Wednesday, May 23, 2012

What an adventure





When I was making reservations I stumbled onto tickets that were $500.00 a piece cheaper, I thought I had found a bargain and the catch was that it had two stops. I talked to Jodi and we agreed that this was probably worth it. Upon reviewing just prior to paying I noticed that I had typed in the date for Monday and not Tuesday and upon further review we could have left from the US with one layover. but Jodi said she thought that the extra stop would be good for her back. So we stuck with the Air Canada flight with three stops. Leg one went well until we got to the Toronto airport. Who knew we would have to go through customs inToronto. Poor Jodi was body scanned a total to three times yesterday. We finally (Note to self: this is an airport to be avoided in the future) got on the plane, only to wait to take off and to sit on the tarmac for about an hour. When, at last, we arrived in Montreal our plane had taken off without us. We were rebooked for a flight tonight, because this "was the last flight out tonight" We were booked into a hotel, given meal vouchers and told to go get our bags. While waiting on our bags another guardian angel (I think) was also waiting on hers but she had made them find her a flight on another airlines, so apparently this was not the only flight out of Montreal. So I handed Jodi my phone and traipsed off to find customer service, while Air Canada baggage claim was looking for our bags. I was again told tht the issued flight was the last one it for the night, and I said, "That is odd because a girl downstairs was booked on Air Transat for tonight".  The lady at the service counter copped a bit of an attitude and I indicated that we had a prepaid hotel room that we would be missing as well as an entire day of our trip and how were they going to compensate that, if they could not get us to Paris?  She walked away in a bit of a snit, but after about 15 minutes came back with a voucher for the Air Transat flight. Back down to find Jodi, and no Jodi, nor any bags.  So while I am scanning the area and trying listen to the Baggage Guy (who reminded me of Doug Colgrove, so I immediately liked him. He spoke French like Doug probably does too!).  I was about to panic. Finally I found her, she had been sent to find her bag on the carousel, which we did finally get, but mine, for some reason went back to Toronto.   All squared away, my bag supposedly coming to the hotel. We found the check in counter for Air Transat, and got our boarding passes, not seats together. BUT, we could ask to switch. What a laugh, no one would trade, so we spent the flight one behind the other. It was a miserable flight, The seats were so small, that I kept thinking that if I were a pound fatter I wouldn't be able to get in or out of the seat.  The Lady to the righ or Jodi used her for a pillow all night, and the lady on the left kindly gave her a shower by kindly dumping her water down her leg.  Jodi couldn't even understand her apology.  Jodi kept trying to say it's o.k. and the lady just kept rambeling.  Finally our night in purgatory was over!  We got Jodi's bag and I hashed it out with the baggage people for mine to be delivered to the apartment, and are in out hotel, Les Degres de Notre Dame. Fifth floor, no elevator, but it is charming, and we have a limited views of Notre Dame. As I type I hear Jodi's gentle snore, the occasional clang of a French emergency vehicle, traffic along the Seine and the infrequent French word lofting up our way. The room is huge by French standards, a double bed and a twin. With a big bathtub in the bathroom and a bidet as well! She gets one hour to sleep before I get to feed my aching hunger, the insipid yogurt that they fed us this morning is long gone!

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