Not an auspicious beginning....

Booking travel for my flights in and out of Japan was definitely challenging for some reason. I'm thinking the whole Boeing thing didn't help matters. My original flight with Air Canada was changed so that I would have more time to make a connecting flight in Montreal and I ended up with one of those really long flights from Montreal to Tokyo. Okay, no problem. My back can suck it up. I am heading to Japan after all.

On Thursday I got an email that my first flight out of Boston was going to be delayed by 40 minutes. That would still get me into Montreal in time and I didn't have to take such an early bus from Portland to Logan in the morning. All good.

At Logan this morning, they delayed the flight again and I knew my window to catch that connecting flight was getting squeezed so I was happy when we finally got in the air. The flight was completely full except for the seat right next to me. Nice!!!

We landed with 35 minutes to catch my flight.....and then we sat......and sat. Apparently there was some confusion about if the plane was supposed to go to a gate or if we got out on the tarmac and made our way into the airport that way. When I finally got off the plan, I only had 15 minutes to get to my gate. I started running, stopped to ask where I needed to go and they told me they were waiting for me and to run.

No joke, it took me 10 minutes of flat out running to get to the boarding gate with a couple of stops to get my ticket checked and my passport checked. The moment I got there, they were closing the door and they wouldn't let me on. The plane was RIGHT THERE! I'm not ashamed to say that I started crying.

I was not a happy camper. I mean, literally 10 seconds sooner and I would have made it onto that plane!

Of course, there wasn't another flight that got me there any sooner. There was one to Beijing with an overnight stay but what's the point of that?

I got a boarding pass for the exact same flight tomorrow but in a middle seat and then waited for over an hour for them to find my bag. No joke I walked at least 2 miles around the airport being sent from one end to the other.

So, here I am, in a room at the Hilton Garden Inn (that Air Canada is paying for) with a $15 voucher for dinner (thanks for nothin') and not even a place to get a drink after the crazy start to my adventure. I'm in one of my favorite cities but I'm in a hotel that is 45 minutes from Vieux Montreal so stuck here for the night. I had to spend 30 minutes trying to cancel my hotel reservation in Tokyo and I just spent 45 minutes on hold trying to talk to someone at the airlines to get a better seat. With a fused spine, I just can't sit in those curved seats for long so there is no way I can be in a middle seat for 13 hours. I always pick a window seat so I can turn my body and lean that way or my back will go into spasms. The flight is full tomorrow so I'm stuck. 

I'm hoping I have better luck tomorrow when I get to the airport. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I know it's not the end of the world and I did plan on flying a day early so I could deal with jet lag. Now I get there Sunday instead. Not a big deal in the scheme  of things. 

I have to keep my attitude positive and my eyes on the prize of being in Japan for 3 weeks.  Now, time to get a glass of wine, or an ice cold martini. I deserve it after the day I've had (and it's only 4:00)!

Hahahaha....total update to this post. I decided to take a quick shower before heading to the bar and when I picked up my suitcase it felt really heavy. I pack light so WTF! Did my luggage have luggage babies? I realized that it wasn't my suitcase. Holy crap! I swear it is the same bag and even the name tag is the same color and place. I totally cracked up. I mean, come on! I was so happy to finally get out of that airport that I didn't even question that it wasn't my bag after trudging back and forth for an hour. I feel so bad for the person who is searching for their suitcase and mine is now MIA.

So the hotel manager contacted Air Canada and he just informed me that I have to go back to the airport to return the bag and find mine. Makes sense. They can't just hand my suitcase over to the shuttle driver. So, back to the airport for me. I have to laugh. It is pretty damned funny!