London - Departure

I didn't expect to write a post about my departure from London, but considering what happened, i'm pretty much obliged to.

I woke up at 08:00, had a normal morning, preparing all my stuff for my hotel check-out. I had planned to leave at 10:00, but it was 09:00, and everything was done, so I had two choices: either stay in my tiny room for another hour, or leave right now and spend an hour more at the airport. I checked-out, and asked for a taxi to the Heathrow Airport. It wasn't a very long wait, but the vehicle surprised me - it was a black Audi Q5, possibly 2011, with no taxi sign that I could see. The driver was pretty chatty, and it looked like his personal vehicle, which was weird, because all the taxis in the UK were actually designed as taxis - different seat layout in the back, intercom system, glass between the driver and the occupants (bulletproof?). At two times, as he was talking about his daughter and what she was doing while he was driving with her, he groped my arm. That was really displeasing, and more so because the ride started to seem very long.

In the pamphlet, it was written that the Caesar hotel was 12.5km from the airport, but as I figured out later, London has more than one airport. The international airport is actually 16 miles (26km) from the hotel. I had £30 in notes in my wallet, £10 in coins in my pocket, and the small plastic bag of coins in my luggage. Since there were no price counter inside the car, I hated the feeling of not knowing how much it would cost. The guy stopped, and I saw as he was writing the receipt £70. 120$ for a f-ing taxi! The hotel clerk could have told me something about that! I also had 40$ in Canadian money and he was about to accept them, but I needed them for when I got back to Quebec. We went to the back and counted how much I had in the little bag - about £32-33. Wow, that really was a luck! On the positive side, I wouldn't have a lot of "lost" money in Canada, but on the negative side, I didn't have all that coin collection to show people around. Particularly, I was out of £1 and £2.

I got in the airport and wandered for a few minutes. It was a bit past 10:00, and I was starting to be hungry already. With no money left other than a 20$, I changed it, which got me £9.75. I got myself a sandwich and started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. When it was time to board, the plane started to lag behind, so we took flight 20-30 minutes later than we were supposed. No problem, I thought, since I have over an hour at the Montreal Airport. I was a good flight, with normal good food. I read a lot, and watched the movie Footloose when they started serving the lunch. I also watched an episode of Just for Laughs (season 7, episode 1), which was the best of stand-up comedy. I didn't laugh out loud once, but at least, it was mildly entertaining. In the plane, we got into a turbulent zone, and went into free-fall for a second (I really liked it).

We got at the Montreal Airport, and were told by the captain that there was another plane at our gate, so it will be a few more minutes. By then, just before landing, we were told that many of us were switching planes because we were running late. Among them was the Quebec City connection, switched to the 20:30 or 21:30 flights. I didn't have my ticket within reach, so I couldn't confirm that I was switching. I had enough time on my watch anyway, so it didn't make any sense.

After ten or fifteen minutes, the captain told us that the plane in our gate actually had mechanical problems, and all the other gates are taken. Oh, really? I was starting to get angry inside. We had to wait for 45 minutes (total) before we could get out. They could have let us leave the plane by one of them ladders, but to be politically neutral, they probably weren't expecting this to take that long. It was 17:00 (local time, so 22:00 on my internal clock), so I had missed the Quebec flight no matter what. I would have missed it, because I had to go walk a long way, go through customs, walk a long way, go through security, walk a long way, and wait. Before security, there were a line for connecting people like me, and they gave me my new ticket - of course, I was on the 21:30 flight. They put me on a waiting list for the 18:00 flight, but there were already a lot of people on it. I also bought a vegetarian subway wrap, but I found out that I had to go through security again, so I quickly ate it in case they would take it away. Turned out that the guy in front of me also had a subway in his hands, and was let in.

I got to the gate at 17:45, and apparently nobody on the waiting list was called. My flight was at 21:30, so I went to the pay phones to call my boss, to tell him that I won't be there to the farewell party tonight for the lab boss. Put 50¢ and dialed, and then, because it was a long distance, the phone asked for 4.90$ more, for one minute. Wait, what? What else could go wrong today? My cell phone was at my sister's, and the iPhone3 I had in my pocket is not connected to anything. I really, really, don't want to pay 5$/min, and I remember the internet stations in the UK, where you pay £1 or £2 for a set amount of minutes. I don't remember seeing anything like that in Canada, but I can check around - I have a lot of time.

Just before I leave the gate, I decide, as I have done many times in Edinburgh and London, to check the wi-fi networks. The airport has an unsecured one, as can be reasonably expected, so I connect to it. The airport internal website loads. Just to be sure, I load www.google.com, and the page loads. Website caching. I open my bookmarks, click on Reddit, see the loading animation, and actually see the page load (albeit slowly). As I understand it, the Montreal Airport is the only one I used this year that has free wi-fi, and this is the first good news of the day. I connect to facebook, send a message to my boss, and since it's getting a bit late, also send a message to my sister asking her to call him for me.

I read again after buying an expensive muffin, then at around 18:45, they start calling names on the intercom, about 20 of them. I'm on the list for the 19:00 flight! Two good news in a row! We get outside (my first draft of cold Quebec air), leave the big carry-ons on a large metal tray that goes in the back of the plane, and board. The plane leaves several minutes too late, but whatever - maybe I'll be lucky enough that there will still be some people left at that farewell party!

Uneventful flight, in which I continued to read. We land and wait a couple minutes, suspicion rising once more. The captain says to us that the cargo door, where all the baggages are, is frozen (welcome back to Quebec). Normally, they are supposed to get the tray out so we can get our carry-on as we leave the plane, but after another 2-3 minutes, we're told to go to the airport - the carry-ons will arrive on the conveyor belt with the registered baggages. Getting worse again. I only had carry-ons, so that my going through the airport be as swift as possible. We all wait near the conveyor belt, waiting for the luggages to arrive, when someone from the airport come to us and say that the cargo door is still frozen but mechanics (or whoever else) are currently warming it.

Ten more minutes (twenty minutes since we landed) - the same guy comes back and tell us in a triumphantly proud manner that the cargo door is unfrozen and the baggages are coming. The conveyor belt starts, but after a minute or so, it stops. What now? False alarm - it starts again, and the baggages arrive some time later. Let's add another good news, because I need some at this point - my small carry-on was the fifth or so on the conveyor belt. I grab it and leave the Quebec Airport, following the increasingly long path to follow to get at the taxi section.

Just before I pass through the door, I notice a sign that says the taxis are fixed-price - there is a constant fee of 14.50$ for rides near the airport. I live about 3km from the airport exit, and I expected paying 8-10$ maximum. I asked the driver about the fixed price, he replied by a positive, I sighed and said "I'll walk then". I did that partly because I was still mad about the 120$ taxi ride in the morning.

I started walking through the small airport streets, feeling the direction I was going, hoping I was taking the right turns. It was very cold (-20°C), but I had expected to feel colder, considering my three weeks at 2-9°C. It took me about thirty minutes to walk, during which I was imagining what else could go wrong - like that I lost the keys to the apartment, that they wouldn't work, that my car wouldn't start, or that my luggage would break open. Nothing happened, except a deep relief when I finally entered the apartment and put the luggage down.

It was now 21:00, or 02:00 on my internal clock. I wasn't tired. I quickly changed some clothes (for the first time, wore a white shirt, black jacket, and blue jeans, which I think looked good), and left, still hoping some people were left. I got there at 21:20, and most were there, to my relief. They had just finished eating, and I even got a free desert.

The rest of the evening was pretty great. I took two pints of Rickard's dark, to commemorate my lack of drinking in London, and to get my mind off what happened today. It was a 'Ginger' restaurant on the ground floor of the Plaza Hotel in Quebec. The lab boss had taken a room for the night, and when there were only five of us left, we went to the room to talk. There were a lot of laughs too, and a hotel clerk knocked to our room to remind us that people were sleeping. We left one by one, and I was the last one to leave at 02:20, or 07:20 on my internal clock. Still not really tired.

Got home, made my bed, and went to sleep.

Trip over.