Today was supposed to be a reasonably ‘easy’ day of travel. If everything worked out the way we’d planned it, we would leave Casablanca mid-morning, arrive in Montreal early afternoon, have a 2-hour layover before flying to Toronto. Another 2-hour layover before our final flight into Winnipeg. Scheduled to land at around 9:00PM.
Well the first leg of the trip went more-or-less as planned. The hotel shuttle left every 30 minutes, and the ride to the airport was about 3 minutes! So we were in the Air Canada line-up with plenty of time. We checked two bags all the way through to Winnipeg, and then went through customs and waited for boarding to begin. The plane ended up leaving about 30 minutes late, but the pilots stepped on the gas and made up 20 of those minutes. We had a meal onboard and then they darkened the windows so it FELT like it was nighttime and we should have a little snooze even though it was high noon. About 7 hours into the flight the windows gradually went clear so it felt like morning as we ate a calzone for ‘lunch’.
In Montreal we had to pick up our checked bags and go through customs again. But now our best-laid plans went awry. There was a big blizzard in Toronto, and it was wreaking havoc with the schedules. So our flight out of Montreal was now showing that we would arrive in Toronto about 20 minutes AFTER our Toronto-Winnipeg flight was scheduled to depart. There was ONE MORE flight to Winnipeg — and if we couldn’t get on that one we’d be overnighting in Toronto. As we re-checked our bags we also managed to change our Winnipeg flight. Whew! We parked ourselves in the departure lounge. We had time to kill. We got some Thai food. Delicious.
The Montreal-Toronto flight kept getting delayed more and more. So instead of leaving at around 4:00PM we eventually boarded the plane just before 7:00PM. Although we should have ‘gained’ time because we were heading west, we were losing it way faster than the world was spinning.
The Toronto airport was a zoo. So many flights had been cancelled or delayed because of the storm. Thankfully that storm was abating — maybe we’d be lucky and still get home before midnight. That way we could still get a good night’s sleep — and not be totally zonked at the birthday party for our friend MaryAnn on Saturday night.
But our Toronto flight would NOT be leaving on time. I kept getting Air Canada text messages apologizing for another delay. When we finally DID board the plane it was 11:00pm, meaning we’d be arriving in Winnipeg after midnight. Oh well. At least we’ll be sleeping in a bed and not on a row of airport lounge chairs.
We were comfortably(?) settled in our seats on the plane, ready to push off and get going, when an exasperated-sounding pilot announced there would be a delay. The catering trucks were stuck in the snow and couldn’t load the catering containers onto the plane. Sorry for the delay. Hopefully they will have it resolved in half an hour or so. Oh boy.
So we’re all sitting on the plane, super tired, waiting for the catering to be loaded — and actually, I don’t think anyone cares if we don’t get pretzels and ginger ale on the 3-hour flight to Winnipeg! Finally the P.A. system comes on again. Yes, they have managed to get the catering containers loaded. But now the ground crew has been called away to push another plane out from the terminal. It’s almost 40 minutes until the pilot finally announces the ground crew is back and we’ll be pushing off shortly. He sounds as tired as we feel.
Three hours later we’ve had our pretzels and ginger ale and we’re pulling up to the terminal gate in good old Winnipeg. I head down to the baggage carousel while Naomi checks to see if we catch an Uber to take us home. I watch the carousel for a while — nope, our bags are not here. Then I spot someone rolling their baggage cart to the back wall behind the carousel where there is a long row of suitcases and boxes. Ah, I spot my maroon suitcase! and there’s Naomi’s big backpack. I guess our bags made it onto the earlier Winnipeg flight. Hmm… maybe we could’ve made it on that flight too?? Oh well. We’re here now.
It’s a short Uber ride to Valour Road. Naomi unlocks the door and we go inside. Plop our luggage down right there in the entrance. It’s warm inside. Naomi does a quick walk around, admiring the familiar, smiling happily. It’s 3:00AM. We made it. We’re home. It’s been a mostly enjoyable month in Morocco. But it’s good to be home.