Greg and Kat's blog

Good thing I paid for the wi-fi. I have now been in the Raleigh-Durham airport for 7 hours, and have one more ahead of me (if all goes well). I bet AT&T didn’t think people would use the “one day” account at the airport for more than a few hours. Hah! Showed them!

Where were we… My Air Canada flight to Toronto was canceled. I phoned Air Canada and was told I could get to Toronto tonight, but not Vancouver. Fine, I’ll stay here and with Kat for another night.

When I went up to the desk to get my free shit, the guy said “you can’t get on the O’Hare flight?” He worked for United, not Air Canada, and put me on their flight to Chicago and then Vancouver, getting in at something like 23:00.

I had to go get my bags and check back in. No problem.

I got my bags and went to the counter. Since they had a canceled flight, there was pandelirium. But, I already had my ticket, and went to the electronic checkin. No problem, except the guy who was either (1) retarded, or (2) new and received 5 seconds of training before being put on the desk. The woman ahead of me who was trying to change her ticket befuddled him for probably 15 minutes. After somebody came and helped him, I put my bags up and said “have boarding pass; take bags”. He had to have somebody help him with that too.

Then, off to security. Who’s been selected for special screening? Nope… Nope… Nope… Yeah, that’s right! It was me!

So, I get patted down. Not that bad, I guess. Once again, they were friendly, and even slightly jovial.

The kicker for that: there’s a notation on your boarding pass that indicates that you’re up for special screening. So, if I had been a ne’er-do-well, I could have easily noticed that and, before getting anywhere near security, thrown out my knitting needles or toothpaste, or whatever. Nobody would have been any the wiser.

There’s a airport spa here. I got the 25 minute stress-reliever massage. That helped.

Now, I’ve got another hour before my flight. I found a seat near power, but should probably give it up and get something to eat. Maybe a drink.

Update 12:10: Home after 19 hours of travel containing maybe 6 hours in the air.