For those who don't know, I was in San Jose, CA for the past week to visit Amy and ebuceci for the holidays. The day I was leaving, was also one of the longest day of my life. Welcome to a day in the life of hurc.
Entry for Monday January 2nd, 2006.
05:00am Pacific Time (GMT-8) - Woke up. I only slept 2 hours, so I'm pretty groggy.
05:30am PT - Leave the house for SJC airport. Noticed that my fuel gauge was on empty.
05:35am PT - Head to gas station, planning to use credit card to buy fuel, because there is no attendant. Unfortunately, gas pumps here request your zip code when you use your credit card. So I can't use my car. I have no choice at this point but to head towards the airport with the gas light on.
05:50am PT - I arrive at the rental car return station at SJC safely. I know I will be raped on the gas charges because I did not opt to buy the gas before rental. The attendant asks me if the tank is full. I say no, it's actually empty. she looks at me and says it's 7$/gallon. Current price is around 2.19$/gallon right now. Not really sure why, but then she says, "Let's just say it's 5/8th full." I only get charged 30$ for an empty tank. Sweet. What a lucky break I think.
06:00am PT - I arrive at the United Airlines counter, and there's already a huge lineup to check-in, even on the electronic counters.
06:45am PT - I finally get my boarding pass. All my flights are confirmed to be on-time. I fly out of SJC, connecting through Chicago ORD, and finally arrive in Montreal at 6:55pm Eastern Time. I have about an hour or so in Chicago, so it should be sufficient to connect. I figure when i get home, I'll have time to relax before work tomorrow.
07:00am PT - I fly past the security check point, the lineup was pretty short. Got an hour to kill around the terminal before my flight leaves at 8:03am.
07:35am PT - They tell us that there is a slight delay in Chicago, ETA is an hour late.
08:30am PT - We start boarding the plane. I'm already looking forward to a nice nap on this 4-hour-plus flight. I'm not really worried about the delay at this point, since they usually can make up time in the air and will normally hold the gate on the connecting flight.
09:00am PT - We're on the tarmac waiting for approval for takeoff. The Captain tells us it will be another hour before we can take off. ETA now is around 10:00am. That's 2 hours late. They tell us that there is a weather problem in Chicago, so ALL flights are grounded in and out of ORD. This includes my connecting flight, so I'm not too worried. I'll be late, but I'll get home eventually.
09:45am PT - We hear the engines start up, then suddenly shut off. They're bringing up back to the terminal so that everyone can stretch their legs. Now they're saying they don't have a hard ETA on when we'll be able to leave SJC.
10:45am PT - We're back on the plane, but I'm still pretty optimistic.
11:15am PT - Before anything else happens, they tell us to leave the plane AGAIN. The ETA now is 1:30pm. That's 5.5 hours later than scheduled. During this time everyone is scrambling to see what other options they have, whether to take a chance and go to Chicago, or switch to a flight the next day, etc. The line up at the counter is horrible, and I really don't want to leave the terminal and get past the security check point again. I end up calling Air Canada who tells me that my flight from ORD to Montreal YUL has been cancelled and that they don't have any available flights until the next day. Then I call United, who says that there is a flight out from ORD to YUL at 8:50 Central Time, which has been delayed to 9:43pm CT. So if I leave SJC at 1:30pm PT, I should have time to catch the flight. The only problem is that I'll need to print a new boarding pass once I get to ORD. I'll take my chances with that.
01:00pm PT - We're back on the plane for the third time, most of the original passengers are still on this flight, which means that there are no other flights available today. I even overheard that the next available flights here are on Wednesday, which is 2 days away. I'm glad I decided to stick with this flight.
01:45pm PT - The plane finally takes off. The Captain says that the flight will be 3.5 hours long. They are shaving off close to an hour in the air, so that's pretty good. I finally get to nap a little.
07:15pm Central Time (GMT-6) - The flight seemed short as I slept through most of it. Now I know that I will need to find the United customer service center to print my new boarding pass.
07:35pm CT - There are so many people lined up at customer service center. As soon as I start to line up, the line more than doubles. I consider myself lucky, especially since I took my time getting there.
08:05pm CT - I moved a whole 3 feet in the past 30 minutes. That's 10 minutes for every foot. That's when a United rep comes out and tells people that for Domestic Flights, the line is 6 feet over. I ask if that includes Canada, he says yes. The line I'm in is for those heading to Paris. Fun times.
08:30pm CT - This line is actually moving quite fast, as it's for the Self-Check machines. I look over my shoulder to check up on my 8:50pm CT flight. It was delayed to 9:43pm CT, but now it's 11:10pm CT.
08:45pm CT - I finally get confirmation that I will be on the 11:10pm CT out of ORD to YUL. Arrival to YUL is 2:19am Eastern Time.
09:45pm CT - I've been writing the above for the past 45 minutes, waiting for my flight to board, and hoping there aren't any more delays.
10:15pm CT - My gate has changed three times in the past hour. It was originally C3, changed to C8, then C1 and now finally C5. Luckily, they're close together.
11:00pm CT - They finally start boarding my flight.
11:20pm CT - There is a slight delay because the luggage still hasn't been loaded onto the plane yet. I really hope my luggage is on this plane.
11:45am CT - We are claer to take off from ORD. At this point, I just wanted to try and sleep through this flight.
02:36am Eastern Time (GMT-5) - Finally! The plane lands in Montreal. I'm glad this ordeal is over... or so I think.
02:45am ET - I'm already past customs and waiting for my luggage in baggage claim.
03:00am ET - The baggage carousel stops. I, along with about 20 other passengers, stand there a little confused. We now need to head to the baggage claim area to fill out the proper forms. The remaining bags are probably still stuck in Chicago.
03:45am ET - After another lineup, I get my turn at the counter and make my claim with the baggage attendant.
04:05am ET - Home Sweet Home. I'm so exhausted. I've been up for 21 hours now, after only 2 hours of sleep the night before. I think I'm going to knock out for a while...
