Getting There

I hate long layovers at airports. My flight from Calgary to Toronto is set to depart early in the morning on July 14, leaving a painful 4 hours - more than enough time - to catch my connection from Toronto to Amsterdam, and then on to Nairobi. The plane engine starts up, but almost immediately shuts off again. Captain says it's a "maintenance issue that'll be about 15 minutes". Meh, no problem. I have a PUH-lenty of time. Less time to kill this way.

An hour goes by. The Captain, again: "The mainenance issue is a little more complex than we thought. We have no idea how long this will take".

I'll tell you how long. THREE HOURS.

When the plane lands in Pearson, I'm racing to get my bags, climb 2 escalators, wait endlessly for a train to the international Terminal, down two more escalators, finally arriving at the KLM ticket counter 15 minutes before the plane is set to board.

Ticket Agent: "Ok, Ms. Nathoo, you'll be traveling business class today?"

Me: Silent.

Her: "The lounge is right near your gate. We'll make a special announcement for you." WELL! I didn't realize we were all flying to Nairobi first class! This is fantasti! It makes my sweaty forehead and increasingly frizzy hair totally worth it. I finally meet up with the rest of the crew heading to Kenya, who by now are taking bets to see if I'll actually make the flight or not.

Nikhil: "You made it! We put a note on your file with KLM that your plane was going to be delayed, just so they'd know."

Apparently, that little note turned into a first class ticket, hot towels, and a seat that turns into a full bed during flight. Oh yeah, and a tad bit of resentment for a good deed gone awry.