Sunday, July 27, 2008

The world is full of STUPID people - Vegas Chronicles Day 1

Today (in preparation for Scott's and my trip to Vegas) I took the kids to Nova Scotia to spend 10 days with my parents...from what I hear, they hit the beach as soon as they left the airport. Lucky little stinkers!

Not ones to mess around potential delays at the security checkpoints, we arrived at the airport 1 1/2 hours before our flight.

Our first stop was:



If we have more than two hours, we usually stop at Starbucks before clearing security, but that wasn't the case today.

After collecting drinks and snacks/breakfast, we headed toward our gate which happened to be at the far end of the terminal. Upon arriving, we discovered that between the time we checked in and ultimately arrived at the gate, that there had been a gate change announcement (which we missed) and were now being redirected to gate 131 at the opposite end of that terminal arm. Such is the way it goes at Pearson.

9:35 a.m. - The flight being oversold, we found ourselves at gate 136 waiting for the 10:15 flight and praying for misconnects.

10:55 a.m. - Traveling towards Halifax watching "21", which seemed appropriate since Scott and I are heading to Vancouver tomorrow.

The flight was uneventful with the kids all watching TV shows and movies of their choice thanks to the personal on board entertainment system.

2:35 p.m. (Atlantic Time) - Time to travel back to Toronto on another aircraft with personal on board entertainment system which means I finished watching "21" - WOOT!

3:55 p.m. (back on Eastern Daylight Time) - Arrived a little late, but better late than never. Time to get home and finish packing...or at least convince Scott that he should start - YIKES!

5:20 p.m. - Stop for some wine...must have something to help me sleep tonight, because I got minimal sleep last night. Not sure why this surprises me anymore, because it happens everytime we travel. I plan to go to bed early and think of last minute things that need to be done. So I end up in bed late and still don't sleep very well for fear of missing the alarm and therefore missing the flight.

Tomorrow morning, we have to be at the airport at 6 a.m. - YIKES!


STUPID PEOPLE

On the return trip, there was quite a bit of turbulence as we approached Toronto - so much so that the flight attendant almost hit his head on the over head compartments and had to suspend his garbage collection. Yes, it was that bumpy.

As we began our descent with still a little bit of turbulence, I noticed the 4 year old girl in the seat ahead of me was on her knees (clearly not restrained by her seatbelt) and looking out the window. Now, these people were on the plane through the turbulence (obviously) and her mother just let her continue looking out the window. Now of course this is bad judgment (DUH!) but it continued. Now, I'm of the mind that people who are stupid enough to do that sort of thing deserve whatever they get...of course, these are also the same stupid people who would sue the airline because their kid was injured (never mind that it was due entirely to their own stupidity). It boggles the mind.

Another case of stupidity before I even left the airport: I stop in to Starbucks while waiting for DH to come and pick me up. I ALWAYS order the same thing (grande, skinny cinnamon dolce latte) and since Starbucks has started offering perks when you register your Starbucks card on line I get the cinnamon part for free and just pay the same price as a regular latte. Yes...well...not at the airport.

Apparently, at the airport, because the Cinnamon Dolce Latte is listed as an ACTUAL beverage (same as it is in EVERY OTHER Starbucks), and not a regular latte to which you would add syrup, they tell me that I don't get the syrup for free. Huh?

So, I try to explain to them that at EVERY OTHER Starbucks I get the syrup for free. They tell me since they are owned by HMS (airport food services?) it doesn't work the same as the other Starbucks that are owned by Starbucks. This makes NO sense, because the Starbucks that is at Sick Kids is OWNED by Sick Kids (they get the profits) and I get the same dang syrup for free!

I get told I can have a CARAMEL latte with free syrup so I say, O.K., then make me a caramel latte.

UGH! They ended up charging me a caramel latte (with free syrup - so the same price as a regular latte) and STILL make me a cinnamon dolce latte...whatever...that airport gets freakier every time I go through it...and I have to do it again tomorrow. I think I'll stick with Tim Hortons!

Yep...the world is FULL of STUPID people!

See you all tomorrow with more Vegas Chronicles!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A real Starbucks owned by a stupid company is much better than a "we brew Starbucks coffee". At my school the 'we brew' doesn't accept cards at all... nor can they make a good lattee

Christyne said...

Oh yes! THAT would totally suck!