Airports & Canadians

Yesterday was an interesting day of traveling. By interesting I do mean that kind of experience when almost everything that can go wrong will go wrong! I am in a hotel room in Vancouver (a city that was NOT on my itinerary) and should have been home yesterday with the 2 large suitcases and snowboard that I believe were left in Europe yesterday. I have no desire ever to work in an airport, especially around Christmas, when everyone is traveling and stressed by delays due to thing like weather, which none of us can control. So many people were stressed and angry, and since I felt that was a waste of energy (especially in my sleep-deprived state) I simply laughed and joked as I ran through the airports trying to catch flights that were inevitably delayed. I was absolutely shocked the times when line ups went fast (or maybe that became a relative term) or when thing went smoothly. We waited for over 45 minutes to find out that our luggage was lost when we had arrived in Canada. That was just one of many waits yesterday, standing around the luggage belt. Time became this weird uncontrollable invisible enemy, and soon it was me against time, as all I wanted was a bed to sleep in. I was hungry but that paled in comparison to the exhaustion, as I figured that I could always eat the next day. I did have a nice breakfast this morning, and even took a short bath before I went to bed last night. Unfortunately I am wearing the same clothes that I had on for the unnaturally long day yesterday.

When I was in Germany (where the worst of the chaos was due to weather), I noticed something–Canadians are really nice! I really mean it, that is all that I could think. I even think I felt myself stepping into some old habits and becoming nicer myself in their presence. I had lengthy and multiple conversations (not just quick comments) with at least 4 different people, and everyone around me was simply chatting and making new friends while we waited for the flight that was eventually 2 hours late (thus causing us all to miss our connecting flights). I felt myself becoming politer as “thank you” and “sorry” became almost every other word I used. Of course I also notice myself making certain Norwegian noises while talking to people, so that they would realize that I am listening. I do wonder, though, if they just think I have weird habits or breathing problems. Old habits die hard!