Getting to Calgary

It's early early Saturday morning and we finally made it to Tyrone's house. I feel like I've driven from Vancouver to Hope -- Calgary is so spread-out. Although I should be happy I made it to Calgary at all -- I got to the airport 15 minutes before my plane was due to leave! Kristin was doubtful I could make the flight, with traffic so blocked up it took 10 minutes to make 3 stoplights. I was pretty optimistic until we reached the end of Granville Street -- and I thought "home free!" -- and realized that the cars were bottlenecked at Marine Drive. And it was already five minutes to 7 o'clock.

My very first flight on Air Canada, and I nearly missed it! The last and only other domestic flight I've taken was when I was 18 years old and living in Banff, and it was the same city pair, Calgary to Vancouver. This was long before the YVR domestic terminal was renovated, and I remember even now that it was in dire need of a wrecking ball. Unrecognizable now that it's all shiny and new.

A bit of anxiety set in when the Air Canada express check-in kiosk immediately rejected my request and I found a queue of people waiting for counter service. The clock was ticking past 7 o'clock and I hadn't even checked in! I managed to take my reject notice to an agent and there was yet another hiccup when he had difficulty getting me a seat. After the speediest AIF credit card transaction ever came the biggest hurdle: the lineup at security check. It seemed to crawl slower than molasses. I started getting discouraged when I noticed a bunch of people getting their shoes inspected... Then my rollerbag almost didn't fit through the x-ray machine, which, if unsuccessful, would've sent me right back to the service counter.