There is a turmoil, in my head, in my heart, on the plane.
The day starts well. My luggage and I are ready for the big adventure.
I receive a text message informing me of a delay for my 1st flight. Never mind… I still call the taxi and I will wait a little longer at the airport.
The driver is super nice and we chat along the way. He is interested in our beautiful project and I leave him by giving him the URL of my blog.
When entering the airport, things get tougher. There are no employees at the counter. I try to register at the terminal but it does not work. Finally, I call an employee of the airport who looks at my documents, consults her phone and explains to me that… my flight has left. Hey, what, that's impossible! Also, the next flight is at 11:00 am, far too late to catch my transfer to Tokyo.
I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm dizzy. The lady sees my dismay and takes me to the airport service counter.
There, another lady tries to check on the camera if the plane is still on the tarmac but... the camera does not work. She tells me that fortunately my flight is with United and that the employees of this company are very nice. With another company, "It Who Must Not Be Named", she wouldn't even have tried. She then tries to contact United Airlines employees, no response. Another number, a third, on the fourth try, someone answers. Despite the information that appears on the display boards, the plane has not yet left. So it's a race against time.
She takes photos of my passport, proof of vaccination, visa and sends everything to the United agent. Led by the lady, we take a shortcut to safety. When we got there, another lady gave us our boarding passes that she printed in a hurry. Quick, quick, we put everything in the bins, take off our boots and run through the metal detection gate.
The screening officer analyzes my yogourts for a long time… on which the capacity is not listed. Maybe there are 105 ml instead of 100? The yogourts are seared. I put on my boots, pick up my luggage and run to the boarding gate. My companion hasn't taken the time to tie his shoelaces, so it's at the risk of his life that he runs in the long corridor.
On arrival, I present my boarding pass which is refused by the scanner. New scan, it doesn't work. The United agent then checks directly into the computer and finally lets me through.
Finally, I'm on the plane which, fortunately, was nearly two hours late because... the pilot's seat was broken.
This incredible adventure stems from a slight misunderstanding. I confused the arrival time of my flight in Newark with the departure time from Quebec. A slight error that almost cost a few thousand dollars.
Fortunately, I had no checked baggage and all my documents on hand. These precautions and the extreme kindness and collaboration of the employees of the Quebec airport allowed me to begin my trip by, once again, thanking my lucky stars.
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