Well, here we are...the big return day. The day all holidayers dread! They now have to go back and make their own beds every morning, have to do their own cooking, and last, never to be told again where to go or who to follow (with tour guides). Ahhh...but some times we are glad to get back home to see family and get back into routine or as one person in our group said, "I want to see my two little doggies, they've missed me" I said what about your children? She said: "they're all grown up and live elsewhere...its my doggies who I miss"! Life is funny, ain't it.
So, to begin our return, at 4 AM our driver had our bags ready and off we went to Amsterdam's Schipohl Airport. It was about a 20 minute drive to the airport. There was another couple with us who were heading back to the USA. We departed Amsterdam airport at 7 AM, on time. We arrived in Zurich 1 hour 10 minutes later. Nice and quick flight. To our surprise we saw on the schedule board the our AC flight which was suppose to leave at 9:35 AM was now delayed until 11:45 AM! What a bummer!. We heard there had been mechanical problems with the AC flight from Toronto, hence the delay. AC provided us with a free breakfast, which was very kind of them, (I really could not eat what was in my box lunch). As we sat waiting for our departure time we noticed it had again been delayed again by another 15 minutes, arghhh!. So at 11 AM we got into the departure line with everyone else waiting to get on the air plane. Once boarded, we had to wait 1 hour on the tarmac for a slot for our plane to take off. (Remember, because of the AC delay we were an unscheduled flight trying to squeeze into regularly scheduled flight take off times). Meanwhile in this wait stage we were informed that AC was looking for 1 passenger still not boarded. Finally, they found him, only to be told he changed his mind and did not want to fly. Well!....you can imagine what goes through all security thoughts. So again our flight was postponed to retrieve this "poor lost soul's" luggage. One or two pieces amongst the hundreds of others packed in the belly of the aircraft. Finally that was cleared up. As it was high holiday season and it was extremely busy it was difficult to find a time slot for AC to take off. So, again we waited for half an hour more and we were told we would take off in the next 5 minutes, only to be told 10 minutes later that the skies over Britain were too crowded and that we would have to wait until that part of the flight path had fewer planes. Finally we were airborne and on our way to Toronto. When we got there is was a madhouse to find our connection and to go through customs. I lost Maureen in the process and was stuck in "no-man's land" with a declaration form for two people. Could not proceed without her. Eventually I spotted her on the other side of the customs room (literally thousands of people going through the customs). Too long a story here to tell. After customs we were told our flight to Ottawa had been cancelled. But Maureen was told by someone else that our "new" flight was leaving in 30 minutes. So we both rushed for Gate 35. We get there with about 15 minutes to spare, only to find out our flight no longer existed! So, I said to Maureen to stay and guard our carry on luggage while I walked back (50 miles an hour) to a customer desk. I was told our plane was now departing at Gate 36. Whewww...back I go to where Maureen was. And we both headed to our new Departure Gate, where the plane was leaving in 30 minutes. We finally arrived in Ottawa 3 hours behind schedule and were so glad to find Shay patiently waiting for use.
Too bad our fabulous holiday had to end on such a frustrating and very tiring day.
The holiday was one of our best ones. I recommend it to every one...but not the return flight VBG!