Travel Zen in a Storm of Snow

Winter weather, it's the book-maker's bread and butter. Ya spins the wheel and ya takes yer chances!

It's always risky to travel from Montreal in February without a buffer so I kept my eye on the Storm-Tracker map in the days leading up to my departure. I knew that I could get myself to Newark, NJ to catch my flight to Hong Kong if there was going to be weather at home.

That's not how it played out though. A few days before leaving, the weather was all down south from Atlanta up to the middle-Atlantic states. Just in case, I called the travel agent to see what I should do. Her answer was: until a flight is listed as officially delayed or cancelled, I would have to pay a change fee to alter the plans.

I did have a bit of a buffer though, scheduled to leave on the 15th arriving in Hong Kong on the 16th, embarkation on the 17th and departure from Hong Kong at 2 pm on the 18th. My choice was to sit tight and keep watching.

At 3:30 am on Saturday, February the 15th I discovered that my +United Airlines itinerary had been modified from a 1 pm flight to Newark connecting to Hong Kong to some kind of milk run via Cleveland getting me into HKG a full 24 hours late. The weather event along the entire east-coast had caused many flights to be cancelled, crews and airplanes were stranded and getting anywhere interesting that day was impossible. My call to Choice Air Emergency Help Line was answered by a service rep who acknowledged and confirmed that the change was noted in my file and that the late arrival was expected.

Hoping against hope that if I just got to the airport early enough, they could re-route me, I got to the airport within an hour and at 4:30 in the morning found myself waiting in a long line of folks with the same idea.

The airport in Montreal was a madhouse.  It took about one hour to get to the check-in desk. Security took about 20 minutes and immigration was around thirty minutes.

The US immigration guy was very rude. Normally, I am extremely polite and friendly. However, an immigration inspection is all business and I take it seriously.

He asked the usual questions: - Where are you going? How long will you be staying? I explained that I was in transit to Hong Kong and that because of the situation, I wasn't sure how long I would need to be in USA or where. Then he asked me my occupation. I said that I was between jobs and taking the opportunity to travel.

He didn't like that answer. He asked if I had a job lined up for when I got back. I said no. He asked how much the trip  cost. I told him and he said that he couldn't believe that I would travel with no job. He said "you Canadian people have a crazy mentality."

I was shocked, angry and wanted to defend myself.... But of course we don't argue with the guy holding the keys. He just shook his head and let me go.

Grabbed a bagel and waited in line for ninety minutes to speak with United Airlines about rerouting me. No go. There was not a single flight to New York that would get me to my Hong Kong flight on time so I had to have dinner and sleep in Cleveland on my own dime, fly back to Newark the next day and then get to Hong Kong. My travel agent was powerless to help either.

Input: Adversity. Output: Calm.

I thanked my lucky stars for the buffer. I would arrive after embarkation hours in Hong Kong but I would not miss the cruise.

My friend Mr. Shatner on +Priceline hooked me up with a cheapo-airport hotel featuring a pool and a free shuttle to and from CLE.

Although Cleveland's Airport Radisson Hotel and the Chili's restaurant across the street were not exactly Hong Kong's Butterfly on Morrisson and Din Tai Fung dumplings that I had planned for, accommodations were clean and food was plentiful, tasty and cheap with friendly service.

At least getting to Newark was easy and stress-free the next day. No delays at all from breakfast to boarding.

The waiting area for the fully booked Hong Kong flight was packed with high-school-age Chinese kids and a surprisingly large group of Mennonites from Lancaster, PA.

The Mennonite women wore long skirts and long sleeved tops with hair coverings. The older men had the long beards and straw hats but the younger guys were all wearing very normal clothes. One thing that I noticed is that they were very well-muscled. Must be all that barn-raising and cow-milking.

Got my standard economy seat 37L toward the back of the United 777-200 plane. I was at the window and there was a tall American guy on the aisle. One of the Mennonite young guys was seated between us. He asked the American guy if he wanted to switch with his wife in 20A. The guy said no so I volunteered.

That seat was a premium economy plus and was much more comfortable. I even upgraded for the trip home! You get a lot more space between seats. This is commonly called leg-room but since my legs are short, I call it boob-room. Seriously, in the regular section, if the guy in front of me reclined his chair, my tray table would be squishing the girls!

Meals were a choice of  chicken or vegetable curry with a roll and salad plus a brownie.

I was able to sleep and watch in flight entertainment until a few hours later when we got a sandwich and ice cream.

Just before landing we got a choice of eggs or noodles. I had noodles and they were amazing. Water and drinks were being offered almost constantly throughout the flight so we arrived hydrated, full and happy even after 15 hours in the air.

All of the stress from the day before evaporated. Now the fun begins!