We are on the last plane of this trip and as far as the trip status goes we are still 0. It seems we can’t get through a trip without a bit of stress.
Yesterday, Insel Air, supposedly a horrible airline, ran like clockwork. Supposed to leave at 10, we left at 10. We skirted the customs scam on Caracau, where upon arrival you have to enter the country in order to exit immediately and pay a $5 exit fee for the privilege, by having a Westjet boarding pass in our hands and going through the little known ‘in transit’ gate located before the immigration booths.
Next leg Westjet was again on time and we arrive in Toronto as prescribed. Glitch here though as we are not the only ones to arrive at that time and the line at immigration is horrendous. With the new machines everything cracked along and since we had carry on luggage we are on the curb waiting for our hotel shuttle in no time.
This morning however is not so slick. We have booked a shuttle with plenty of time to make our flight. We arrive at the lobby at the appointed time and there is a minor kerfuffle going on. We soon learn the shuttle has given up the ghost. More and more folks arrive at the front looking for a ride. By luck Debbie and I place ourselves by a guy who happens to be a Westjet pilot, and we soon find out a savvy traveler. We start a conversation and chat a bit. Just small talk, where are you going and stuff like that. We soon gather the hotel has contacted a cab company and we will be shuttled via cab to the airport. Most folks seem quite stressed and getting worse when the pilot, who has been staring out the front doors, looked at Debbie and I and gave us a little nod of the head. We follow him out the door load our bags into the trunk of a taxi and we were off. A bit sleazy, leaving the other folk behind but it is a jungle out there and the fittest survive.
The airport gods are looking upon us. We again have boarding passes in hand and our only hurdle is security. Holy s**t the line is long. Haven’t run into that in quite a while. It moves quite quickly and we are still at our gate with a 1/2 hour to spare.
Looking down on the landscape there has been snow on the ground since shortly after we left Toronto. Landing soon and our trip status with be changed to 1. Time to think XC skiing.