Just a few minutes ago I watched the sun set over the Atlantic from a wind swept bluff at the edge of Cape Breton Island. It was a near perfect moment, marred slightly by the fact that I was being swarmed by mosquitos and biting flys, that was the end to a nearly perfect day driving through the beautiful scenery between Halifax and Paradise Bay on the far end of Cape Breton Highlands national park. Although today has been a day that epitomizes what traveling should be, the trip so far hasn't exactly lived up to that epitome. It's been such a string of bad luck until now that I can only laugh. Its past the point of angering and annoying me that it's become entertaining just waiting to see what will fuck up next. Lets start from the beginning.
I wasn't surprised that I didn't get any sleep before leaving for Atlanta so i can't really count that as a misfortune - sadly that's just the way of my life. When the zipper completely ripped off of my suitcase just before I was leaving, forcing me to make a quick trip to Walmart to get a new one and repack it in the parking lot I just shrugged it off. I had been looking at getting a new one anyway. Just not a shitty Walmart suitcase. But then my first flight from Atlanta to Newark got delayed to the point where I would only have 20 minutes to get to the next one. One of the agents went through great lengths to get me moved to the first row so i could deplane quick and hustle my fat ass to the other end of the concourse. Only to find my flight had been canceled with no more flights until the next morning, of which the first two were full. I was put on standby for those and told to show up the next morning and hope for the best. Since the delay was due to weather we were all told we would not be getting hotel vouchers so I end up spending an hour on the phone trying to find a place that had a room that wasn't $250.
The next morning I got up early only to be bumped from both standby flights and then have the flight I ended up on being delayed to the point where we only showed up 30 minutes before the last flight to Halifax got there. Oh, and to absolutely no ones surprise the airline lost my luggage, leaving me with the clothes I was wearing, my camera, tablet, and phone - the last two with dead batteries and my charger geniusly packed in my lost suitcase. I went through a surprisingly aggressive customs questioning, filled out lost luggage forms, waited to see if it happened to show up with the last flight, and then took a 30 minute taxi ride sans luggage into Halifax to the hostel where I was staying. By this point it was after 2am and I was exhausted and just wanted sleep. The only problem was that the night manager was nowhere to be found. I beat on the door, used the last bit of juice from my phone to call the front desk and have my phone die seconds after the voicemail picked up. It turned out one of the side doors wasnt all the way closed and I let myself in so that at least I wasn't out on the street. After an hour of waiting I had given up and decided I was going to sleep on a couch in the reception area when the night manager finally showed up - he was absolutely shit faced drunk. He told me what room I was in and then passed out on the same couch I had envisioned myself sleeping on. The only problem is that he passed out before he gave me the key. And the door was locked. It was locked because there was someone else sleeping in it. I had emailed them after my flight canceled and told them I would be there the next day but I had no idea when. At some point they decided I was a no show and rented my private room out. Tired and just ready for the day to end I let myself into one of the mixed dorms and climbed up onto an empty top bunk and slept on a sheetless mattress in clothes I had been wearing for the last two days.
I woke up far too early for my liking and fully intended to just slip out of the hostel without paying or returning. As my luck would have it I came down the stairs and literally ran into the girl that ran the place. She instantly knew who I was and started apologizing. She seemed genuinely embarrassed about the way things had panned out so i decided to give them another shot. I wasn't exactly well rested, but I was rested and I lost a day in Newark so i decided not be too bitter and set out to see Halifax. There was lots of beer imbibed but that will have to wait until next time. Right now I'm looking forward to sleeping in a real bed. Until then...
2 comments:
Your father is laughing his arse off at the sheer quantity of effed-upness you have endured. It can only be lack of sleep that keeps you from going berzerk on someone. Glad the end of the day soothed your soul.
That little bit about arriving 20 minutes before the next flight and having to hustle across the airport sounds very familiar. Oh yes, we had that very thing happen when we came back from Cali. But the loss of luggage absolutely sucks. Was dad in the suitcase too???
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