I wantto get away, I want to fly away

As always, we have a ridiculous travel day ahead of us. Why would it be easy? Who knows. Four airports to get across the continent. Four!

Now please don't get me wrong, I love to travel. I love all aspects of it - airports, hotels, places, experiences, all of it. I just hate the other people who do it too. I understand that travel isn't a daily occurrence for most or even an annual one. Fully get that. I also understand that being a basic human isn't that difficult either.

 - your chocolate lab is not "family". It is not a service dog. It is cargo. You need a kennel for it or you don't fly with it. "What am I supposed to do about it now?" Rebook? Find someone to come get your dog? At any rate, get out of line to do it.
- it is impossible to plead ignorance about carry on sizes when countless resources are available for you to figure it out well in advance of coming to the airport.
- "I didn't know I needed a passport for my kids! We're only going to Disneyland!" 1) you're going to Disney WORLD. 2) it is in a different country, therefor you need a passport.

WestJet, I love you but getting rid of the seatback TVs is the worst idea you've had.  Several other airlines on the planet have figured out how to improve their seatback TVs and deal with all the reasons you gave for removing them. Do better.

Toronto was freaking NUTS. It was like the whole planet emptied in to the airport. I was also hungry. Is it too much to ask for a McDonald's to be in the airport?

I sat down for lunch and the gentleman sitting beside me talked a big game. He talked about being on the "first ever 737-MAX flight in Canada two months ago. On Air Canada!" Except....it was on WestJet....two weeks ago. He goes on to talk about how "With all of today's technology, you'd think someone would have found a way to fly from here to Paris in two hours." I had enough at this point and googled Concorde on my tablet and showed him with a simple explanation of "Super sonic travel is super expensive. Concorde was taken out of service fifteen years ago." His travel companion laughed so hard I thought she would fall off of her chair. I smiled and told her I've been where she is.

Edmonton. I had done the most research for the travel portion of the trip for Edmonton. I knew I pre-cleared US Customs here but...then what when I got to LAX? Do I just pick up my bag and go? I don't know.

I do know that there is snow on the ground. And that the walk on the jet way was the single coldest thing I've done in about 7 years. Jesus. And of course I got caught behind the slow people.

After this, things kind of went south. It took about 45 minutes to find my bag and during that time, I started to panic. What did we learn in Hong Kong? My travel panic response is to cry like a girl. I managed  to get myself under control, eventually. They found my bag and I was off to the USA!


Once in the USA, I waited. And waited. And waited for my bag. All of the bags are off the plane. In St. John's it had been checked in as oversize for some reason, so I kept looking between oversize and regular. Nothing. As I'm starting to figure out what to do, I see my bag! It is on the floor and attached to someone else's bag.  Bah.

I get on my shuttle bus to the hotel and decide after two hours on it, next time I will either pay for a cab or pay for a more direct route. I chose "shared ride" thinking it would be somehow regional. No. Drove all the hell over LA before getting to my hotel last. The time I'd planned on being able to meet my group and hanging out was eliminated. Fuckers.

Next: This ain't no disco.