Guess what Dorothy, we aint in Kansas any more!!!

Trip Start Jun 16, 2010

Trip End Jul 11, 2010

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Flag of Canada Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Well….I’ve made it as far and
Montreal…and guess what Dorothy????
We ain’t in Kansas any more!!!!
WOW!!! Ok….I’ll start at
the beginning. Check in at the
airport, no prob. Flight to JFK
quite nice. I sat next to an
interesting gentleman named Curtis who is the president of the Rotary Club in
Land o Lakes. I learned some
interesting history about the Rotary Club, which you can skip over if you
like. The Rotary Club was founded
in 1905 (I think) by a small group of business owners who would meet for lunch
on a regular basis. They would
rotate around to each other’s establishments, thus the name Rotary Club. They are now very involved around the
world in a fight to eliminate Polio from the countries in which it
remains. Curtis asked me if I would speak at the club when I returned and we exchanged cards. Upon arrival at JFK, I
headed to the gate with very little time to spare. My plane was delayed an hour
so Curtis, who was catching a later flight to Montreal, and I got a snack to tide us over.
The plane from JFK was a big surprise…TINY…there was one row
of seats on one side and two on the other. You had to give your carry on to them at the door to put in
the belly of the plane!!! It was a
quick one hour flight to Montreal, where the fun began.
The group of us who were catching connecting flights were directed to the customs area..OMG!!! Now I have been through
customs in a few places but this was a MAD HOUSE!!!! I’ve never seen so many people!!! Ok, I’m thinking, I have plenty of time. About a minute later a guard came and
ushered us all to a new line where we breezed through in minutes. WOOOO HOOOO!!! We were told we needed to pick up our
bags and check them through customs. Then out we went into the main
terminal….OK…where now and how come nobody mentioned the bag pickup before
THIS?
No problem….I can read
signs, so I proceeded toward what I thought was the baggage claim area. I passed right by a guard that called me
back and check my paperwork. “No”
he said, you cannot go through here.
So I explained what I was trying to do and he sent me back the other
way. I quickly grabbed one of the
airport employees and explained that I was told to pick up my baggage but wasn’t
sure I really had to…yada yada yada.
I can tell you now that this WON’T be the last time I tell THIS
story!!! He put me on the phone
with British air….10 min wait….no problem. I plopped down on the floor to wait. British air took my record locator #
and told me yes, I had to pick up my bags so off I go again, this time asking
another employee how to get to the baggage claim. He pointed kind of half heartedly, “over there” so I headed
off towards “over there” Again, I
ask someone else if I’m headed in the right direction and doing the right thing
and HE looks at my bag tags and tells me no….my luggage is checked through to
London.
Back again I go…extremely
frustrated and frankly almost in tears by now. At this point I saw a couple of very official looking guards
who AGAIN looked at my tags and said that I definitely needed to pick my bags
up but they probably wouldn’t be there after sitting there so long. Geeeeeez!!!! Are you kidding me!!! Sooooo one of the guards walked me all the way back where I
started and then on to the baggage carousel and sure enough no bag. Great…I’m going to Africa with one
shirt, one skirt, and a pair of shorts.
Well THAT’S traveling light!!!
Over I go to the lost baggage booth where someone else from my flight is
filling out paper work for THEIR lost bags. I walk up the counter and repeat my story for the 4th?
5th? Time???? “No
problem”, he says, we took care of your bags. We pick them up and deliver them to British Air as a
courtesy to American Airline customers. OK….don’t cha think someone should have TOLD me
that!!!
Well that’s a relief so I
head back upstairs to try to get a seating assignment of an aisle seat on BA
and cannot find the desk anywhere. Again I ask…again a casual point here a
hurried wave there and still NO BRITISH AIR!!! Turns out they were closed and the signs were out, until 7pm….an hour and a
half. Alright….time to eat. I had dinner and made my way to the now
present BA desk where I encountered and ANGEL!!!!!!! (here the heavenly music
should chime in) My angel, Mona, hooked me up with 2 magic special seats on my two marathon
flights, where
she almost guaranteed me I would be able to stretch out. She called and double checked that my bags were indeed checked in and
ready to go, and taught me how to properly pronounce my French Canadian last
name (a story I would have to tell in person). And that’s the end of the
story for now. SO, as you can see, this might be a rather long blog. I am writing it as much for me as for
you so please feel free to skip the boring parts. Wish me luck on my journey to London! Au revoir for now from
Montreal. PS, I’m not proof
reading so sorry for any mistakes!!!!

Montreal hotels

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