DevLife

If you’ve not seen Terminal with Tom Hanks, it a movie about a guy trapped in an airport terminal due to circumstances beyond his control. I forget how long he was trapped for, but I am starting to know what he felt like.

I finished up the work for the clients and got to Boston’s Logan Airport around 2:30, could have been earlier, might have been somewhat later. It’s now 12:30am and I am still here trapped in the shoddy Air Canada lounge waiting for the plane to be fixed. Maybe them it will take off, but at this point I am not holding out much hope.

The days adventures started when I got to the airport to find that Delta had changed my reservation, offering to fly me direct to Toronto. This sounded good, I prefer direct flights and why spend more time in the air during bad weather than I have to? And right now the weather is bad almost across the continent. From the Midwest to the east coast, rain, wind and snow have played havoc with all forms of transportation.

So this flight change was to change from leaving at 5:00pm for JFK to 8:30 direct. Since the arrival time was only a half hour later, it seemed like a good deal.

So why am I still in purgatory, also known as the AC lounge? Well, the plane was delayed coming from Toronto due to weather. OK, I can accept that, it happens. The plane finally arrives and we all board like the good little sheeple we are, the plane taxis from the gate towards the runway at which point the pilot declared a mechanical issue with the brakes. Those need to be checked, which seems prudent as I sure don’t want to fly in a busted plane. Don’t think any one else does either.

The small brake issue has turned into an hour and half repair job which means the plane can’t leave until 1:00 AM at the earliest, if they get it fixed.

As cynical as I am, I don’t see the plane leaving tonight. Toronto is getting hammered with high winds. But Air Canada isn’t telling us that. What I see is that around 2AM they will pull the plug for the night and leave us all hanging. That means it’s not worth getting a hotel room for the next 2-3 hours ( that would be an expensive nap! ) and getting back here for 4 or 5AM to line up for the next flight out.

Well, there is no food other than some tiny airline packages of pretzels and only a water fountain for something to drink. I suppose I could drink the duty-free vodka, but I would have to drive home in the event the plane actually takes off, so I can’t do that.

Well and truly f@&ked at this point. I love air travel!!!!

[update]A little late (like a week) but the plane did finally leave around 2:00AM, landed in Toronto around 4:30AM and I made it in the door at 6:00AM on the nose. Definitely the most fun I’ve had in a while. On the other hand, I did get to watch District 9 again. What a great flick![/update]

Posted in: on the job, travel by Bastien / Tags: movies traveling work

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So I’m on the road again. Back to Boston to sort out some application issues. Always good to get some face time with the clients and re-establish those relationships.

For me, the joys of travel have been far outweighed by the inconveniences and annoyances of going. As the flights are often early, it means I have to get up, earlier. Novel notion but it does mean getting up around 330 am and dragging my ass to the airport. This doesn’t sound all that bad but I’ve never been a sound sleeper before a trip. Always in the back of my mind is missing the shrillness of the alarm so I toss an turn fitfully until the damn things sounds off.

At the airport it’s become an endless series of line ups and security checks. The stripping down, almost to the boxers, of the belt, shoes, coat, sweater. Take the electronics out, put it all inthe tray and 30 seconds later the rush to put it all on, pack it all up and try not to cause a jam up.

So what mad this trip so damn memorable? Well, as I got off the small regional jet that brought me on the first leg of my journey, I left my damn rolly carry on case at the gate, then I walked out of the terminal. Of course it wasn’t until I was standing in the cold waiting for the shuttle to the next terminal that I realized that I had forgotten the damn thing. So, I have to clear security again to get back to the gate only to have the agents tell me the bag was sent to the baggage claim area. I high tail it back to the claims area, root around for the bag, which was the lost luggage office, grab it and head back to the shuttle bus to grab the next flight. So I got to go thru security, again, though I took the road less travelled and chose the furthest checkpoint from the maddening crowd for a slightly speedier traversal of the security zone.

As I write this it’s about 1230 am, I’ve been up for almost 22 hours and I am tired. It’s been a hell of a travel day.

Posted in: on the job, travel by Bastien / Tags: travel work ckients

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Has Disney lost it’s glitz? Is the princess’ crown a little tarnished? Having spent the first week of september there, and while a majority of the parks seem to be lasting well, the Magic Kingdom seems to be lagging somewhat.

The issue that realy rankled me the most was the poor water quality coming from the drinking fountains. The water was absolutely foul tasting. My guess is that it relates to the almost 40 year old lead pipes feeding the water system. It make drinking water from the fountain a real distateful experience for everyone. I can understand that not fixing this is due to a couple of reasons; the cost of undertaking the massive overhaul of the system and replacing the tubing; and Disney’s desire to make more money by selling bottled water. This would be ok if I like Disani water, but I don’t like that taste of that either.

There are also sign of wear in more places, broken locks in the stalls of the washrooms in Epcot, the really dated World of Tomorrow exhibit at Magic Kimgdom ( come on, people, the world is vastly different than when that was created. It needs an update ).

The other place I really noticed wear was in the hotel / resort. Staying at the All Star Movies resort, which was great from an accessibility perspective for getting to the various parks, there were some glaring signs of reduced maintenance. The door frames were rusted, many of the towels had holes, the sheets didn’t fit the beds and some of fixtures are sun-faded.

The biggest beef I have is the damned twin sized beds. I am a big guy, 6′3″ and they are just too small. Not that anything will happen about that. I realize it’s a value resort, though as I recall the moderates had the same beds.

Just a bit of a rant there.

Posted in: travel by Bastien / Tags: disney travel wdw

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