I am so glad to be back in Canada

I am not even sure that I know where to begin. So, I'll start at the beginning and give an overview of the travel woes that we had getting home. As you can see in http://wbfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/trip-that-never-was.html we had trouble flying to Orlando. Well, we also had trouble getting home. The moral of the story here is that it would be in your best interest not to travel at the same time, or to or through the same destinations as the WB family!

Coming home we were scheduled to fly on Saturday, March 15 at 3 pm out of Orlando to get to Atlanta at 4. Wait until 8:40 and arrive home shortly after 11. Dave flipped on CNN in our Orlando hotel room and we noted the tornadoes in Atlanta . We gave a quick call to Delta who reassured us that all was fine and our flight wouldn't be an issue. We caught our cab to the airport and got on the plane with no issues. We got close to Atlanta and we couldn't get cleared to land because of the "weather". That is what it is called in the airline industry, weather. They say things like, yep, we have weather in Atlanta, and that means that there is extreme weather. Little jargon for you there.

In Atlanta, they were getting hit with tornadoes and weather so bad that it was a constant risk of more. After circling for about 40 minutes they made the decision to divert the plane to Columbia, South Carolina. In the end we actually went to Augusta, Georgia. There was lightening there and "weather" so it took a while to get fuel and to get cleared to take off and land back in Atlanta. We were relying on that huge layover to cover us. Plus we were sure that since our flight was delayed that others would be too and our connector would be in the same boat. We landed in Atlanta 40 minutes after our flight to Ottawa departed. We knew that it was the last one for the night so we knew we were hooped.


A call to Delta gave us a ticket to fly home three days later, on Tuesday March 18 (today). We would get no help with our hotel, food or transportation in Atlanta and ours bags would carry on to Ottawa first thing in the morning on the first flight. The one that we couldn't get on. The reality of all of that was just too much for me. I begged the people in the baggage department for our bags. I begged. We are the only people on all of the diverted flights that got our bags. The only people that I know of anyhow. I have never been so happy to see three bags of dirty laundry in my life!!!

Mr Bussey found us a hotel room near the airport and we braved a terrifying scene at the hotel shuttle stand to get there. It was a mad house and was near violence at many points. We got to our hotel safely and battened down the hatches. This was 12:30 am or so.

When the sun rose the next day I walked up the street and found a different hotel for the remaining two nights. I went to the airport to see what could be done. There was nothing further that the woman that I spoke to could find, though she tried for 40 minutes to get us to Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Rochester or Syracuse. She finally found a flight to Albany. We were willing to do that and drive home until we found out that The Canadian Import Law prohibits Canadian Citizens from taking a U.S. owned rental vehicle from the U.S. into Canada. The rental vehicle will be seized by Canadian Customs at the border, whether the Canadian renter plans to return the vehicle to a U.S. or Canadian location. The U.S. owned rental vehicle cannot be imported into Canada, even to temporarily cross the border. However, a Canadian may rent a Canadian owned vehicle in the U.S. and return it to Canada or cross the border without the vehicle being seized. Any U.S. Citizen renting a vehicle in the U.S. may drive across the U.S./Canadian border with no restrictions. The driver may be asked by Customs to show a rental agreement and a form of identification, such as a driver's license. Hooped again. So we stayed in Atlanta.

I went back to the airport later in the day and found someone else. She was able to get us home a day earlier, yesterday, Monday March 17 (happy birthday Tara!!!!) going through Boston. WE TOOK IT without even thinking about it.

So yesterday dawned and we went to the airport and came home. I can't tell you how great it was to get home, find my mother there with supper and wine and have her put my children to bed.

Please use the comments section to make suggestions in ways that we can use our holiday money to relax at home 'cause next year we ARE NOT FLYING ANYWHERE!!! I vote for a hot tub!!!