I’m In the 7th Level of Travel Hell

When it comes to travel, I’ve been fairly lucky. I usually make my flights, and I haven’t been in an accidents (knock on wood). I’ve been so lucky, that I was starting to feel cocky about it. So, as I left my brother’s house today to drive to the Toronto International Airport, I was feeling pretty good. We were leaving pretty early, so I knew I’d have time to do some writing.

Once I arrived at the airport things changed. Fast.

The first thing I did as I walked into Terminal 3 was look at the flight boards to see which desk to go to for baggage drop. I looked for the KLM flight to Amsterdam and swore under my breath as I read the word “Cancelled” which was displayed beside my flight number in bright yellow letters. So, this is why I couldn’t check-in online. It would have been helpful if the website told me! With my parents in tow, I made my way to the other end of the terminal to speak with an agent from KLM.

Being early played to my advantage as most of the passengers from my flight had not arrived, therefore the line-up was almost non-existent. When the agent behind the desk explained that I would need to fly through Detroit, then to Amsterdam (so I could make my connecting flight to Nairobi), I was a little disappointed. I had no desire to go to Detroit. However, I sucked it up and said okay. That’s when the next surprise came. I had an hour to find the Delta Check-in counters (which were on the opposite end of the terminal), check-in, go through customs, go through security and find my gate. Naturally, I started to panic.

As I checked in with the Delta agent I asked for a window seat as my ankle is bothering me (I seem to have limited mobility and some pain when I bend it wrong). She let me know that I had an aisle seat, but said she would change that for me right away. When I walked around the corner with my bags and saw the customs line my eyes popped and my jaw dropped. OMG, this line is HUGE! I channeled my inner drama queen and started to panic a little. Thankfully the line moved fairly quick and I was in and out of customs and security in about 45 mins. That’s when I was told that my flight to Detroit was delayed by 45 mins. Great.

Boarding the flight for Detroit was painless. The aircraft was small and I was grateful that the flight would only take about an hour. As we landed I grabbed my bags and started to make my way to the gate for my flight to Amsterdam. I had 30 mins before the flight would be leaving. As it turns out, this would not be an issue.

Delta flight DL242 was late boarding as catering was still doing their thing. As a result, the plane was boarded backwards, with people being seated from front to back, rather than back to front.

“This is a window seat, right?” I asked the flight attendant.

“No, it’s an aisle.”

I could feel my irritation coming back. After everything I went through in Toronto, asking both agents to please give me a window seat and having them both tell me yes, I was now sitting in an aisle seat. If this flight was an hour or two I wouldn’t care, but I had no desire to sit in an aisle for 8 hours with a bad ankle, knowing that I’d be up and down to let other passengers out of our row. However, there was nothing I could do as the plane was full. So, I sulked a little bit. After my little sulkfest was over, I started to feel a little better. That’s when the pilot came on the speaker and announced that a seat belt wasn’t working and that maintenance would have to come aboard and check it out. Groan.

As it turns out a seatbelt was the least of our worries. Our plane was on the runway, we were picking up speed, the engines were revving, and then they stopped revving and we slowed down. The pilot announced that an indicator light had come on and we’d be going back to the terminal to get it checked out. At this time our flight was almost an hour late leaving.

We sat on the stuffy plane for over 40 mins, waiting, before the pilot announced that we would need to disembark. Seriously?! We have to disembark? I have a connection to Nairobi. I’ll never make it! My mood had soured. Again. I grudgingly stepped into the aisle, grabbed my bags and waited to disembark. Unfortunately I was sitting towards the back of the plane, so it took awhile for me to get off. By the time I reached the gate counter to inquire about my connecting flight, the lines were huge. I huffed and joined the rest of the disappointed passengers from my flight.

I stood in line, trying to be patient and hoping the pain in my foot/ankle would subside. Once I reached the counter, I was tired, deflated and slightly irritated. When the girl behind the counter told me she couldn’t re-book my connecting flight because I was flying with KLM (whom Delta codeshares with), I wanted to cry. When she told me that the flight to Nairobi was only once a day and that I would have to spend a night in Amsterdam (on the airline’s dime of course), I was crushed. I walked away feeling even more tired and deflated than before.

I made a call to Intrepid Travel right away as I’m doing my tour through them and explained my situation. I was originally going to arrive in Nairobi on July 30th, but I would now be arriving on July 31st, the day my tour is scheduled to start. Thankfully, our group stays in Nairobi the first night and I can still join everyone -if I ever make it there.

After 8 hours of waiting, we finally re-boarded our flight to Amsterdam. Everyone was elated. We were on our way. But wait, we’ve been sitting on the plane for an hour and we haven’t left the gate yet!  It was almost 90 minutes before we pushed back and headed for the runway. The plane kept driving and driving. We all kept waiting and waiting. The engines revved, then they stopped, again. Yes, we were going back to the terminal! We waited on the plane for another 30 minutes before an announcement was made about the flight being cancelled and how passengers could pick-up hotel and food vouchers at the gate, as well as the phone number for Delta so we could re-book our own flights.

Needless to say I’m feeling more than a little deflated. I’m tired, hungry and my foot/ankle is sore and swollen. I. Am. Done. Currently I have been re-booked onto the 7:15 pm flight tonight to Amsterdam. I don’t trust that the plane will work. I don’t trust that it will leave on time for me to catch my connection to Nairobi. I don’t really want to stay in the Detroit airport for another 13 hours.

To be continued…