Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

A few weeks ago for work, I had to arrange to travel to our offices in the United States. Now anyone who knows me well will know that I am not particularly fond of travel. If a car journey is going to take more than 1 hour, then I don't really want to do it. So the prospect of such a lengthy journey involving connecting flights was a little daunting I must admit, but by the same token I have to confess that I was also a little excited for this trip.

However,by the time I made it to my ultimate destination in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio - I felt like I had just lived the movie Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, but without John Candy as a travelling companion. My dear wife Louise points out that I would in fact have been the noisy, inappropriate and annoying John Candy character however, and on reflection I guess she is right! Whichever part I ended up playing in this travel caper though, here's how it happened.

Welcome to Wichita Toronto

It all started pretty well and I flew British Airways from Newcastle to Heathrow without any real problems other than a 20 minute delay due to high winds. I felt fairly comfortable with Heathrow as I had connected to Frankfurt there a year earlier, and I was confident of making my next flight which was with Air Canada to Toronto. It wasn't until I arrived at Heathrow however that I realized how much I had underestimated the size of the place.

I hadn't realized that I would have to transfer from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3 to make my trans-atlantic flight. I had to go through security, was 20 minutes late, and this was already a tight connection. Basically, I didn't make it! Imagine my sense of surprise, panic, and terror when the really unpleasant, unhelpful, and irritating woman at the Air Canada desk couldn't seem to give two hoots about my plight. She said it was British Airways fault as they had delayed me getting to Heathrow, and she encouraged me to talk to them. So I did, and they couldn't have been more helpful. They got me onto their flight to Toronto an hour later and I still had an outside chance of making my connection to Cleveland Ohio.

Of course, flying trans-atlantic with BA instead of Air Canada meant I had to go back from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 again. This involves a 10 minute bus ride through underground tunnels, clearing security again, and finally a little monorail ride to my gate. Thankfully though, I made it! I was sat at the very back of the plane which did not bode well for my chances of a quick disembarkment at Toronto. However, those lovely BA staff once again did their best to help me and about 20 minutes before we were due to land, they moved me up to the front of the plane into one of those first class booths with a bed in them no less. Now that's what I call service.

Sadly, once again, the flight was delayed, and when we arrived in Toronto - I had a pretty good idea that this is where I would be spending the night. My last flight to Cleveland was departing in about 20 minutes. I was not checked into it, and I hadn't cleared the Canadian border, or US customs (both of which you have to do at Toronto).

Nevertheless I did not give up. I presented my Canada landing card and was allowed through. I took yet another monorail ride to a different terminal, and went to the Air Canada desk. The man I spoke to here I am convinced must be the Brother of that horrible woman I spoke to at Heathrow. He was equally as unsympathetic, but at least he gave me an emergency number to call for stranded travelers to try and get a bed for the night. He also got me on the first flight to Cleveland the following morning.

I rang the number, and the helpful people on the other end of the phone checked me into the nearby Hampton Inn for the night, and arranged to send a free shuttle to the airport to pick me up. The final twist in this tale however, is that it turns out there are two Hampton Inns close to Toronto Airport, and I of course managed to catch the shuttle for the wrong one. When I arrived, they had no idea who I was and did not recognize my reference number. They very kindly got someone to quickly take me by car to the correct Hampton Inn however, where my day from travel hell finally came to an end, and I slept in a really luxurious room for only $69.00, and it even had an iron and ironing board!

Thankfully, my luck changed the next day. I got through US Customs and made my flight to Cleveland and only lost a few hours of that working day. The trip back home a few days later was equally uneventful.

I will look back on this little adventure and laugh now, but I sure won't be going via Heathrow and Toronto on future trips if I can help it, that's for sure!