On Thursday morning, things started out well enough. We awoke at 5:30, showered, had a breakfast of fruit, yogurt and coffee in our room and finished packing. At 7:15 am, we were out the door.
Through the hotel, we had arranged a taxi to pick us up at 7:30 and drive us to the airport for a fixed rate of 30 euros ($45 CDN). When we got to the front door, our taxi was already waiting for us. In about 40 minutes, we were deposited at Terminal 1 at the Madrid airport.
We had booked with Air Canada but were flying to Newark on United. Air Canada often uses Star Alliance partners for various legs of our trips. As we checked in, we discovered that Air Canada had booked us twice, which was better than not at all as has happened to us in Ecuador before. Anyway, that wasn’t a problem. Customs and security went smoothly too. After a couple of hours of waiting, we boarded our plane.
Our flight was full but we had an aisle and middle seat in the middle of the plane so we could get in and out as we liked. That’s our preferred seating for a long trip. The lunch on the plane was actually pretty good and the flight attendants were generous with the wine. Watching a couple of movies and having an hour nap made the 8 1/2 hour flight go pretty quickly.
Due to the time change, we landed at Newark about 3 pm. We had to go through US Customs, which wasn’t a problem, change terminals, go through security and then wait through our 6 hour layover in the small and crowded confines of Terminal A. This is one of our least favourite airports in the world. It’s busy, crowded and they have a reputation for delays and lost luggage.
About 6 pm, with another 2 1/2 hours to wait, we started noticing delays and cancellations from Toronto and Montreal coming up on the board. We knew the weather was bad in southern Ontario and Quebec. Within a few minutes, we got an email from Air Canada flight tracking that our flight was cancelled. We were quick to get to the service counter. There was no way we were leaving Newark until the following morning. We were assigned tickets on the 8:35 am flight to Ottawa the next day. Because the delay was weather related, we were on our own to find a hotel.
While we retrieved our bags at the luggage carousel, we noticed a web address for the Newark Airport Marriott Hotel, the closest one to where we were. We reserved a room online ($217 US) then phoned the hotel on Skype to find out where to catch the free shuttle. Soon we were on the shuttle and at the hotel.
After check-in, when we tried to log on to the internet, we discovered that they wanted another $12.95 per day for that. We’ve stayed in hundreds of 2 star hotels with free internet. It’s always the expensive hotels that try to gouge you a little more. We went to the front desk and I said, “Are you really going to try to charge us $12.95 for internet?” The desk clerk immediately gave us a free access code. We’re probably not the first ones to complain.
After splitting an overpriced hamburger in the hotel restaurant, we showered and got to bed early.
By 4 am, we were up. We caught the 5:30 shuttle back to the airport. We dropped off our small packs again and went to the long line-up for security. For some reason, we had “TSA Pre-Check” printed on our boarding passes, which meant we could skip the rest of the line and go through lesser security. We didn’t have to take off our shoes, get the iPad out or any of that stuff. Very civilized. Then we went back into the Terminal A holding cell to wait.
We knew there were still high winds in Ottawa so we kept checking the board for cancellation. However, our flight left on time at 8:35 am. Our plane was a two engine jet capable of carrying about 80 passengers, so it wasn’t a small plane. Nevertheless, the trip got bumpier as we approached Ottawa.
As we came in to land, it got really bumpy. At the last second, a siren warning of severe wind shear went off and the pilot pulled up. The flight attendant told us we would make our one more attempt and if that didn’t work, we’d fly to Toronto where the storm had already passed. That would be inconvenient but it would be better to be alive in Toronto than crashing in Ottawa.
Luckily, the second attempt, although very bumpy, got us on the ground. I never cheer landings but I did this time, as did everyone else. We’re not nervous flyers but that was among the worst landings we’ve ever had. The pilots were very skilful to land the plane in such extreme wind conditions.
Once we got through customs and picked up our bags, our son Zack was waiting for us outside. He drove us to his house in Gatineau where we packed a sandwich and tea for the road and got in our car for the trip home.
By 3 pm Friday we were finally home, after leaving our hotel in Madrid at 7:30 am on Thursday. It was another long couple of travel days but, as we said at the beginning of this trip blog, if you can’t take these things in stride you better stay home.
We were in Spain for almost 5 weeks and spent about $8,500 CDN for absolutely everything. Hopefully our insurance will reimburse us for about $1100 of that to cover the money we spent scrambling because of flight delays or cancellations. We enjoyed Spain again but now we’ve seen a lot of the major cities there. Where to next?
Through the hotel, we had arranged a taxi to pick us up at 7:30 and drive us to the airport for a fixed rate of 30 euros ($45 CDN). When we got to the front door, our taxi was already waiting for us. In about 40 minutes, we were deposited at Terminal 1 at the Madrid airport.
We had booked with Air Canada but were flying to Newark on United. Air Canada often uses Star Alliance partners for various legs of our trips. As we checked in, we discovered that Air Canada had booked us twice, which was better than not at all as has happened to us in Ecuador before. Anyway, that wasn’t a problem. Customs and security went smoothly too. After a couple of hours of waiting, we boarded our plane.
Our flight was full but we had an aisle and middle seat in the middle of the plane so we could get in and out as we liked. That’s our preferred seating for a long trip. The lunch on the plane was actually pretty good and the flight attendants were generous with the wine. Watching a couple of movies and having an hour nap made the 8 1/2 hour flight go pretty quickly.
Due to the time change, we landed at Newark about 3 pm. We had to go through US Customs, which wasn’t a problem, change terminals, go through security and then wait through our 6 hour layover in the small and crowded confines of Terminal A. This is one of our least favourite airports in the world. It’s busy, crowded and they have a reputation for delays and lost luggage.
About 6 pm, with another 2 1/2 hours to wait, we started noticing delays and cancellations from Toronto and Montreal coming up on the board. We knew the weather was bad in southern Ontario and Quebec. Within a few minutes, we got an email from Air Canada flight tracking that our flight was cancelled. We were quick to get to the service counter. There was no way we were leaving Newark until the following morning. We were assigned tickets on the 8:35 am flight to Ottawa the next day. Because the delay was weather related, we were on our own to find a hotel.
While we retrieved our bags at the luggage carousel, we noticed a web address for the Newark Airport Marriott Hotel, the closest one to where we were. We reserved a room online ($217 US) then phoned the hotel on Skype to find out where to catch the free shuttle. Soon we were on the shuttle and at the hotel.
After check-in, when we tried to log on to the internet, we discovered that they wanted another $12.95 per day for that. We’ve stayed in hundreds of 2 star hotels with free internet. It’s always the expensive hotels that try to gouge you a little more. We went to the front desk and I said, “Are you really going to try to charge us $12.95 for internet?” The desk clerk immediately gave us a free access code. We’re probably not the first ones to complain.
After splitting an overpriced hamburger in the hotel restaurant, we showered and got to bed early.
By 4 am, we were up. We caught the 5:30 shuttle back to the airport. We dropped off our small packs again and went to the long line-up for security. For some reason, we had “TSA Pre-Check” printed on our boarding passes, which meant we could skip the rest of the line and go through lesser security. We didn’t have to take off our shoes, get the iPad out or any of that stuff. Very civilized. Then we went back into the Terminal A holding cell to wait.
We knew there were still high winds in Ottawa so we kept checking the board for cancellation. However, our flight left on time at 8:35 am. Our plane was a two engine jet capable of carrying about 80 passengers, so it wasn’t a small plane. Nevertheless, the trip got bumpier as we approached Ottawa.
As we came in to land, it got really bumpy. At the last second, a siren warning of severe wind shear went off and the pilot pulled up. The flight attendant told us we would make our one more attempt and if that didn’t work, we’d fly to Toronto where the storm had already passed. That would be inconvenient but it would be better to be alive in Toronto than crashing in Ottawa.
Luckily, the second attempt, although very bumpy, got us on the ground. I never cheer landings but I did this time, as did everyone else. We’re not nervous flyers but that was among the worst landings we’ve ever had. The pilots were very skilful to land the plane in such extreme wind conditions.
Once we got through customs and picked up our bags, our son Zack was waiting for us outside. He drove us to his house in Gatineau where we packed a sandwich and tea for the road and got in our car for the trip home.
By 3 pm Friday we were finally home, after leaving our hotel in Madrid at 7:30 am on Thursday. It was another long couple of travel days but, as we said at the beginning of this trip blog, if you can’t take these things in stride you better stay home.
We were in Spain for almost 5 weeks and spent about $8,500 CDN for absolutely everything. Hopefully our insurance will reimburse us for about $1100 of that to cover the money we spent scrambling because of flight delays or cancellations. We enjoyed Spain again but now we’ve seen a lot of the major cities there. Where to next?
