My latest travels

Currently onboard Westjet on my way to Vancouver, but this isn’t a vacation and I didn’t originate from Calgary either. As I landed in Scottsdale on Thursday I got an email stating that I was going to be traveling commercially to our eastern base for a flight out there.

I was none too impressed as I was scheduled for a 2 night layover, in Vancouver, but that had changed. They needed me out east to do a trip from Toronto to Savannah Georgia all day Saturday and return to Toronto later that night.

So, after some delays on Friday the plane finally left for Toronto. AirCanada it was all the way to Toronto, where I’d then take a rental car and drive to Kitchner where our planes are based. It was rush hour when I arrived and so that made the drive even more exciting. Man, Toronto drivers are full on crazy out there.

I rolled into the hotel parking lot later Friday night, not looking forward to the early morning flight which was soon approaching. 6am EST was the departure time, meaning 5am reporting, meaning 4am waking up. BUT, of course I’m still on Calgary (MST) time and so that wake up time now becomes 2am! To make things better, I only had gone to sleep the previous night at 2am! So needless to say it was a quick nap I received Friday night and not a nice sleep.

We took the boss and some prospective clients for a golfing trip down to Savannah Georgia. There was one person on board that I didn’t recognize right away, but after rechecking the passenger manifest and a confirmation with the other pilot, it was quickly evident we had a Canadian Olympic gold medalist on board. Donovan Bailey was a friend of a prospective client and came along. Pretty neat to have the once “fastest man in the world” on board. He seemed like a good guy, but I didn’t speak with him much other than your average pleasantries.

Because our day was scheduled to be “on duty” for just shy of 17hrs, we were required to have adequate rest in a hotel for a portion of the mid day, so we were off to the Marriot Sweets in Savannah. It was a great hotel and I’m sad we didn’t get to spend the full night there. Mind you, there wasn’t a whole lot around there, just a bunch of hotels.

One neat thing about the Savannah Airport (KSAV) is that it is the main production facility for Gulfstream which is the maker of some very big and fancy business jets. So it was great to see some of the partially constructed planes all around the airport, some even going for test flights and they were totally unpainted so they looked like clapped out crappy planes, but they just didn’t have any paint.

The flight back was uneventful and it was upon my return that my plans for the next day were confirmed. Drive back to Toronto today (Sunday) and take a commercial flight on Westjet to Vancouver, in preparation for a flight out of Vancouver on Monday. There is already a plane in Vancouver, and the other pilot, coincidently my roommate Mike, is being commercially flown out because his days off start before the trip ends.

Tomorrow I will fly out of Vancouver to Edmonton and spend a couple glorious nights there. Sense the sarcasm? Wednesday I’ll finally end up back in Calgary after flying down to Palm Springs from Edmonton.

So, a bit of a stint which involves me criss-crossing the country twice in the airlines. One thing is for sure, I hate traveling commercially. Call me spoiled for flying so much in the private sector, but it is just ridiculous with all of the waiting. It’s just all waiting. Waiting for the ticket agent, waiting for security, waiting for the plane, the flight which is horribly cramped, then waiting for bags and so on. And don’t get me started on some of the many things that irk me about commercial travel from over enthusiastic flight attendants to general idiocy of the traveling public. That will be for another post, and another day.

My ass is completely flat now and I can see the rocky mountains out my window finally. We’ve just passed over Calgary and should only be another 45mins or so until we land in Vancouver. FINALLY. The end is in site. But my stay at home will be so quick I don’t think I’ll get to live it up at all. That’ll have to wait until xmas time. Reminder and notice for those who might have forgotten or are unaware, I’ll be home in Vancouver over xmas on December 26th thru til December 29th.