Part of the Blog composed at different times; hence confusing tense usage may be there!
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Well, it would have been too good to believe if there had not been some glitches in a 5 week trip across North America. We escaped one self-created near glitch when I had mistaken my bus trip from Toronto to Montreal at 11.15 PM while it was for 9.30 PM. Fortuitously Girish, the newly married guy who had elected to drive me to the bus station from Mississauga had a look at the ticket for some reason at 7.30 PM and found that there was no time for the planned trip to his in-law’s home before we reach the bus station. We managed to be well ahead of time, but missed saying ‘bye to his wife and the family. In fact, we could not even take leave of my other nephew and his wife with whom we were staying since, they went out for some shopping intending to be back by 8.30 PM to see us off!
While at Montreal I managed to wash my shirt with the 3-day city pass still in the pocket. Fortunately the station officials could retrieve the number from the soaked and dried ticket and gave me 4 ride tickets for the rest of our final leg, of which I managed to lose one somehow! So one trip final trip from the hostel to the bus station had to be paid for again! After that nothing happened that can be described as a glitch excepting the one on the very last day in North America. In fact, contrary to our belief that we are allowed only one check-in baggage fro the LA-JFK flight (despite being part of an International ticket) we were pleasantly surprised to see the message that we can check-in two pieces when we went through the self-check in process through the machine! We rued our decision not to buy a few more items including some nice backpacks we saw on sale. In fact we had folded up our backpack and put it in one of the bags. Not being seasoned international travelers, we did not think on our feet to take out the backpack to be carried as carry-on baggage even after learning that we are entitled to two check-in bags plus, of course, the carry on bag. Well, I am not talking about it as a glitch; wait for the real one.
Ten minutes to 7 AM when our American Airlines flight to JFK from LAX was to take off, the pilot announces that there is some kind of a leak and we might be delayed. By 8 AM we were told that we have to deplane and get on to another plane since the trouble could not be fixed. Finally we were airborne only by 9.45 AM – 2hrs 45 minutes behind schedule. Just now ( 1.30 PM PST and 4.30 EST) we are told that there are problems in JFK airport with wind conditions and a runway having been closed. Several holding patterns may be there and we are not sure when we will land; but definitely not before the scheduled take-off of Jet Airways flight at 18.10 EST. Of course, if the Jet Airways had problem landing in JFK on time, we may connect. Else, we will have to be rebooked and when will that next flight be, we don’t know. So the great glitch in the 5-week trip happened in the last leg and fortunately not on account of any self-inflicted mishaps.
Well, thanks to strike by ATC at Brusseles, JetAirways flight scheduled to leave by 18.10 (EST), Tuesday from JFK got delayed to leave by 00.35 on Wednesday. So we did not miss our flight. We reached Chennai by 5.30 AM on Thursday instead of 11.30 PM, Wednesday. A blessing indeed since getting home after midnight is a hassle.
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