 hours.  I would also have to pick up my car after doing my stuff in St. John’s, or else spend the night at YYT waiting to pick up my rental.  Things were looking bad.

Soon enough, I felt the familiar thrust of a plane taking off, much sooner than I expected, and I slept through most of the short flight.  When we neared Pearson, we seemed to be in a holding pattern, but at a very low altitude.  That was odd.  We landed at 9:30 PM, and I immediately checked my phone.  To my shock, my YYZ-YYT flight was being delayed until 11:15 PM.  That gave me almost two hours to make my connections.  No problem, right?  Wrong.

If you are flying US-CAN-CAN, which I am doing by flying LGA-YYZ-YYT, there is a special quick connect, but you see an agent instead of a kiosk.  Well, whatever black mark on my record that didn’t transfer to the kiosk system was still on that system.  The agent told me he couldn’t process me on the quick connect, and I am quite sure he made that the black mark would have transferred to the quick connect.  I mentally kicked myself.  I should have just gone to the kiosk and not bothered with the quick connect.  When my receipt printed from the kiosk, it had an X on it, and I knew my chances of making my flight were now slim to none.

I went through the familiar process of being directed to immigration, and when I got in and saw the huge line, I realized it was much closer to none than slim.  However, the line moved quickly, but I got to the agent at 10:55 PM, for an 11:15 PM flight.  I didn’t see how it was possible to make the flight.  He asked me when my connection was, and I told him.

I saw from the look on his face that he wanted me to make that connection.  He asked me all the usual questions, and I answered them to his satisfaction.  He then explained, the first person to explain this to me, that there was an “enforcement action” on my record, due to how I was turned around at the border back in 2013, so I would always be subject to a secondary.  He also explained that the kiosk systems had been slow to update.  He let me go around 11 PM, no baggage check, and I thought I had a slim chance now of making my flight.

I ran and raced and got sent to the front of the line at security.  I ran to my gate.  They had just closed the doors.  I missed it by five minutes.  I begged and pleaded, but to no avail.  The plane was still at the gate, but I couldn’t board.  Fuck.  I then went to customer service and had to wait on line for an hour, but they fixed it for me.  They put me on a 6:45 AM flight to YYT, in business class.  He also told me where best to take a nap and gave me some meal vouchers.

I found some great lounge chairs where I will soon nap.  All in all, this whole ordeal will probably only cost me about two or three hours by the end of the day tomorrow, but it was an aggravating way to start the trip, just like last year.  I then sat down by the lounge chair, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and get some sleep.