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| Woohoo! Boarding a plane that isn't broken! |
We were rebooked on Air Canada with a new itinerary of Vienna to Toronto then Toronto to Baltimore. Nick and Katie were excited, as the original trip had us flying Condor Airlines. And while not a bad experience, it was certainly a budget airline. Air Canada is a real airline, so we were excited! *Note - We will NEVER fly Air Canada again unless absolutely necessary.
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| Ready for takeoff! |
The flight from Vienna to Toronto was ok. An airline representative at some point gave us an empty seat, so George was able to lay down and sleep for awhile. The in-flight entertainment options included "Cars 2" and "Cars 3", and George loves "Cars"... and at this point we all just wanted to veg out in front of screens. The aircraft was a Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" (the same as the toy airplane George travels with and that he toured at the Museum of Flight in Seattle) and it was very comfortable. We arrived in Toronto, went through US customs (a strange, unnecessarily complicated and unpleasant process) and boarded our flight to Baltimore... where we sat on the tarmac for close to three hours until they cancelled the flight due to storms in Baltimore (NOOOOO!!!!). We deplaned down stairs to a bus and were taken to Canadian customs where we officially entered Canada, waited in more lines to be rebooked on a 8:40pm flight for the next day... the next direct flight available to Baltimore. This time we DID collect our luggage (opted not to in Vienna the day before) and road a bus (with NO shocks) to a less than stellar motel near the airport. Nick took an Uber to Walmart (the nearest store) to get more pull-ups for George (we were down to two), while Katie and George placed an order for room service. George was asleep before the food arrived and wouldn't wake to eat. So Katie and Nick ate while watching the first episode of "Stranger Things 3" on Netflix before they too were OUT. Happy 4th of July?!?
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| Happy Independence Day from Canada! |
Day 15:
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| Hey Daddy, let's build a bridge! |
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| At least they had a pool and we still had a swim diaper! |
Since our flight to Baltimore wasn't until 8:40pm we extended our checkout time at the motel, had more room service, watched "Wallace and Gromit" on Netflix (only available in Canada I guess), and then played in the pool before heading back to the airport for dinner (all thanks to Air Canada vouchers).
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| Waiting for our flight... |
Then our flight to Baltimore was delayed, and delayed and delayed some more. The gate was changed... we were all SO TIRED and just wanted so badly to be home! We were just 350 miles from Lancaster... so close and yet too far.
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| SO DONE waiting! |
Day 16:
Since George slept through both take off and landing he became hysterical while groggily walking off the plane because he thought we had deplaned in Toronto! Nick found Katie and George clinging to each other in the jetway crying as Katie tried to convince George we were actually in Baltimore. We really had made it this time!
Mercifully our luggage was the first off the plane and we ran to catch the bus to long term parking. George eagerly crawled into his carseat and was OUT again. Nick and Katie both slept on the flight so had enough left to get home to Mary Street, at 2:20am. As Katie finishes this post a week and a half later we are still recovering. From the time we caught the Postbus in Vienna to parking the car on Mary Street, the return trip took us 72 hours. It could have been worse, we never had to sleep in an airport, we were never separated, and we met several terrific people along the way that helped us a great deal (shouts out to Mary (a F&M grad) and her husband from Washington, D.C., Cory from Baltimore, the Indian lady in a wheelchair, Officer Neil - Canada's finest police office, and the grandma and grandpa returning from a vacation in Newfoundland), but friends... it was certainly not a fun trip home.
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| Cory taught us about airport fuel farms and provided life saving entertainment during our three hours on the Toronto tarmac. |
