A Very Frigid Farewell from Alberta!

Oh my, oh my, oh my! We planned this trip last summer. We were innocently sitting on the deck sipping wine when we found ourselves booking this trip. We had no idea that we would be leaving Alberta in the midst of record-breaking cold temperatures! We awoke on packing day to -41 degrees Celsius with a wind chill of -53!! Gah. It seemed completely counter-intuitive gathering up shorts and flip flops! Escaping into the warm Mexican weather is sounding even more inviting right now!

And then ... after we were packed up we received an Emergency Alert blaring loud buzzing sounds on our phones! Apparently so much electricity was being used over the province to keep everyone warm that we were at risk of enduring scheduled outages! We were invited to turn off any non-essential power use.

The idea of losing power (scheduled or not) was disturbing to say the least. So, I scurried around turning out all the lights except for one that we needed over the dinner table ... and ... the one plugged into our car block heater.

This unwelcome turn of events added more angsty fodder to my already overly anxious mind. I had already been feeling an unusual amount of apprehension about our trip ... so ... I didn't need to add fears of the car not starting in the morning. We sure as heck didn't want to miss our Red Arrow Bus to Calgary. My anxious mind also reminded me that if they scheduled an outage in our area ... the alarm clock wouldn't wake us on schedule either. Eeeeek

I was not sure why but I have not been as excited as usual when anticipating a trip. It's been almost a full year since we travelled anywhere and I've been super anxious about it all. I am not inherently the most adventurous person on the planet, but I usually look forward to venturing into destinations unknown!! Not so much ... this time ... which made me feel awful and ungrateful for a privilege denied to so many. Who doesn't look forward to taking a nice trip?!? I just couldn't shake the feeling of reluctance ... actually it was almost ... dread.

I wondered if all the unwelcome reticence was because of all the changes and disruptions we have experienced this past year?? Selling our home, moving, closing my office, retirement from my career ... maybe I was feeling less adventurous and simply craving more predictability and the comforts of familiarity in these moments? 🤔

Or maybe it's because ever since the pandemic, travel has become more stressful in terms of all the variables: cancellations, lost luggage etc. For example, last year when returning from Ft. Lauderdale, our connecting flight in Toronto was cancelled. They suggested a flight 3 DAYS later as the best option!! 🥴 Fortunately, we figured a way home earlier and were not stranded there THAT long ... but ... it was certainly stressful. Then when we arrived in Calgary, our car wouldn't start. We didn't have AMA at the time ... so ... it was challenging. Arghhhhhhhh.

All that said ... we have a direct flight to Cabo so I reminded myself that 'connections' should not be a problem. And, we opted to take the Red Arrow (bus) to Calgary instead of driving ourselves. I was hoping these particulars will decrease the possibility of any unwelcome surprises!

Fortunately, there were no power outages ... the alarm rang at 5:30am ... the car started ... and ... we got on our bus as planned!! It was definitely a bit frosty out there though. -38°Celcius ... wind chill made it feel 10 ° colder.

Its always fascinating to me how the skies take on a pinkish hue in the cold. The roads were good, but it was still nice to not have to drive ourselves in these bitter cold temps. 🥶

We arrived at the airport about noon and called for a shuttle to our hotel. I was hoping we could have lunch, check into our flight and was keeping my fingers crossed we might get an early check-in to our room.

However ... while I was checking into our flight over lunch ... I noticed that the old boy's ticket had an "R" included as a middle initial. WHAT??? The old boy does not have a middle name ... "R" is MY middle initial. I realized I must have not noticed an auto-fill "R"when I was booking our tickets on that hot August day almost 6 months ago. Maybe the two glasses of wine I was enjoying left me less conscientious about the details??

At any rate ... I realized I was checked in to travel to Cabo with someone whose name on their ticket did not match the name on his recently renewed passport! Can you just imagine how sick I felt?? I've heard stories of people who've been refused boarding because their names were not identical on all the paperwork. I felt humbled beyond measure. I've never messed up like this before .....

We thought we best take the shuttle back to the airport to get things sorted out before the morning airport mayhem. 'Alex' ... the friendly WestJet staff indicated that it would not be a problem to get the ticket sorted out (it must happen often) , but it could only be done on the day of travel ... i.e. tomorrow morning. He suggested our BIGGER problem might be a cancellation. Apparently, WestJet had 120 cancelled flights TODAY ... in addition ... to all the ones grounded yesterday!! He further added that if we didn't fly out tomorrow, it would likely be 3 or 4 days before they could get us up and on our way!!! 🥺

And so ... here we are ... back at the hotel ... with no clue what tomorrow will bring. I find myself wondering if all my anxious reticence was actually a premonition of these issues?? I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, I am extra super grateful to my exceptional sis-in-law for the wise reminder to just make the best of things! Her pep talk made me realize I best regroup and reclaim my own 'how are you going to live a great life anyway?' mindset!! 😉

So, I promised Sis that I'd put a smile on my face and pull up my big-girl party panties! I'm hoping a glass or two of chardonnay will help me integrate that playful attitude and help quiet my ever anxious mind.

We've ordered the shuttle for tomorrow at 6:30am and have been told that the hotel has extra room if we need to stay longer. Here's hoping that the next time we connect ... I'll still be in my party panties ... but ... with my flip flops on.

I'll let you all know how it goes!! Keep your fingers crossed for us okay? ❤️ Czytaj więcej