Planes, Trains, and Ferry-Mobiles

 

Ordeal #1

   I had broken my own main travel rule - It's worth paying extra for a non-stop flight - so I wasn't surprised when things went sideways last month on our trip to Paris. We should have driven six hours south to our friend Alex's house near the airport. Alex always puts our car in his heated garage then he and his wife Nancy drive us to the Minneapolis/St Paul Airport. After the trip, he picks us up, feeds us supper, and after breakfast next day he packs us a lunch and sends us on our way. Sweet.

   But direct flights to Paris from MSP were expensive, so by driving three hours north to Winnipeg and booking our flight with WestJet, we saved several hundred dollars. The catch was we'd have to fly two hours west to Calgary to catch our direct flight to Paris. Our travel day to Winnipeg was beautiful, but during the drive to Winnipeg, WestJet, for some unexplainable reason, had delayed our flight to Calgary by four hours, meaning we'd miss out flight to Paris. I wasn't surprised.

   WestJet said we should take the flight to Calgary. They would pay for a motel near the airport and next evening we could catch our flight to Paris. Teresa likes to check all the options and called customer service. After an hour on the phone, WestJet's best alternative was to fly us from Winnipeg to Minneapolis and catch a flight to Atlanta, arriving at midnight. They would pay for a motel near the airport and next day we would get a direct flight on Delta, our preferred airline, to Paris. The advantage is that we'd arrive at 6:30 a.m. rather noon as the Calgary flight would do.

   This seemed like too much rigmarole. I wanted to stick with Calgary until the customer service guy said that a big storm was headed to Calgary that night which could cause further delays. We were meeting our son and his two kids in Paris for a five day vacation and could not afford to lose any more time.

   We collected our bags in Atlanta and caught the last free shuttle to our industrial-grade motel. The driver said a cab after midnight would be super expensive, even for our two mile drive. The motel was a brand we use when traveling but it was like a motel journalists stay in while covering a war. It had everything a normal hotel would have, but terribly worn, almost senile. We ate our complimentary high carb breakfast and caught the shuttle back to the airport. The driver said Atlanta was the busiest airport in the world with a plane landing or taking off every 15 seconds.

   The Atlanta airport is hectic but nice. Everything went well from this point on except it was pouring rain in Paris. The day before had been beautiful when our son Joe and the kids arrived. We were happy for them. We had an excellent four day vacation with them. Paris is great even in winter.

Ordeal #2

   The more intense ordeal of Joe and the kids began on their way home. Joe, Isla, and Nash could have taken a direct flight to Paris from Boston, but it was much cheaper to fly to Paris via Montreal. This would require an overnight layover in Montreal on the way home, but Joe reasoned they could do a little sightseeing in Montreal and spend a night in a motel with a pool. The kids love pools.

   Joe and kids left Paris about the same time as us on Sunday and arrived on time in Montreal, only to learn their Monday morning flight to Boston had been postponed till Wednesday due to a big storm on the east coast.This would not do. Isla had an important appointment on Wednesday and Joe had to get back to work on the tug.

   We were getting texts from Joe about his alternate plans. The train to Boston was sold out, but he could catch an 11 hour train to New York City on Monday morning, spend a night in NYC, then catch an early morning train up to Boston. That seemed like a good plan. 

   We had arrived home from Calgary and Winnipeg at 5:30 a.m. on Monday and after a few hours of sleep, began following Joe's progress. He was on the train to New York, but had a new plan. He was able to reserve a one-way rental car in Burlington, VT, a four hour drive to Boston. He said he was getting off the train in Plattsburgh, NY and would make his way from there over to the Burlington airport 32 miles away to pick up his car. He has a good friend John who lives near Burlington who would have gladly picked him up in Plattsburgh, but John and his family were in Florida. 

   A taxi would take Joe to Burlington for a hundred and some odd dollars. We got pictures of the kids and the cab on the ferry across Lake Champlain to Burlington. There were ice floes in the lake. At the car rental counter in the airport, Joe learned the website should not have rented him a car because it didn't exist. There were no cars available in Burlington. Now what?

   Friend John said Joe could spend the night at their house just outside Burlington. Get a night's sleep and tomorrow, Tuesday, drive John's truck to Boston. This was the perfect solution. Even if Joe had gotten a rental car as planned there was a driving ban around Boston on Monday because of the storm. By the time they arrived home on Tuesday, the storm was over and the roads were passable. The only glitch was that the power was out in his town. He fired up the generator, closed off the den and spent a cozy night with a space heater.

   Isla got to her appointment on Wednesday and Joe got back to work after his friends helped him shovel out his car. Number three son Ned (also a friend of John) met John, Abbe and daughter Bonnie's flight from Florida at the Boston airport on Sunday and returned John's truck. The only other inconvenience was that Abbe's car was also at the airport so they drove two vehicles home. 

    To John and Abbe from Joe's appreciative parents: thank you! You are saints as well as good friends. 

The shortcut to Burlington