Easter Retreat Day 1

20 hours ago, I wrote my Pre-Departure Sketch. According to the plan, I would be in Cornell by now, after a 4 hr drive from Newark Airport. Yet, as I predicted, things never go to plan. It is from Toronto’s Pearson Airport that I type this post. It has been a day of delay after delay, in fact, nothing but delays. My flight was scheduled for 830am (UK), when I reached the airport at 6am; I realized it had been delayed till 930am. Already, there was an incredibly long queue at the Check-In. However, there was a new techno-machine which allows self check-in. Most people did not use this since I assume the old tried-and –trusted check in at the counter was more reliable. I am not particularly adventurous, but I am very impatient, so I went to use the self check-in machine. Incredibly, I jumped over the entire queue, and within 10 minutes, was seated in the departure hall, my luggage successfully checked-in. It’s quite a convenient tool really, and it safes lots of time and manpower.

At 930am, I proceeded to the gates, having sat within till 1030am, wondering what on earth had happened to the flight, the PA announced that due to a engine fault currently being remedied, the flight would be further delayed by 2-3 hours. It was not until 1pm, that my plane was on the runway, and it took another ridiculous half an hour before we would take-off due to the long queue of planes before us lining-up to take off. It’s a really weird situation. I never experienced that from Changi Airport, or in fact, any other airport I have been in all my life. But I never had a very good impression of Heathrow anyway.

The flight arrived at 345pm (Canadian Time) in Toronto. By this time, I had missed my original transfer flight to Newark New Jersey. We were informed on the plane that replacement flights had been booked for us. How awfully wrong that turned out to be. Upon reaching Toronto, I had to wait 1 hr for my luggage to appear, and then another 1 hr before I was given a new flight slated for 910pm. Yes, I had to wait another 4 hours in Toronto. The transit terminal was an utter mess, no priority for earlier flights, I actually had a flight for 530pm, but had to stay in the queue for close to an hour, thus missing the flight.

Amidst all this nuisance, the day thus far provided 2 positives. The first being the view of Toronto from the sky. As the plane flew over Toronto, I was amazed at the long straight roads that almost divided the city into perfect squares. The uniformity is amazing, but I am not sure whether I was more amazed or actually startled. The second is my flight to Newark. I will be sitting a small plane, called a Jazz, it is not like the normal commercial plane, but somehow like a plane seen in the movie Pearl Harbour, with the propellers at the front.

3 April 05. 630pm, Toronto Pearson Airport.

Afterword: Yizhuan pickd me up at 1130pm, having driven 4 hours from Ithaca. We then drove another 4 hrs back. An incredible diving distance for friendship. At 4 am in the morning, we eventually reached his room.