I am now safe and sound in Kingston!
I meant to update all week last week, but I was so busy with end-of-term assignments, packing, and seeing people for the last time before the holidays that I really never got around to it :S
I was SO EXCITED to come home, I couldn't even sleep. I woke up about 5 times in the middle of the night, each time wishing that more time had gone by since the last look at the clock. I don't think I would have been so excited to leave if I knew I wasn't coming back. But the realization hit me a few days ago that I'm only a third of the way through my stay here! In Canada, my school year would be half done...but since they are in classes until June, I still have plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful country.
I woke up at 4am, cleaned the last remaining items from my bedroom, had a quick breakfast of "Oat-so-Simple" oatmeal, emptied my garbage and stuffed the last things into my luggage and handed in my keys to student reception. Mia met me outside (bless her soul, it was probably about -5 and she was in shorts because she didn't realize the main building would be locked!) and saw me off in my cab. I made it to the airport for around 5:20, and checked in and went to the gate for my flight which was scheduled for 6:30.
Riiiiiiight.
About that...
As I sat down, there was an announcement telling everyone to check the flight boards for information on boarding times. I, along with the other people at my gate, did so...only to discover that "due to severe weather setbacks", our flight had been delayed until 10:40.
BRILLIANT. The lady beside me had a panic attack, mumbling to herself that she had 3 connections to make, and then just sat there with her face in her hands for close to half an hour. For the first time, I felt 100% glad that I was going standby and didn't have to worry about missing a booked flight. I mean yea, getting in around 12:00 would mean I'd have one less chance of catching a standby flight home, but at least I wouldn't have such a big hassle.
Or at least I thought.
It was my first time going standby alone, which wasn't a huge deal because I pretty much knew what I was doing anyway. But as you'll see very shortly, that was the least of my worries.
Luckily, our plane from Aberdeen actually ended up boarding around 8 and leaving shortly after, and I got a window seat over the wing, beside an ADORABLE little boy (about 3 years old I'd say?) and his mom. He was so cute! They played hide and seek for the first 20 minutes or so and then he just slept for the rest of the flight. We got to Heathrow around 9:30, and by the time I got my bags, found the Air Canada station and did the self check-in, it was 10:11 (Precisely. I remember that.)
The area where all the different airline check-in stations were was REAL busy, but I figured it was just because it was the holiday season. After a 50 minute wait in line to check in my suitcase, AFTER I had already checked in, I realized that that was not the reason. It was so busy because the baggage conveyor belts were broken. From what I could see, they had ALL broken. Great.
All the happiness I had and all the hope I had garnered to catch the 12:00 flight was starting to vanish. It was now after 11:00 and I still had to check my baggage and make it to the right gate, which was a fair distance away. Then we heard a lady screaming for anyone on the 12:00 flight to Toronto to follow her. She snaked about 20 of us in the middle of all the airline check-in counters, and then took us one by one and tagged our bags. She didn't quite get to me when she seemed to give up on this method and told us to just leave our bags at the check-in counter number 17 (which was some kind of Thai Airways or something).
So much for all the years of "never leave your baggage unattended at an airport" announcements.
But really, the people who had tickets for that flight didn't really have much of a choice. We hesitantly left our bags there with the 'promise' that they'd make it on our flight, and then we basically ran to the gate. When I got there, I quickly discovered that because I was standby, I couldn't even go into the gate area, which was kind of secitoned off, until I knew whether or not I could get on the flight. So I sat outside the gate area, where I met a few other people going standby on the same flight.
One of the air stewardesses came out about 15 minutes before the flight was scheduled to take off, and told us that this flight was all booked up, and it might be a better option to try for the Ottawa flight, which had a bunch of free seats. I, along with only one other guy out of the 10 or so that were going standby, decided to stay and hope for a seat to Toronto. (I could have gone to Ottawa, but I had people waiting for me in Toronto).
Lo and behold, with about 10 minutes to spare before the plane took off, the stewardess waved to me and signalled that I had a spot! "It's your lucky day!" she said.
I'd say so.
I ended up sitting beside a British dad and his mid-teenaged daughter, and quietly listened to a few conversations between them (-- things like "so, what's this whole 'New Moon' deal??" and "how many pages do you think I can read in 7 hours?" " well I don't know about YOU, but I can read 50 in an hour..." and "So do you think there will be snow in Canada?") until I decided to watch Paper Heart and doze off a bit.
Before I knew it, we were landing in good ol' Canada. To be honest, I had a suspicion that my parents may have come and surprised me at the airport. Because of 2 things:
1) I was talking to my nannee just the week before, and she said "So, your mom and dad are coming up on Friday and meeting you at the airport, and then you'll all stay here and then head home on Saturday" and I said "Oh, they're coming on Friday? I thought they weren't coming until Saturday?" and she said "Oh...yes, right. Well, whatever"
and
2) My mom told me that she couldn't meet me at the airport on Friday because she had to work, and I was talking to her the day before and she said "It's my last day of work!" ...fishy, very fishy.
Anyway, needless to say, I can't say I wasn't a bit disappointed when I came out to the Arrivals area and no one was there waving for me or holding a sign or calling my name or running to hug me. Not that I'd been gone long, or that I missed them so dearly that I needed someone to be there...but I'm sure that a bunch of strangers saw me come out with a big smile on my face, holding my bags, looking from left to right, searching the crowd, and then having my smile fade and just chose the shortest way off of the platform. A few minutes later I found my uncle waiting for me at a coffee shop. He must've missed my entrance, which is fine. I mean, if I had been in Kingston this whole time, I wouldn't have seen him for the same amount of time, anyway, so I suppose it wasn't anything too special.
But REGARDLESS, it was definitely nice to be in my homeland!!!! My uncle bought be a drink (non-alcoholic, kids...) and we waited about 20 minutes for a friend of his to come in from L.A. Then he drove him home and then me back to his place.
I had a delicious meal of rice and pepper water and chicken wings, and then around 8pm, my parents arrived!
I slept around 9:30, and slept pretty well other than waking up at my routine 8:30am Aberdeen time (so 3:30 in the morning!) but I just fell back asleep and by the time I woke up at 9:30 Toronto time, I was all better! A hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon and soon enough I was en route back home!!
Now I've been home for a few days, seen most of my friends from Queen's before they left Kingston for the holidays, and spent time with the family. I even went back up to Toronto yesterday to Pearson to pick up my sister from her incoming flight from Boston. I'm finally starting to feel settled in. In other words, my parents are starting to nag again! hahahaha
What else? Hmmmm....I started and finished my Christmas wrapping, shared some Soor Ploomes with my family, and told some good Aberdeen stories. Oh, and it was nice to see my pets, too! There's a perfect amount of snow (you can't see the grass at all, but there's not so much that the snowbanks are hard to see past when driving). OH! Which reminds me. I've been driving to and from downtown a lot since I've been home, and the first time I got behind the wheel, I found myself consciously reminding myself to drive on the right hand side of the road! I never thought it'd be so strange going back to the right side (the RIGHT side).
In other news, AHHHHH, I can't believe Christmas is in 2 DAYS!!! I'm so excited!!! :)
Basically, yes. Feels good to be home.
Until next time,
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