My journey home from Labrador was fraught with disappointment and
despair. When the Beaver landed at Riverkeep and was unloaded, it was
discovered that the pilot had not brought any seats. Duh! Two trips
would be necessary to get all four of us to Lab City. I was elected to
go first and had a wonderful flight to the float plane terminal at
Wabush, Labrador. Because of the Air Canada schedule, I elected to
spend the night in Lab City. It was cheaper than flying the provincial
airline.

My flight left at 11:05 on Saturday morning. It was a Beechcraft 1900,
filled to capacity with 19 souls. Our 45 minute flight to Sept Isles
was noisy but uneventful. At Sept Isles I transferred to another Air
Canada Jazz aircraft, a two engined turbo-prop Dash 8-300. Great
plane. We landed in Montreal at 2:30 p.m., on time, and after spending
close to two hours getting thru passport control and customs, I made my
way from Terminal A all the way to Terminal C, gate 77 for my flight to
Boston. It was delayed, and delayed, and delayed. Then it was changed
to Gate 88, another walk with my heavy carry-ons. And, it was again
delayed. It was delayed until 9:15 when our plane finally arrived at
the gate. But, the poor crew had been waiting so long that hey decided
they just could not fly to Boston. Right!!!!

So, back to the Air Canada ticket agent booth to get a voucher for room
and food. We arrived at the Quality Inn about 10 p.m. with a $17
voucher for food. After blowing my voucher on a turkey club sandwich
and purchasing two draft beers for $15, I retired to my room and
managed to get to sleep around mid-night.

Up at five, showered and wearing my cleanest dirty shirt and
yesterday's socks, I was at the terminal by 6:30. The Air Canada line
snaked its way with 3 or 4 bends. It took more than an hour to get to
the counter, check my bag, and get my boarding pass. Off to U.S.
Customs (for a second time in as many days), and Gate C-83. Surprise!
Flight delayed. Well, let us have some breakfast. Eggs, bacon, home
fries, toast, coffee, lots of coffee and say goodbye to $20 US, plus
tip. Back to the gate only to find the flight has once again been
delayed. After the previous day's delays and ultimate cancellation, I
was not in a happy mood.

Finally our gate had an aircraft parked at it. It was not the small
jet aircraft that I expected, but another Dash 8-300. Hell, at this
point I would have settled for a Cessna 182! We finally boarded at 12
p.m., 3 hours late. Hell, what else could happen?

What else, you ask? How about a leaky engine. Seems the port engine
is leaking oil, lots of oil. The captain says they are "looking into
it and hopefully it can be repaired." An hour later the captain
announces all is well. They found the leak and have added more oil.
We are off, flying to Boston. I have broken the bounds of Montreal. I
am free, free at last, flying in a two engined aircraft that is
possibly leaking oil. What else could happen you ask?

Well, crashing was not in the order of the day. Having crashed twice
while in the Navy, crashing on this day would REALLY **** me off! No,
we landed safely at Boston's Logan airport. We taxied and then
stopped. We were stopped for 5 minutes when the captain had an
announcement. This could not be good. It seems that Air Canada had no
gate for us to pull up to. We would have to wait until a gate became
available. Forty-five minutes later, I left the aircraft, a very tired
and ****ed off old man.

When I got to the luggage carousel, my beautiful wife Joanne greeted me
with a wonderful smile, a hug, and a cold soft drink. Life is good
once again.

Dave
PS: I have two Loonies, two Twonies, and some funny looking quarters
and pennies. Hmmmm. I will have to go back to Canookistan to spend
them. But, not on Air Canada.