And this is why I hate traveling

...and we're back. After a very long and uncomfortable journey, we arrived in Finland last night just before ten. Considering that we and our luggage made it here, and pretty much on time, we otherwise had all the bad luck.

In Vancouver we at least got our power back, but had to wait for a taxi for 45 minutes which made me very nervous... On the way to the airport we got stuck in traffic and almost had an accident when a granny with a deathwish suddenly turned right in front of us, and we were saved only by the fast reflexes of our driver. At the airport almost all the shops were closed so we were unable to buy flight socks (for deep vein thrombosis, and comfort) or insurance, and we went to the wrong gate. In the plane, which was one of those two floor jumbo jets, we got middle seats, so there was someone on either side of us which is got to be one of the more uncomfortable ways of traveling - it sure does minimize the time you can go for walks. It also made me anxious enough so I wasn't really able to eat anything, but on the good side I slept most of the way to London.

Ah, London. You see, I had of course read what BA was saying about restriction on hand luggage, so we were prepared to have our liquids separate and all that - but then the restrictions changed midway the trip. What we were allowed to take to the plane in Vancouver was not the same than what we were allowed to take to the plane in London, and of course the changes went the bad way and we were stuck with extra piece of luggage we had to check in to the hold. After our plane was late about an hour, at this point we had about 40 minutes before our flight was leaving - and we had to go out, clear customs and check back in with all the other folks in Heathrow... and half way running through the baggage handling I noticed that I had lost my boarding pass. So we split up and Dragon run out to check the baggage in and I ran back through customs to look for my boarding pass.

Ah, you got to love the Brits (well I do anyway, Dragon has other ideas). As a frantic and scared looking lone woman I got lots of help and empathy, even from security guards (we had to x-ray everything, even shoes) who are normally never ever sympathetic and I after running around from one desk to another I managed to find someone that would replace my boarding pass without having to queue for half an hour (which was less than what I had until the plane was leaving). Then I ran to the gate hoping Dragon would make it in time. And waited, and boarding started, and he still wasn't there. Then I had to start stalling for time, and once again my distressed state got some empathy but my husband was still missing. Finally everyone else was on board, and they started to check for our bags, and I had to make the decision if I would leave with the plane and our luggage, or stay behind to wait for Dragon. The logistics guy in the yellow vest came in saying that "we had to leave NOW" and I was just about to say that I would take the plane when Dragon ran in after being stuck in two security checks and numerous queues along the way.

Phew. We ran into the plane and strapped in... and then waited for almost another hour with some technical difficulties that prevented the plane from leaving on time. Which was probably good as the final piece of hand luggage we had checked in made it to the plane too which probably wouldn't have happened otherwise. Last leg of the journey went ok, and again I got some sleep.

...which was probably bad, as by the time we got home (to my parents') it was after ten in the evening which meant that the day had just started back in Vancouver - and now I was wide awake. My parents fell asleep around midnight and I forced myself to bed, only to wake up two and a half hours later - which is about the length of a nap for me. And then I was wide awake until Dragon woke up around six (which is a decent nights' sleep). Around eight we got up and had breakfast and by now it was starting be the evening back in Vancouver so now I was getting tired.

Oh, let me count the ways how I hate traveling.

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