This is going to be long, and I'm sorry in advance. But I promise if you hang in there and make it to the bottom of this post, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel.
Whenever you travel anywhere, your means of transportation - planes, trains, or automobiles; is highly unpredictable. It doesn't matter if you planned your entire trip, down to every last detail, months in advance or hours in advance. If complications come up or changes happen, you're basically SOL.
I have flown across the country so many times since moving to the West Coast. I know the drill. I know when to be at the airport, where to go, how to get everything done in a quick and efficient manner. I know all the things one would 'need to know' about cross country travel (I'm totally trying to sound knowledgable right now)(is it working? no? okay cool story bro).
Well on Friday night I had plans to board my red eye flight to the east coast. I had a quick pit-stop in Toronto (as usual) and then I'd be in Halifax, by 10:00-11:00am local time. I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and happily got into the line-up to check my bag. My excited attitude lasted a whole 15 minutes before I was informed that my flight was delayed an hour or so. Okay, no biggie... except that it meant I wouldn't make my connecting flight in Toronto. Okay, don't panic Faith. You're a big girl, just handle this like a big girl would. I keep repeating to myself. I text Justin and tell him that my flight is delayed and that I won't be catching my flight to Halifax from Toronto Don't worry babe. They'll get you on the next flight out, that's their job. He reassures me. That Justin, always thinking so rationally. I anxiously await my turn to get to the front desk and discuss my options with the airline agent. In hindsight, it's so adorable to think that I'd have 'options'.
I get to the counter and tell the lovely gentleman where I'm going (he honestly was very nice to me - I'm not being sarcastic despite my tone throughout the rest of this post). He informs me that I won't be making my connection to Halifax, which I already know, because we will be getting in 15 minutes after my flight is scheduled to take off (keep that in mind... they could hold that plane for just 15 mins...). So he looks up and does this super not cute little giggle where he says 'yeahhhh, uhhhh, soooo you'll be flying out of Toronto at 8am'. 'Okay, that's great!' I say, relieved. '...on Sunday' he says casually. This is when I start to panic again. Sunday? Why Sunday? I'm going to be stuck in an airport for over 24 hours? Why? He asks me to go sit down while he figures out what's going on, but essentially every single flight from Toronto to Halifax is sold out and my only option is to fly Sunday morning. Well hi there, vacation - we're certainly off to a great start, aren't we?
About 15 minutes later, a manager approaches the few of us who have missed our connecting flight and informs us that they won't be holding the plane for us and our options are to fly on Sunday, or refund our flights. Well, kind sir, refunding my flight isn't an option. So flying out 24+ hours later is going to have to suffice. I took the route of only being a little Canadiangry about the situation (I totally apologized after I gave him the side eye) instead of screaming at him like some of the they passengers. I called Justin, and totally didn't have a panic attack at all or anything, and explained what was happening and basically just had to suck it up and prepare for the longest flight across the country, ever. I angry tweeted the airline and honestly felt a little better. I said goodbye to Vancouver, boarded my flight, and did my best to relax and get all negativity out of my head. This isn't how I wanted to start my vacation, but I also didn't want to allow it to take control over my mood for the next day, or two, or five.
When I got to Toronto, just as previously mentioned, I had missed my flight by 15 minutes and had to wait in line to get my new flight info for Sunday. I'm going to stop detailing every last bit of this situation (because there really are a lot of details), but basically my flight got changed 4x before we finally got me bumped onto a plane (thanks to a last minute cancellation). Flying out at 5:30pm on Saturday instead of 8:00am on Sunday was a heck of a lot better to me, so I took it.
I wasn't really looking forward to spending 10 hours alone in the airport, but knew I could waste time eating, picking up my luggage and checking back in again, stalking Facebook, texting friends and posting selfies to instagram (because what else would I do?).
Honesty, the 10 hours were long and I was tired of sitting there waiting to fly home, but it was manageable. Until, dun dun dunnnn, the airline delayed my flight by 4 hours. This, friends, was when I actually had a mini meltdown in the airport. Our plane was supposed to take off at 5:35 and at 4:55 I was informed that we would be leaving at 9:20. I called Justin and actually cried, a lot. It's hard to explain the emotions I was going through at the time - but when you haven't slept in 40+ hours at this point, and you're told that your plane won't leave for FOUR more hours, you kind of lose it.
I calmed down, sucked it up, put on my big girl pants and waited the additional hours. I spoke to the customer service agents and they were basically useless. They didn't show me any compassion and they made it clear they couldn't do anything for me.
I originally planned on writing a long post bashing this company and slandering their name, but I won't do it. What I will say, however, is that there are only TWO major Canadian airlines, and it wasn't Air Canada. WJ, I am extremely disappointed in how you handled these situations on Saturday, and I will never fly with your airline again. I honestly think I should've received a refund or a partial reimbursement, but apparently WJ thinks that food vouchers were sufficient enough.
Anyway, life is unpredictable and full of surprises. I won't lie, I was really angry and upset when this first happened but by the time I got to Halifax, I had calmed down quite a bit. I sat next to the most wonderful elderly woman and she talked to me and kept me company on the final leg of my 24+ hour journey. She helped me remember that it's not the end of the world (even if it seems like it at the time), and to let it go and move on.
While I'd love to continue Saturdays pity party for one, and say 'woe is me', I won't. Yes, I just spent an entire blog post complaining about the start of my vacation, but I know that I needed to write it all out for my own sake.
My final epiphany is that you can't change these kinds of situations, so you might as well change your attitude and embrace the 'negative' situation. This is something that has humbled me slightly. I'm often told by Amanda and Justin that I don't take enough time for myself, I don't rest enough, and I'm quick to react in a negative way when things don't go my way (OCD much?)... this is something that I need to work on and change. Ironic how I'm told to take a step back and have some 'me-time' and it doesn't really get more 'me-like' than spending 15 hours alone in an airport.
I'm sorry this was so long. Kudos to anyone who read this.
And now, as promised at the beginning, here is something to brighten up your Monday of you want to laugh at Justin and I...
Here are some ridiculous outtakes from Justin and I when we attempted to film
the accent vlog that I posted on Friday. Fun fact, we filmed about 20+ videos, and I have 30-40 minutes of outtake material, but tried to make it to a "short" 7 minute video #sorrynotsorry... after all of that time spent filming, we used the original one that he "ruined".
Justin gets really uncomfortable when I say 'tell me I'm pretty'. so I do it often.
We like to sing things to each other.
We're enthusiastic about almost everything.
I act like I hate him, but I promise I love him.
