Saturday February 22 - Cleveland to Gatineau

Well what a day it was yesterday! A cloudy start but the cloud was breaking up and the temperature was fairly mild. The transport I had ordered was early so good that I was ready for it and, while the van has seen better days, the driver was a very pleasant guy and we were at the airport in no time at all. Check in was fine and I decided to go straight to the gate rather that the United Club Lounge (Star Alliance group and Air NZ is a partner). 

Just as well as it was a very long walk to the lounge! I bought a coffee and a pastry for breakfast and then onto the departure lounge. 

The plane was a little late coming in and then as we were going through the gate our plane had been selected for a random security check so we were asked a number of questions but no worries they decided I was not a threat!

After standing around for ten minutes or so we were told there was a mechanical issue with the plane. Eventually we went back up to the lounge! I had been talking to a young couple, Thelma and Ed, Canadians returning to St Johns, Newfoundland. So I sat with them while some other passengers were re-booking their flights via other airlines/other places. Then the crew got off the plane so we knew it would be a while, it took ages for an engineer to actually turn up. I asked the pilot if the problem was fixable and she said "if they have the part!".

We all ended up in this bar watching the Canadians defeat the USA in the semi final of the Ice Hockey. As the crew were also Canadian we decided we were not leaving until the game was over! 

Finally at about 3.20 it was all go, flight is boarding so suddenly everyone sprung into action. During this time there were many texts with Diane and a few posts on FB! The plane was a 37 seater but there were only 14 of us left on the flight! I had checked with the desk and was holding a boarding pass for this flight at 2.30 and a boarding pass for my next leg at 3.10!! The flight takes just over an hour, so I will leave you to do the Math! 

It was bumpy as we left Cleveland and bumpy as we dropped into Toronto, a windy day at both ends. It was a pleasant flight, we flew over Lake Erie and I saw lots of ice still on the lake. 

Once we were off, we had to walk for a very long way to get to passport control but much to my delight it was almost empty.

Funny story here, the passport control officer asked me where I was going and I said Gatineau, she asked me how I was getting there and I said "Taxi", I wondered why she gave me an odd look and she then said "it takes five hours to get there". 

I suddenly realised where I was, in Toronto not Ottawa, oh did I feel like an idiot but she was very nice about it!! LOL. Next, onto the Connections area with my luggage and the guy helping me said all the flights this evening were full, my heart sank! So he put me on standby for the 6.10 flight and also booked me on the 7 am flight tomorrow.

Security was busy so there was a bit of a wait to get through, I was just a bit concerned but nothing to be done. 
Fortunately it was not too far to the gate and I went straight up to the desk. The guy said they had been paging me but I told him I had only just got through security. 

Anyway, I was on the flight, yay, and it was full so I was very lucky!

In spite of warnings about turbulence it was a very good flight. After take off and we got above the cloud cover the sky was a beautiful red colour to the east with sunset not long before. 


The final act of the day was the non appearance of my checked bag, it obviously did not make it to the plane in time! Oh my, what a day!!

I had a lovely taxi driver and he found his way to Diane's after being shown the directions via Google maps, LOL. It was good to rest and I met Minou a beautiful inky, a bit shy but she will be OK I am sure.

I have to admit after a good night's sleep, I slept in until 10 am today, I was very tired and my cold has got a good foothold unfortunately. Diane had checked for my baggage and it has arrived in Ottawa to be delivered tonight or tomorrow, yay. We sat round and chatted for a bit and, after a very late breakfast went for a short walk to look at Downtown Ottowa.