Christmas in Arizona - Travel

I think I'm going to break up our trip into a couple of small posts based on theme, rather than try to recount the entire trip. So, to start things off, let's talk about travel!

Getting down to Arizona was pretty easy; the only hiccup along the way was Sarah feeling a little faint in the Denver airport, but after we got some food in her she was fine. The fun began upon landing in Phoenix.

While waiting at the baggage carousel, a voice came over the PA system to announce that our bags would not be unloaded from the plane because it was raining. Nobody was very impressed with this; it's just rain! There was some brief lightning strikes for a few minutes, but I don't know that that warranted waiting over an hour for our luggage.

Once we finally got our luggage, we discovered my golf clubs hadn't made the trip. We eventually discovered they were coming in on another flight, and I was given the option to have them delivered free of charge. Rather than hang around the airport for a few more hours I chose the delivery option. I was told they would be delivered between 5:30 and 9:00 that evening.

After 9:00 I called to ask where my clubs where; I was told they'd be delivered now between 7:30 and 11:30. I also found out at this point they had the wrong phone number listed for the condo, so I corrected it with them. Martin and I waited until 1:00 AM before giving up and going to bed. Long story shorter the clubs were finally delivered the next day around 5:00 PM.

Coming home was more of an adventure. Firstly, our luggage was overweight (we had 2 large suitcases and my golf clubs). If we were underweight, it would cost $70 to check our bags. With the 2 suitcases over, it was going to cost over $300! The lady at the counter suggested we go around the corner, buy another bag, and then it would just be an extra $30 to check the fourth bag (bringing our total to $100 instead of over $300). Sarah went and grabbed a bag small enough that we could use it as carry on and we didn't check it at all, so the extra cost was just the new bag. However, the lady at the counter forgot to actually take our payment for the bags (and we forgot until we were going through security), so in the end we paid $30 for a carry on bag and nothing to check the rest!

After getting held up in security for a bit because Sarah's heat bag was showing up as something suspicious in the carry on bag, we were on our way. We were concerned about making our next connection though; we had 40 minutes to change terminals in Chicago's O'Hare airport. If you've never been to O'Hare, the place is huge!

While waiting to board the flight from Phoenix to Chicago an announcement was made asking people with larger carry-on bags to check them, free of charge, to make room in the overhead compartments of the plane. I gladly did so, since I was dreading having to run through O'Hare with a 30 pound bag strapped to my back. They checked it all the way through to Winnipeg, so we didn't have to worry about picking it up in Chicago.

On the flight to Chicago, our pilot announced that he was going to have us on the ground about 10 minutes early, so we were happy about that. In the end, for whatever reason, we ended up landing almost 20 minutes late. We now had 20 minutes to run to the shuttle that would take us to the next terminal and board our plane.

I managed to get us off the plane quickly (by walking briskly down the aisle of the airplane saying "We have 20 minutes to make our connection, excuse me!"). Everyone let us go through, even the people in First Class. We then ran through O'Hare to the shuttle, got on it, and then quickly made our way to the gate we needed. The plane was just starting to board as we got there!

When I got to the gate, I asked (to nobody in particular) "Is this the line for the Winnipeg flight?". This bald guy turns around to let me know it was the right line. I then realized the bald guy was Mike Kelly, the ex-coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I was a little surprised he was allowed to leave the country (he was arrested not long ago on assault charges), to be honest, but he may have had special permission since he was probably going back to clean out his desk and home (and, I'd later learn, to smooch with that blonde in the Winnipeg airport).

I was then amused to discover that sitting one row behind us was Lyle Bauer, the ex-CEO of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (he resigned his position, he wasn't fired like Kelly). I wondered if the two had been visiting together, but Bauer and Kelly had nothing to do with each other in the airport at all, so I doubt they were traveling together.

This time all our luggage made it (we actually saw our bright pink and blue suitcases being loaded onto the connecting flight while we were boarding), which made me very happy. There was some stress on the trip home, but the important thing is we made it!