Epic Travel Day

It was my birthday yesterday. As a special gift, my company sent me on an all-expense-paid trip to Memphis, Tennessee (for business meetings today). And so began the adventure...

Was flying Toronto-Memphis with a connection in Chicago (90-minute connection, no problem). Started seeing delays in my flight starting at around 11am. First, 30 minutes, then 60, then an hour-15, then 2 hours-15, then 4 hours. After a while, decided to go to the airport and take my chances. Joined my colleague in the lounge who was also on the same trip, when suddenly the flight departure time moved up by 3 hours-15...giving us 5 minutes to dash from the lounge to the furthest point in the airport.

Dashed.

Boarded in Toronto with only a 40-minute delay, then waited another 40 minutes for other passengers who didn't know the flight had moved up by 3+ hours.

Eventually took off with a chance that we'd make Chicago in time for our Memphis connection. After all, flights rarely leave Chicago on time.

Landed in Chicago with 10 minutes to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 before take-off. BUT, the Chicago-Memphis flight showed a 20 minute delay, so maybe, just maybe, they were waiting for us.

Dashed. Sprinted. The shuttle between Terminals arrived promptly. Dashed again. AND MADE IT, just in time to see them close the plane doors. It was a holiday miracle! A flight left on time! Agent at the gate said she held it as long as she could, but the flight was now irrevocably on its way. Next step was to go to customer service for a new flight and a hotel voucher (next flights to Memphis were in the morning - 7:30 am and noonish.)

100's of people waiting for same at customer service...line-up with no end in sight.

Fortunately, we had decided to buy my co-traveller a ticket on the 7:30 am flight just in case, so that at least one of us could get there in the morning. That paid off and he was set. For me, neither flight had seats remaining. I got on standby for the noonish flight.

That's when I noticed a Little Rock flight that I could take earlier, rent a car in Little Rock, drive a couple of hours to Memphis, and arrive earlier than the noonish Memphis flight was scheduled to arrive. Spoke to our agent and had her arrange that, car and everything.

Had drinks and a late dinner at the airport hotel we booked for ourselves (rather than waiting 2+ hours in line for the airline to do it) and set the alarm for my 8:58 am flight to Little Rock this morning.

Off went my colleague on the 7:30 am flight to Memphis. A little later, I headed over to the Little Rock gate. But wait! Little Rock was delayed by 30 minutes, then 60, then 3.5 hours.

Heard from my colleague (now in Memphis) that there were 4 empty seats on his flight (any one of which would have sufficed for my purposes, thank you very much).

Took that as a cue that maybe the noonish flight to Memphis now also had seats. Called my Agent. She switched me to that flight (another Terminal, same shuttle as last night). And now I sit and await my Memphis flight, boarding pass in hand.

My Memphis flight just got delayed 45 minutes. And in fact, I just checked again - literally this moment - it's been delayed again by another 2 hours.

I wish I was kidding.

Good news is that I fly back to Toronto tomorrow morning. That should go smoothly I'm sure.

Lessons learned:

• With all the apps available to let you know departure times, you still need to assume your flight is departing at its original time...because it might.
• Travel agents still have lots of value to add. Even if it's just the off-load of waiting on the phone for airlines to pick up.
• No sense in getting frustrated or angry. The airlines don't (can't?) care because whatever is happening to you, something worse is happening to a whole bunch of someone elses... including those in the line in front of me last night who don't have agents, can't afford to buy extra tickets and/or are going through these situations with little children and/or infants.

Wish me luck...

How Will 2016 Be Remembered?

Wow. That was quite a year.

I've heard a lot of people talking about how horrible 2016 was - the rise (return) of all sorts of terrible behaviours and beliefs around the world and too close to home, the painful US Election, the set-backs on important social gains for vulnerable groups, uncountable human tragedies resulting from natural and/or man-made disasters and wars and terrorism, the deaths of beloved figures from just about every Trivial Pursuit category, ...

Sad. Depressing. And nearly over.

I'm not sure that 2016 really stands out in these respects compared to other years, but it is recent and therefore most-easily remembered. Certainly, we haven't lost so many icons in any year that I remember.

However...maybe we made a few gains? Maybe we learned a few things from 2016 and get better as a result?

Maybe 2016 will be remembered as the year that the under-30's genuinely woke up to the fact that they need to step up and rescue the world from their parents. The grown-ups really dropped the ball this year on all sorts of fronts and it feels like the under-30's watched in horror but didn't realize they could have made an enormous difference. Maybe they know that now and stop assuming we know what we're doing?

Maybe 2016 will be remembered as the year that we all woke up to what we've been hearing for decades - that if we don't remember the past we are doomed to repeat it. At the same time that we're losing the last few people on the planet with first-hand experience of the horrors of WWI and WWII, maybe we're getting the kick in the pants we need to finally believe them and do something about it?

Maybe 2016 will be remembered as the year that we became mobilized around the death of the truth, the importance of honest journalism, and the degree to which we have become vulnerable to lies.

Maybe 2016 will be remembered as the year when the voice of the people being left behind with respect to employment, health, education, and "the American Dream" overall, was finally heard.

Maybe 2016 will be remembered as a breakthrough year for mental health, when we finally started to talk about it openly, when it became as real for us as physical health. When gender issues finally started mattering to everyone. When the rest of us realized that women still aren't safe. When we finally started dealing with simmering (but carefully hidden and anonymous) xenophobic hate.

Maybe 2016 will be remembered as the year that we finally began to deal with bullying and started to address the harm that people do to each other and society when the Internet gives absolute freedom to absolutely everybody to do absolutely anything they want.

Or maybe 2017 will be even worse?

I can't shake the feeling that that depends a lot on the under-30's. Not shirking. But I think I'll remember 2016 as the year when I personally realized how much better our kids can be at fixing the world than we have proven to be. They care. They are connected. They have reach. They are frighteningly smart.  And maybe now, they've been activated by all they witnessed in 2016.

I hope so.