Have Another Day Of The Awesome That You Are

It came to a close as it began, with a smooth ride with Mr. Berry.

Waiting for Mr Berry.  Yo, watch out for the rubbish truck.
Window cleaning day.  The windows of our flat were never cleaned.  A mystery.

The months of planning, the weeks of packing,

Yes, I am aware I am going to camp for only 13 days.

finishing school,

Work experience buds: Alice & Lucy

the days of saying good-bye.

Dearest Hannie, Ellie J, Lucy H., Catherine, Emily, Lucy, Scarlie, Hen, Abi, Klara, Rosie, Izzy, Daisy, Lottie, Ellie W, Verity, Lisa, Tilly, Maddy, Georgia, Chloe and Jassy (oh gosh I hope I have this one right!): Thank you for being so wonderfully welcoming to Alice. You made her year. You, individually and collectively, have an open invitation to visit anytime!

Celebrating the remains with EW's lab.

So: the travelers are slumming in the American Airlines Flagship Lounge. All systems are go: bags checked, passports and boarding passes secure, flights posted and on-time. Dad and Alice hug good-bye and head to their respective planes, travel carefully orchestrated so that neither one had to wait long after the other.

Wheels up.   Off to home and camp.

Ah.............




....................................not quite.

(Minutiae alert: the details for friends and family.)

After about an hour in the air, Alice's plane develops a fuel leak and returns to Heathrow. She sits on the ground for 1.5 hours, waiting, then deplanes, goes through immigration, waits, collects bags, waits for bus, waits on bus and then Alice and all 250+ passengers arrive at the Holiday Inn on the M4.  Smart girl, she out and on and in first.  With modern communications, we are in constant contact.  In the car and on the phone after I pick him up from a Drs appointment, Carl humors her as she trudges through the process whilst I drive him to meet Fred in front of Memorial Hall so Fred can give the extra car key to Carl so Carl can then get the car and pick him up after work.  A mother's work is never done.  After dropping Carl off at his lab, I head home.  Now my turn to entertain.

Alice: Am I going to be able to do this?  I am a minor!

Me: Well, it will be more difficult without your headlamp.

Alice: My headlamp, whaaa???

Me: Yeah, you being a miner and all.

I KNOW she is smiling -- though all I get is: please get me on the earliest flight, I don't want to miss the bus to camp.  Oh. Right. Camp.

Cache Lake, Algonquin Park

So after 45 minutes on hold I get through to Air Canada and get her on the 8:30AM flight.  On Friday 13 July. I chose not to joke about this fact.

After she gets into the room, she realizes she is tired, bored, frustrated and a bit hungry.  And no wireless.  Ah, welcome to traveling my dearest Alice.  And it is here that everything we have done for the past year kicks in: go to the lobby, get food, buy wireless, buy an hour on the hotel computer, get some FB love, check on the airport bus, I don't have a UK plug converter for my phone, oh yeah use the shaver outlet in the bathroom, what's on TV? yes the door is locked, good night, love you.  Awesome Alice.

We also realize that she has no boarding pass for the next flight and I am not able to check her in on-line. After another 45 minutes on hold, this very calm and cool mother discovers that Air Canada cannot help me except to say: yes, your daughter must get to Heathrow at 5:30AM, 3 hours early, to be first in line to be really sure she gets on that flight.

5:30AM at Heathrow = 5AM hotel bus = wake up at 4:30AM = 11:30PM Durham time.  Eric has arrived home, Carl and Fred are post-run so we all get on the phone to wish our time traveler GOOD MORNING!

She wakes, goes to the lobby, gets on the bus, is first in line at the Air Canada desk, gets a seat, goes through security, immigration.  The last text before take-off:

"I tested every kind of perfume. Daisy by Marc Jacobs is the best. I also tried on a bunch of clothes that I could never afford.  Thank you for making me get to the airport so early. Not everyone got on this flight.  Love, A"

AC849 finally took off at 10:41. We could see it on the ground at Heathrow but once wheels were up, it vanished.  Nothing on FlightAware, nothing from Air Canada automated systems.  Hmmmm, a Friday the 13th thing?  Eric and I know that she is in the air, but does anybody else?  Not wanting to wait another 45 minutes on hold to ask a person when this flight was due into Toronto, I did what every modernist does who needs info fast: I tweet.

gerty ward ‏@gcward

@AirCanada NEED INFO NOW on ACA849 that left Heathrow 10:41 BST today on route to Toronto. HELP

and they replied!

Air Canada ‏@AirCanada

@gcward Hello Gerty, we're showing AC849 is now scheduled to arrive in Toronto at 12:52 pm. We apologize for the wait time.

Now that was easy.  Now the hard part: the camp bus is leaving from the Home Depot parking lot, 20 minutes away,  at 2PM.  Our Canadian angel Jean E. has been on call since last March.  She had planned to pick up Alice from the airport, treat her to a lovely dinner out, a decent nights sleep and a civilized breakfast, then a leisurely drive to the camp bus. Instead she is now circling the passenger pick-up area waiting for our Northway tripper to emerge luggage in tow.  I call Brooks and Wilson: yes we can wait for 15-20 minutes.

The plane lands early. I thank Air Canada.   Hey me got Twitter manners.

gerty ward ‏@gcward

@AirCanada AC849 on the ground in Toronto a few minutes early. Thanks.

If all goes according to plan, she will be at the bus with 15 minutes to spare. But of course.......the line at passport control is very long.  A call to Wilson gets her though.  The baggage is not coming, not coming, not coming. We text, we pace, Jean circles. Repeat.   I tweet. The bags come!  Hey.... this is effective!  No Mom this is coincidence. She is in the car at 1:50, Home Depot at 2:15, on the way to Algonquin Park at 2:20. Thank you Jean.

Well. Done. Alice.  Have another day of the awesome that you are.

Onwards.