So here I am, Yellowknife, currently in my hotel room tapping away on the keyboard in crazed anticipation-read anxiety-of what may or may not occur tomorrow. Will the ride with the big chief actually happen and will I be able to pull off the flight of a life time. Well I am two ales in about to reach for a third and I can only hope for the best.
As for the first part of the days journey... If there is one advantage to flying Air Canada, it's that they can transfer your baggage to a connecting flight of another airline and in some cases issue a boarding pass for the connecting flight as well. The same can not be said for Westjet. Sure they have pleather seats and staff that appear to like their job, but at the cost of having no transfer agreements with any other airline in the aviation world. So...
What would at once seem to be a comfortable 45 minutes between flights on Milton's air-taxi with attitude becomes a harrowing 3/4 of an hour wondering if you can collect all of your baggage, desperately pleaing that it all comes together first in line off the aircraft only to be let down when the last of your three bags is one of the last to make it on the carousel, find an elevator to get you up to the departure level cuz its damn near impossible to carry 2 action-packers and a duffel bag up the escalator, check in and hope that some power hungry minimum wage "security" representative doesn't want to swab said action-packers for explosives like they did just over two hours ago in Vancouver BEFORE one actually went through security where they then neglected to swab my computer, check in to your next airline thankfully not having to deal with an extra baggage charge because there is no time to go through the motions and then go through security once more (where they again won't swab my computer) all the time hoping that whoever has been managing the big baggage X-ray machine they warned me about two hours ago doesn't tear the re-taped action-packers apart because the two flats of ale, 40oz's of gin and a few floater beer bottles look a little suspicious all the while sprinting to make the final boarding call.
Somewhere an English teacher is crying because that last paragraph only has one period. Hemingway however has a big grin.
Fortunatley the planets aligned and everything worked out well. With my future on the line I don't think I want to try that experiment again. Thankfully First Air pours generous portions of complimentary red wine with a smile.
To top all of that bullshit off, Yellowknife's airport is undergoing a few renovations not the least of which is the revolving exit door that keeps the cold air out and the warm air in... The secret to keep the door moving is to stay at least "25 cm" from both the front and back doors as you walk the circle. Unfortunately the automatic door has a extra sensitive sensors that cause the revolving door to stop revolving when the occupants have gotten to close to the door. The end result is a maddening excessively long period trying to get out of the airport made extra long when all of the baggage carts are outside requiring one to make three trips through the "fun house".
Damn! I can see the bottom of my glass and that signals bed time... Let the fun begin.
Or is that continue?
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