Labour Day Weekend – good visiting BAD travel

Over Labour Day weekend we did our first big family trip. We traveled to Regina for Steve’s neice’s wedding. We were all really excited to be making the trip. We hadn’t seen most of Steve’s brothers/sisters/nieces/nephews since the last family reunion, which was a couple of years ago.

It all started off well. Kids and parents excited, eager grandparents, aunts and uncles at the other end……and then Air Canada got involved.

I case you don’t already know this about me, I should let you know that I hated Air Canada before we went on this trip. Those of you who have flown with them before are likely nodding you heads right how: excessively ‘self service’ check in (why do I have to have my 100-digit confirmation number? Why not use my name??); grumpy check in staff; inconsistent service (“yes we have plastic bags for carseats”, “no we don’t, we haven’t had them for years….”); rigid enforcement of stupid rules about holding babies (“You must take the sleeping baby out the Bjorn.” What the hell??? Because she is so much safer just in my arms? Also, what about the NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY rule? That should override everything else); flight attendants who seem genuinely disinterested and pissed off about their work; and my favourite, seemingly random cancellation of flights.

We only flew AC because we were using points (thank you China trip!) and, well, free is an excellent price point. Looking back, I would have gladly endured a VISA card balance rather that put up with the crap we took from Air Canada. I have gone from simply hating them to viscerally despising them with every fibre of my being.

The trip went something like this….
Ottawa to Toronto – everything good. Then we’re sitting at the gate in Pearson with only 5 minutes to go before we board, and there is an announcement. “Flight 123 to Regina has been cancelled. Please remain at this gate for further information.” Are you kidding me???? Flight cancelled? No explaination? We have two small children and it is close to lunch time - they’re getting grumpy. Now their parents are too!!

So we wait for further instructions and when they come it is a joke. “Please proceed to gate 120. There are white courtesty phones there with a direct line to AC Reservations. Go book yourself on another flight.” That’s right – pick up the phone. There will be no human contact in this customer service experience.

Naturally, all the young, nimble travelers leap up and make a break for gate 120 and manage to get the few remaining seats on flights leaving the same day. Passengers with small children, lots of gear, and elderly people in wheel chairs are left to make the 20 min. trek from gate 150 (where we were) to gate 120 on our own. By the time we get there the line up for the 4 phones is WAY long (keep in mind this was a full flight) and we have no hope. We chose a flight out the next day @ 9:00 am. This flight goes through Winnepeg and so the joy of changing planes again.

The next insult: the person at reservations cannot arrange for our hotel in Toronto. Now we have to find our luggage, and locate the AC customer service desk somewhere in Terminal 1. Of course it is at the other end of the terminal 3 floors up. Did I mention that it is now 2:00 pm and the girls still haven’t eaten a real meal? Oh yeah, and AJ is running a fever and clearly fading fast.

I won’t bore you with the fights that ensued at the ‘customer service’ desk (and I use that term loosely). Suffice to say that we were put up in a dump of a hotel (Comfort Inn on Dixon – NEVER stay there) and refused a rental car. The wait for the hotel shuttle was torture. By this time both girls are wailing and quite frankly, I want to have a little cry too.

When we got to the hotel poor AJ, who wouldn’t be caught dead napping, collapsed and slept for 3 hours. The next morning she was in such bad shape (fever, nausea) that we pumped her full of gravol and prayed. Just in case, we re-packed our bags and prepared to send Steve on to Regina and me back home with the girls. AJ perked up a bit in the airport, so we decided to give it the college try.

Suffice to say we made it and I was happy that we were all there together. AJ was pretty miserable, but could function if we kept the Advil/Tylenol thing going for her. I was sick for the first day but that was it.

NOW – enough of the crappy part!!!!! Our visit was wonderful. Unfortuneately we were so wigged out most of the time that there are very few photos.
Our hotel in Regina was good fun + clean!! Our room was next to Linda (Steve’s eldest sister) and her family, so we got to visit with them quite a bit. It was good fun for AJ as she was able to play with her cousin Emily (who is one year younger). The two of them got along famously: running around, jumping on beds, playing with Barbies and doing lots of girly giggling.
On Friday there was a get together at Steve’s sister Debbie’s house. It was a great to see so many people and get to visit a bit before the wedding.

Saturday’s big event was a) the waterslide in the hotel and b) Rachelle’s wedding. AJ was a trooper all day but faded quickly at about 8:00 so we didn’t get to stay long or do any dancing : ( Too bad, because AJ was really looking forward to it. And she looked great too!! Charlotte was a total star, of course. She was feeling fine so all she had to do was run around looking cute and everyone fell in love with her.

On Sunday we went to a big brunch at Steve’s parent’s place. Lots of food, lots of people, lots of kids for Allie to play with. Both she and Charlotte had a hoot and basked in all the attention.
Sunday evening was the event that Steve had been looking forward to for years – taking his daughter to the “Labour Day” Classic football game For those that don’t know, this is an annual event where the Saskatchewan Roughriders play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. 38,000 rabid fans from both sides turn out for this game. It US college football sort of mania, Canadian styple.

Both Allie and Steve were in their glory. She had a lot of fun at the game, and got quite and education in vocabulary on the bus ride home. You see, there were a few fans who had a couple drinks at the game and they were still pretty fired up on the at the end of the game. (It was a spectacular win, by the way). Once back at the hotel, at about 10:00 pm, Allie announces that she has the munchies! Go figure. So they went out for a father/daughter moment at KFC. : )

On Monday morning Allie had a chance to visit with her old friend Emma (Emma was her best friend at school last year, and her family moved to Regina in April). Both girls were THRILLED. It was like they were never away from eachother. Emma and her Dad came to our hotel and everyone hit the waterslide Allie and Emma must have gone down at least 100x. Charlotte also LOVED the slide, and cried every time Steve got out of the pool…until he picked her up and took her up the stairs for another ride!

In the afternoon we hooked up with an old friend from high school, Virginia, her husband and their 2 adorable daughters. It was wonderful to reconnect. Just like Allie and Emma, I felt as if we had seen each other recently, but really it must be at least 10 years. I’m such a slacker about keeping in touch – it is nice to know that with good friends you can just drop in a few years later and pick up where you left off! Allie was pretty worn out by this point in the day, so not at her best, but Charlotte had fun. It was great for them to meet Charlotte as Virginia’s sister is adopting from China…I think their LID was in May, so they still have a long wait ahead. : (

Tuesday it was time to head home. We planned it perfectly – a 10:00 am departure. Once again, Air Canada was out to ruin our day. We were on the plane, loaded and ready to go, and then the dreaded announcement: Air Canada Jazz’s computers were down. No one was going anywhere. We spent 4 hours in the terminal, surrounded by some very nice children and others that can only be described as Satan spawn. I don’t even remember what time we left Regina, but we didn’t make it home until almost 1:00 a.m.

Char – our perfect traveler – had a absolute FIT on the flight. She screamed like I have never heard her scream before.

Never Again. It is West Jet all the way for us next time. Have I mentioned that I loathe Air Canada????

And so ends the tale of our travels.
I know I am behind with news – so please stay tuned for an update on our local excitement: the first day of school!!!!!