Luck is in the air (Day 0)

With a few centimetres of fresh snow on the ground in Ottawa this morning, I expected that my day may not quite play out the way my airline ticket said it would. And I was right. My flight in Ottawa way canceled but I got bumped to a later flight. This conflicted with my original flight from Toronto to Chicago (and on to Buenos Aires). But, when I called American Airlines, they had actually canceled the Chicago leg, so they entirely re-booked me on a flight through New York-Kennedy that, as luck would have it, worked with my new Toronto flight. Super! However, when I arrived in Toronto, almost 2 hours later than re-scheduled, American Airlines had rebooked me again. This time, through Dallas and my connection from Toronto was pretty tight. So, I grabbed my stuff and headed to Customs for pre-screening. That´s when the real fun began.

Being the honest Canadian that I am, when I got to the box that asked, "Are you carrying any fruit or vegetables", I thought of the three clementines and apple slices I had in my bag and dutifully checked the "Yes" box. A cardinal mistake. When I got to the customs official, she grumpily stuffed my passport and customs form in a big yellow holder and barked at me to "Go to the Agriculture inspectors". Oh crap. So, there I waited, in the Agriculture inspection holding zone, for 15min, while my flight to Dallas was supposedly boarding. All the while, I'm kicking myself for being so damn honest. Then this changed to outright pissy, when the customs officer finally emerged, ordered me to dispose of the fruit and head on my way. At this point, now a little stressed, I grumpily dug out my oranges (saving the apple slices out of spite), mumbled that "they better compost this" and ran off to my gate. Lo and behold, the flight was delayed. 2 hours.

So, I waited again. When we finally got onto the plane, we sat for over 1.5hrs, while they de-iced, repositioned us, de-iced again, repositioned...you get the idea. Not that I want anyone rushing safety precautions, but c'mon! We finally got in the air. But, as you can probably imagine, this delay leaving Toronto would come back to haunt me in Dallas.

Landing with literally 3 minutes until the Dallas flight was to take off, I sprinted (and I mean sprinted) to the gate. As I got closer, I could hear the flight attendant frantically calling my name. I pulled up to the counter, panting and wheezing, where I was ushered onto the flight. I made it. I can't believe I made it. Before I even got off the plane in Dallas, I had already accepted that I would likely miss the flight, have to spend the night in the Dallas-Fort Worth mega-airport as my pack went sailing onto somewhere in Argentina. But, I actually made it. Maybe this was going to be a lucky trip....

PS: I have to point out the LUSH boutique that beaconed when I landed in Toronto. For those of you who don't know the story, my dear friend Greg, being the good guy that he is, agreed to go to the LUSH store in Ottawa for me to buy me some girly shampoo/soap for my trip (all in an effort to save me from having to figure out how to drive and park in the Market). Then the saga that ensued was long and complicated, to say the least. That pesky tin of soap traveled from Ottawa to Toronto, Peterborough, Maberly and back to Ottawa, then changed hands three times before it got to me. All in the midst of Greg trying to get ready to start a new job and leaving for Orlando. So, when I walked into the Toronto terminal and saw the LUSH boutique (with shampoo bars available in-store), I had to laugh, Greg. 'Cause that's about all I could do buddy :)