Well, here I am, blogging to you live from the very boring LAX Terminal 2 lounge. The time here is 19:21, which is already 22:21 your time. I left for the airport in Ottawa quite a while ago already, yet have many more miles to journey before I get to Nadi, Fiji. My flight leaves here at 22:15, and it’ll be after 6am on Wednesday before I finally reach my final destination. To get there, I travelled west only. You know what the funny thing is? Well, to get to LA, I’ve travelled “back” in time 3 hours, but ther further I fly west, I’ll eventually flip forward in time, landing on the other side of the international date line. Weird stuff, isn’t it? Let’s flip back to earlier today, and you can catch up to my journey thus far.
Sunday night was the final supper for Jody and I together, and we opted for a nice cheese fondue with a bottle of white wine. All day, Jody had been warning me of the approaching snow storm, promising to dump us with at least 20cm of snow. However, when I finally turned in around 11:40pm, there was no sign of a big storm, but only a bit of freezing rain. Perhaps it would pass by us? Not so lucky. Upon waking up around 8am the next morning, I was greeted with a massive dump of snow. Oh yeah, big dump. Schools were all cancelled, and the roads were a mess. Not a great way to start the trip. Flights had been cancelled and delayed all over the place, mostly the Toronto and Montreal flights though. Luckily, I was flying through Chicago, and it looked like my flight would be on time, given that it wasn’t leaving until after noon.
Jody and I put our backs into it, and fully shovelled out the driveway so that we could get out. No small feat. Luckily, I had packed the bike box and my big duffle in the car the night before, so there were no problems or delays there. We hit the road, and were surprised that although our street was complete shit, the other roads weren’t too bad, and as a bonus, there was little traffic, as we had already missed rush hour. Once at the airport, I had 3 hours before flight, but there was no one on duty until 10am, so we just stood around waiting. When I finally checked in, there were a few tense moments as I waited to see if the bike would be taken. In the end, it was, although it cost me $85. As the check-in lady said, “Merry Christmas United Airlines”, when I told her it was much more than Air Canada. On the plus side, my bike was accepted, and apparently is checked all the way to Fiji at least. Sweet.
Getting through security was realatively uneventful as well, and once clear on the other side, I gave Jody a quick call from a payphone to let her know all was well. The Ottawa to Chicago was reading on-time, and then “departed” all while we were still waiting. Apparently they wanted to get their numbers up for on time departures inspite of the fact that we were definitely delayed. We left about an hour late. Luckily, I had about a 2 hour layover in Chicago, which should give me an hour to change flights. In the end, that flight was also delayed (as well as ultra-full), putting us almost another hour late to Los Angeles. Luckily, my layover here is still about 5 hours, hence this post. I’ve already eaten a crap sandwich, and am just charging up the battereies on my UMPC and my iPod in a dark corner.
The Chicago-LA flight, although full, wasn’t too bad either. I had my traditional window seat, and just listened to tunes until the movie came on. “Stardust” was the selection this time. Not a bad movie. Got a thumbs up from both Ebert and Roeper. Sienna Miller is in it, as well as Clare Danes and Robert De Niro. It’s been compared to the Princess Bride, which I can sort of understand, but it has a few darker aspects then that. However, it was a good flick, and I’d recommend it too. I have no idea what equipment I’ll be on next (like that Kev?), but I’ve got my fingers crossed for an in-seat entertainment system. I know I’ll at least get some free booze and food this time. The last flight didn’t have any free food, in spite of going across the country. I ended up spending $5US on a snack box to tide me over.
While here, I opted to walk around the sprawling airport and all its terminals rather than take shuttle busses. Much better way to spend my time between flights. I visited the cool space-looking structure, where the ‘Encounters’ restaurant is located, but it was closed. It was still kinda neat to see though. As it turns out, I’m pretty sure this is my first time ever in LA. Not sure I need to return really. That’s about it for now, I realize this post isn’t too exciting for you, but it’s given me a chance to do something to kill a bit of time. Guess I’ll get back to music and Sudoku now 😉 Hope everyone’s doing fine.
I’ve decided to extend this post until at least I arrived in Fiji, since that’s a logical stopping point, get it? Hee hee. Anywho, after finishing off with my wait in LAX, I finally got to board the last flight of my journey until next week. This was an 11 hour flight from LA to Nadi, Fiji, overnight. The flight. Although not full, didn’t allow me much rest. I was in a window seat, but had a seat-mate with me, meaning I couldn’t sprawl out. Also, there was very little room to recline, so essentially, I got only about an hour of sleep in total. As I write this, I’m at the end of the first day, and have yet to take a nap, although my dorm-mates are taking one as I type ;-(.
I also have to relay a sad piece of news thus far. Upon arrival in Fiji, I got my duffle bag okay, but my bike has not arrived. I’ve decided not to sweat it, since I’ve got a week before I really need it. My guess is the baggage tag wasn’t stuck on well enough, and the box is somewhere in transit. Here’s hoping anyway. The baggage guy pointed to stacks of luggage explaining that they were all from the day before flight, so it happens a lot. All I know is if I don’t have it in a week, I’ll have to start worrying, and making phone calls to United Airlines. D’oh. Anyway, since I’m not worried about it, neither should any of you. I’ve already got far too many tales to share with you about day one. So move on to the next post 🙂
