I left the house before ten yesterday morning, both girls strapped in their carseats, DVD player booting up. We were heading to the Kelowna airport (an hour’s drive) to pick up Christy. Yay! Christy! How we’ve missed her!
I had tried to feed Jolie before we left, but she refused. Not hungry? Fine. But after we’d been on the road no more than six minutes she started squawking for the bottle. I spent the first quarter of the drive with my arm wrenched at an unnatural angle into the backseat so I could hold her bottle as I drove with my one free hand, weaving through the winding mountain roads. We got stuck in road construction, which made us late. I drove as fast as I could without drawing the attention of a police car and we made it to the aiport with literally one minute to spare before Christy’s flight was scheduled to arrive. I skidded into the most gruesome parallel parking job I’ve ever committed, ran out to put some change in the meter, then proceeded to spill all the money from my wallet all over the parking lot. Time was ticking. I grabbed Avelyn out of her seat, got Jolie’s carseat clicked into the stroller and went to slam the door shut. It was jammed. Not closing. It does this sometimes. OF COURSE it would do it now. I left the door open and sprinted to the airport doors. Avelyn skidded on the gravel and ripped her tights open at the knee, blood seeping through. We kept running and made it to the arrivals gate just in time to see…that the flight had been delayed a half hour. OK, no biggie. I borrowed a pen from the car rental counter and go back outside to try and fix my broken door. The latch was stuck and I tried to pry it open with the pen for five minutes, my fingers getting covered in thick black grease. A bystander walked by and offered his help. But even he couldn’t fix the latch. Avelyn was wailing about how she wanted to go back inside to see Auntie Christy and I was trying to keep her from running across the street. Finally another random stranger came and was able to get things working properly. We strolled back inside to wait. The minutes kept ticking by and we heard whispers that the plane was unable to land due to the heavy fog. They kept on bumping back the arrival time, so we continued walking laps around the airport. I heard from one woman, who had received a text message from her husband on the same flight as Christy, that the plane was going to be rerouted to Vancouver. I asked an attendant if this was true and she said she couldn’t give me a solid answer at this point. So, we waited some more. The one thought lingering in my mind was that there was a scheduled one-hour delay on the highway we’d have to take to get back home, from 1:00-2:00, so I’d have to leave Kelowna no later than noon if I wanted to avoid the delay. I found another attendant and asked her the flight status again, and still no solid answer. I didn’t want to leave until I knew for sure that Christy wouldn’t be coming in, so we stuck it out at the airport until 12:45, ensuring that we were going to face the road closure on our way home. I still had no official answer from the airline, but the rumours were circulating that the plane had indeed landed in Vancouver. I loaded everyone back into the truck to head home where I tried to call Christy. However, my cell phone battery was dead. We began the drive home and both girls started to cry about half-way into the journey. Then we got stuck in the road closure for 20 minutes, all the while the crying intensified. We finally made it home, exhausted, all for nothing. I heard from Christy later in the day that she was back in Calgary, the city she had originally departed from that morning. The plane from Vancouver had tried to land in Kelowna again but the fog was too heavy so it kept on heading east. She has rebooked her flight for tomorrow, since anything before that was already sold out.
L to the A-M-E!!!
27 Comments
How insanely awful. I’m so sorry. I hope things look better today/tomorrow for everyone involved.
That is the worst set of circumstances ever! It’s playing out in my head like the funny scene from a movie…although I’m sure it wasn’t too funny for you. Hopefully things go better tomorrow :)
I was on Castanet this morning and the news page said flights are delayed again and cannot land because of the fog. We are on an acreage between Kelowna and Summerland and I cannot even see the neighborhood below us (and havent for 3 days!)
Hopefully everything works out!
Why is it those aweful days make such great stories? I’m so sorry your day was rotten and you still have no Christy to show for it. Hopefully the next trip will be uneventful and she’ll arrive on time.
Grossness all around. That sucks.
Oh my! I think that trumps my airport adventure at Christmas hands down. What a day!
That is SO horrible! What a frustrating day. I hope she gets in today and that everything goes smoothly. About the door, just remember to hold the outer latch open while you are trying to pry it with the pen. Or were you doing that and it still wouldn’t work?
Oh Amanda, I was cringing the whole post, what a NIGHTMARE and you didn’t even get the reward of your BFF coming through your doors. I am so sorry. Hopefully things will get drastically better once she does make it. Don’t drown your sorrows too deeply though.
I’m not entirely up on my Canadian geography, but a flight from Calgary to Vancouver and back (without the benefit of getting off the plane to visit friends) sounds horrid.
Sitting in a car for hours with screaming girls is just as horrid — that, I have experienced more times than I’d prefer to recall.
I Christy’s flight is much better tomorrow!
That SUCKS! Keeping my fingers crossed that Christy’s flight is on time today!
P.S. That fiasco (for BOTH you and Christy) warrents many many flex points!
Wow – that is one crap day. I hope things get better quickly and that you are all together safe and warm at home.
Wow. That is AWFUL!!!!
That seriously blows. I would have been a crying angry mom by the time I even got to the airport – much less all the other crapola.
I hope your friend makes it in safely.
Oh I feel your pain! All that stress for nothing.
We experienced it from the other end…not knowing if our plane could land at our destination. And we were flying on the day of my dad’s surprise birthday party/New Years eve-if we couldn’t land, we’d miss the party and point of our trip completely.
Oh and add a husband who hates to fly ontop of the fussy baby and whiny 4 year old. Ugh!
Who said flying is less stress than driving?
BOOOOOOOO. Double boo that she still isn’t here. She better get here before Saturday or I’ll be steamed.
OH MAN… what a pain in the arss.
Well yuck!!! I hope she arrives on time tomorrow.
I have one of those broken doors. It always manages to jam at the worst possible time and always with a big ol’ *CLUNK* that makes you wanna stick your foot through it.
Oh, suck.
And, my car door does that sometimes. It makes the most TERRIBLE sound when it won’t close, too. Am cringing at the thought of it.
Totally brutal. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed that all goes smoothly tomorrow!
SUUUCKSSSS!!!!!!! Hopefully she can arrive soon!
Ugh! What a pain…If it’s not the snow – it’s the fog!
Boooo. What a rotten day. I hope you have a better morning and a great weekend!
ohh – what a crap day and so disappointing! I hope the next attempt goes perfectly!
And I reaped all the benefits. Did she make it out threre alright today???
Hey Amanda- Im having a wee giveaway on my sewing blog and thought you may want to take part seeing as you have little ones!
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Gah!! What an ordeal.
I hope Christy makes it to you safely!
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