Travel days - you never know if the day will go smoothly or if there'll be a few bumps along the way. I had been told that the Northern airports are somewhat forgiving about luggage, but perhaps that's only if you're a local.
I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Now keep in mind, the Timmins airport is small. As I was approaching the Air Canada desk with my huge suitcase, my carryon, and my backpack, the attendant instructed me - from a distance that all checked luggage had to be x-rayed. WHOA! What's that mean?
Well, I knew what it meant, but do I need to check-in first? What's the protocol? AHA - then I realized that there was an X-ray machine right beside me and I needed to put the big suitcase through the X-ray machine. OK - that was easy. It gets a little tag to let the attendant know that it was X-rayed.
Now I'm allowed to approach the counter. OH - your suitcase is overweight by 5.6 pounds. You can pay $100 or move some stuff. And she literally looked at my carryon suitcase and said: "do you really think you can move 5 pounds to that suitcase?" Of course, I can - do I look like an idiot? Then she proceeded to make me fit the carryon into the metal frame and well - the bottom line - she made me pay $50 to check that second bag. I don't remember the fee being $50 but I paid up.
But not before, I opened both suitcases and rifled through things and rejigged the contents to make the huge suitcase weigh 48.9 pounds. Who knows what the small suitcase weighed. Before I hit the magic number, I weighed the large one a second time and it was still 1.6 pounds over. Was that good enough? "No, the flight is full and weight is really important." OK - I get that, but does it matter if my 1.6 pounds is in one suitcase or the other - I'm taking them both with me. She should have said - it's for the baggage handlers. Perhaps she was having a bad day!
The bottom line, I got both suitcases to her specifications and we were all happy and I was $50 poorer. I had bought a couple of things while I was there and that's what tipped the scales. I don't know why she was so huffy about the smaller suitcase. On the DASH-8 plane, it goes in the sky check anyway. But she wasn't having nothing to do with that.
As I was sitting in the waiting area, waiting for security to open, I noticed a man with a carryon bag that was larger than the one I was trying to bring. OH - I forgot, after I had the bags to her satisfaction, I had to take them both back to the X-ray machine to be X-rayed. While we were waiting, this man's name got called. No idea why, but he was called to the counter where the attendant having a bad day was stationed. When the man came back to his seat, he didn't have his carryon with him. She made him check that too. I didn't feel bad at all and I was watching for others with carryon luggage. I bet most of them wouldn't have fit in that metal frame.
When I looked out the window in the morning, the weather looked bad. However, I soon realized that it was windy like crazy and it was just blowing snow. When I had to get out and put gas in the car, let's just say that it was a fun (NOT!) experience.
Oh - the workers at the airport were having a bad day because after I was finished checking in, I remembered I had to turn in the keys to the rental car. I approached the desk and a woman was busy doing something. She asked me if I wanted a receipt, I said "sure". As I was standing there, I noticed a sign on the desk that said - you could have one e-mailed to you. I asked if mine could be e-mailed to me. She literally grabbed the keys and threw them in the pile beside the sign. She said something rude and that was that. HEY LADY - if you don't want to do anything - then put the sign right up front and I'd have been happy to throw the keys in the pile myself.
I mean really - these people have to realize that STRANGERS unfamiliar to their area fly through that airport. It's not like we all live up north.
Anyway - I got on the full flight and we had a great flight home. Took much less time than going up - must have been the wind. The flight was delayed by 15 minutes and I bet that was because of the headwinds for the plane coming in. I don't usually travel in the winter and certainly not when you have to get on the plane from outside. Everyone was so bundled up in their coats - it made the small plane feel even smaller. However, there was one man who had no luggage and no winter coat. What was that all about?
When I arrived in Toronto, to my surprise, my luggage (both pieces) were the 2nd and 3rd pieces that arrived on the carousel. Was that a benefit of my paying $50?? I hardly doubt that! I love to watch the reaction of people when they get their rides outside. There was this large black vehicle - bigger than an SUV waiting. There were two men inside and when the person they were meeting walked up behind me, these two guys got out. Of course - shouts to their buddy who was arriving and big hugs all around. Now, what's that all about? Most people, just quietly get in the car. To make matters even worse, as the new guy was trying to put his suitcase in the back of this HUGE vehicle, I hear a crash and saw a 12-pack of Corona beer fall onto the pavement. What the heck was in the back of this HUGE vehicle? You could tell that something broke inside and as one guy picked it up, it was gushing beer.
NO!!!!!! - that's good stuff. So they opened the case, took out all the unbroken bottles and put the remainder in the garbage beside me. I told the guy - "what a waste". He concurred. Then they all got in the vehicle and drove away. And the area smelled strongly of beer! What was so funny was the guy they were picking up said to them as he got close "is this the FBI picking me up?" It seriously looked like that except the driver was in a plaid shirt.
Anyway - I made it home safely and the girls were beyond themselves to see me. And that should be the LAST overnight road trip of the year. Yeah!!!!! I don't mind road trips, but I really hate flying with that huge suitcase. It's so not me, but it's very important to what I do. I can't imagine flying with more than one of those huge cases. Not going to happen in my lifetime. OH - I'd better be careful, but I would try to never fly with more than what I do right now.
I unpacked the suitcases when I got home and has to wash the wheels twice to get all the salt off of them.
I literally puttered around all afternoon. I had to teach a class at 4:30 so there wasn't a whole lot of downtime. The class was to teach two young girls (grades 4 and 6) how to make a zippered pouch. This is the second time I taught these two girls (they are cousins). The first time, one borrowed a sewing machine from the store and the other one brought a toy sewing machine. This time, they had REAL sewing machines that the parents bought for them. I knew that purchase had happened and I was THRILLED for the girls. What did they buy?? They are very cute.
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| New sewing machine |
Huge KUDOS to the parents of these two girls for buying them a $200 sewing machine that actually works. Remember, they are in Grade 4 and Grade 6. Can you imagine being in Grade 4 and having a sewing machine? They got matching machines by the way. The color is Arctic Crystal. I think the color was a huge influencer in the purchase.
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| Matching sewing machines |
Last time, the girls made pillowcases, this time they made zippered pouches. The smiles on their faces when they turned those zippered pouches inside out was priceless. For obvious reasons, I don't have a picture of them holding their zippered pouches. Mom's rules - no pictures. I'm good with that.
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| Zippered pouches |
It took them two hours and during that time, I did all the cutting for safety reasons and to speed up the process. Now isn't that just the best???? I wish these two girls lived a wee bit closer to me as I'd love to mentor the two of them. Anyone know someone in Mississauga who wants to learn to sew?
And we may have another young sewist as well. As the girls were finishing up, a mom, dad, and young girl walked into the store. The young girl, seeing the young girls in the back, marched right into the back and wanted to see what they had done. She wanted to learn to sew as well!
I tell you - these kids want to sew and make things, but with parents who never learned, they don't stand a chance. If you know someone who wants to sew - help them out!!! Become a mentor - loan them a sewing machine or get the parents to buy one - Christmas is coming.
Here's the thing and this is a comment to marketing brilliance that all sewing machine companies should pay attention to. If you go online and search "sewing machine for a beginner" (actually I went to that huge online store) and guess what pops up? These machines (amongst others) in three eye-catching colors.
Then it was home where I could relax for the remainder of the evening. Yeah!!!!
I don't have a whole lot going on this weekend - officially that is. But I have blog posts to write, pictures to take, quilts to quilt and a bit of a mess created by madly prepping before I left. So it's going to be a super busy day. I'm OK with that. I'm home and I putter to my heart's content.
On that note, I'd better take these wild dogs for a walk!
Have a super day!!!
Ciao!!!
Your commitment for Sunday is done? or are you contributing another 10 to next month's lunch?
ReplyDeleteWell - you have to wait to see!!!!!
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