We are finally back to our motorhome which is parked in our son's driveway in Pennsylvania. It has been a couple of very long days with a huge change in time zones and weather. We started in Vancouver at 6:15 am (3:15 am EDT), finished the first day at 10:30 pm (EDT) at the Quality Inn by the airport where it was still in the high 70s (It had been 88 earlier in the day). The second day we were up at 8:00 am EDT and off to Pennsylvania after breakfast arriving around 3:30 pm to temperatures around 88 degrees and staying awake till late in the evening to try and help our bodies adjust.
Our experiences in the Vancouver and Toronto airport positively wore us out. It was pouring rain when we got off the ship and on to a huge bus that took us to the airport. There they unloaded us outside after off loading all the luggage and leaving it sit in the rain. Then we had to walk a distance to the entrance to get into a line we were directed to by an airport employee. There were easily 200 people in the line with all their luggage and only 2 check in people!!!!!!!!!! And the line continued to grow behind us as more busloads came into the airport. All of us wet and getting just a bit anxious because our flights were due to go out soon and we were stuck in this line.
Then someone appeared and said we should go to another area to check in. Most of the people left but we just stayed where we were since now the line was quite short. Once we checked in and had our large suitcase taken care of, we headed to the security line. That took awhile but we finally made it through and then set off on a very very long walk to the far end of the terminal to get on the plane that was already in the process of loading. (When we arrived we still had 2 hours till loading would begins so that gives an idea of how long we were in lines and walking)
The flight went fine though Ken and I ended up being in the very last row of a huge plane with 11 seats across (5 in the middle, 3 on each side) By the time the stewardesses got back to us with food that could be bought for a lunch (very limited choice) most of the food was gone but Ken managed to get a sandwich and I had some cheese and crackers)
When we arrived in Toronto, we had just short of two hours till the final boarding time for our flight to Detroit. That rapidly disappeared as we went from security station to security station to security station (different types) and waited in long lines making long walks as well. By the time we got out of the final one we had an escalator to go down and couldn't find any board to tell us what gate we were going out. After hunting we located that but then missed the turn to the long long long hall and regular set of stairs (no escalator or elevator) that took us back to a narrow crammed end with 4 check in desks for planes all leaving at the same time and well over 200 people trying to figure out where to go to get to their plane - most of whom were frantic like us because the final boarding time was when we arrived and they were just trying to check everyone in. What chaos!!!!! But finally we got on our very small plane (only 12 rows with sets of 2 seats on each side) with me in row 6 and Ken in row 9 and carryon suitcases jammed quite literally in the small overhead space.
We arrived in Detroit Metro at the furthest end of the long concourse around 9:30 but by the time we walked to the exit area, got our luggage, found the way to the transportation (required 2 different elevator rides), got on and went to the parking lot for our car and from there to the Quality Inn it was 10:30 pm and we were exhausted!!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully we'll never have to do that again!!! Especially the nightmare trip through the Toronto airport.
After a night's rest, we were up just in time for to grab a little breakfast at the motel as it was being cleaned up. Then we were off for Pennsylvania in the car. Luckily it was the Sunday of a three day Memorial Day weekend so while the roads were busy they weren't packed with people trying to get somewhere for the whole weekend. We enjoyed our lunch at Panera at a rest stop along the Ohio turnpike and got to Dan and Jen's home and our motorhome (in their driveway) around 3:30 pm. We were able to get unpacked and start the clothes washing process before supper with the family.
Abbi enjoyed sharing her outfit for the special dance she'll attend with her sister and parents on Friday in Lancaster with all of the gathered Veritos homeschooing families from around the country. Abbi and Rachel are really looking forward to meeting kids they've shared classes with over the last couple of years while attending on line classes provided by Veritos.
No comments:
Post a Comment