Well, my friends, here I am once again in Sweden..........the land of the Vikings, and at the present moment........rain. Gee, just like Seattle, wonder if this is a sign of welcome for me. I am here for my annual visit to Stockholm to have lunch with a group of fourteen (14) of Sweden's finest gentlemen. A day of eating fried herring (stromming) and mash potatoes..............and the usual washing it down with Aquavit and beer..................oh heaven on earth!!! It's always such a great time to spend with these guys, it's worth the time and money spent making my way over. This year, I spent a little more time travelling than usual, I decided that even though I still get my SAS employee discounted tickets, that I would splurge and buy a full fare ticket...........in economy class..........simply because my return is during the month of June which is......... the beginning of the busy summer season for international carriers and the flights are beginning to fill up............also makes it hard for us poor standbys and........could cost me more in hotel costs than I really want to spend. I selected to travel Air Canada from Seattle to Toronto, Canada and then onward to Copenhagen, Denmark and return the same way............of course in reverse. Before leaving Seattle, I happen to get two calls from Air Canada with schedule changes.....which I didn't mind to much.........before the act. The first was a cancellation of my 11:45am flight from Seattle to Toronto and rebooking of a flight leaving at 8:00 am doesn't sound so bad but actually meant getting up and to the airport by 6:am since apparently the TSA(airport security) suggest you being there 2 hours prior to your schedule departure. This was OK with me since I like being early rather than late. Getting Margot up at that hour to drive me to the airport was another matter. Now, just for a thriller, AirCanada is handled by United Airlines in Seattle making for another complicated point. The check in went very easily, checked my bags through to Copenhagen got my boarding passes for Seattle and Toronto and off through security I went. Much to my surprise, things were very easy, only problem was the entrance to the security point with the most direct access was jammed up so I decided to go to another checkpoint to avoid long lines. Got there and went through the security check very quickly got to the gate at 6:30 am and there I sat until my row was called at 7:40 I noticed the gate agent was having some difficulty with the boarding computer and when I finally passed through noticed that my seat number transmitted that someone else was sitting in my seat.........but being given the OK from the gate agent I proceeded down the jetway. Sure enough by the time I reached my seat I found someone else sitting there, I flagged down the flight attendant who checked both of our (identical) boarding cards,..........and as I was the one standing asked me to stand in the rear of the aircraft until they could straighten it out. Well, to beat all, I simply joined two other people with the same problem. Finally It was determined that the best thing to do was to stop the boarding, straighten out what they already had in errors and then proceed. Just so happens it probably worked in my favor since now my 5 hour scheduled lay over in Toronto would be cut down. Flight Left 1/2 hour late, full ..........and unknown to me how many people taken off that aircraft.
Toronto, was another nightmare. Going through Canadian authority check was no problem but what to do for 4 1/2 hours. I roamed the transit hall, visited all the shops and finally made it out to the gate 2 hours before the schedule departure, only to find out that , at that time we were estimating 10 minutes late. At boarding time the line was forming to board as the Captain came out to the boarding area and began discussions with the boarding area manager. It was determined that , due to a mechanical malfunction, we would now see a one hour delay...........which turned into a two hour delay and after 2 1/2 hours we passenger were now being seated on the aircraft when the Captain announced an additional hours delay for the final repair and the paperwork. I wonder why the paperwork takes so long...........does it need to be in two languages???? or do they just write so slow? Could not quite figure that one out. There we sat until the aircraft departed the gate, taxied to the runway and took off 3 1/2 hours after scheduled departure. To top off the whole day, it was discovered 40 minutes before landing that the tax-free items I had ordered as gifts to my hosts in Sweden was not on board as I had been told they would be..................I could now hear my hosts " WHAT NO BOOS......NO CIGARETTES!!!!......AND you expect us to feed you..........."NO FOOD FOR YOU"..... luckily, the flight purser..............a gem of a guy...............found my package hidden away ................but made me one happy dude.
After the short train ride over the bridge between Denmark and Sweden I now met up with my ride to my hosts house.............. with all my baggage, and a story to tell during dinner. After that tall scotch and soda..................it became even longer. (more exiting days ahead ............will be reported)
