I haven't been out of the US since 2009 and all those trips were personal vacations, this was my very first business trip in another country. Ok so it was Canada, but still its not the US.
I should have known it wasn't going to be a normal day, when what should have been a 19 minute flight from Baltimore to Philly was preceded by a 30 minute sit on the tarmac. Despite the 30 minute delay we managed to land in Philly about 5 minutes late, which wasn't too bad, it would give me 25 minutes to get to my next gate. However, when we got to the gate in Philly we couldn't get to our gate because there was a truck parked right in front and they couldn't find the guy with the keys! Seriously!?!
Finally, 15 minutes later they were finally able to get the truck moved (I think they towed it), we were allowed off the plane. 10 minutes to get to my next gate and if I missed it, I would have to wait another 6 hours for another one, so I started running. While I was running from A14 to B16 three things occurred to me.
 |
| Timberland Earthkeepers |
1) I was SO GLAD I decided to gate check my bag to my final destination at Baltimore, because I would not have been able to run with a laptop bag, purse, and a roll-aboard bag
2) I was glad I decided to wear my warmer winter boots instead of my usual high heels. I knew it was going to be cold in Halifax and it was easier to run in these :)
3) I need to do more cardio. I don't know if it was because I was running in winter boots and a down-filled parka or I just haven't been exercising like I used to, but I got winded!!
I managed to get to gate B3 when I heard my name on the announcement asking me to please go to B16...I was trying!! Did they not see the maniac running through the terminals in a parka? I finally made it to my gate, sweaty, out of breath, and absolutely the last one on the plane, but I'd made it on my last connection everything else would be perfect. I would get land around noon, grab lunch, check in to my hotel and congratulate myself on making all my connections. Right?
Well you know that little customs form you have to fill out where you have to declare, fruits, veggies, and what your purpose is for visiting the country? Well I marked business, because well that is what I was going to do. Apparently that little check mark sets off all kinds of flags. Next thing I know I find myself sitting in the immigration area answering all kinds of questions like, Who do you work for? What do you do? Why are you here? Where are you going? over and over and over again.
Finally they said before they can release me, I will have to give them some paperwork proving that I am there for the reasons I say I am (like I would make up teaching a class in identity management). I think no problem, I'll just log on to my laptop and print out the SOW...oopps I forgot my Verizon wireless wifi won't work in Canada. No problem I'll just use my phone email to look it up....ooops that is Verizon too and the data connection won't work....No problem I'll just call my team lead, voice mail....Boss, voice mail....Canada point of contact, voice mail....OMG Doesn't anyone pick up the phone anymore? What could have been able to be fixed in a matter of minutes ended up taking 2 hours. By this time I was starving and when I'm that hungry I can get irritable, but I was trying to stay calm, because I figured one place you don't want to be irritable is immigration.
I kept calling people, kept getting lots of voice mail. I even called the client site and of course the guy that handles all the contract paperwork was out that day. By this time as I was digging around in my purse hoping that some sort of paperwork would magically appear that would clear me of all this. Paperwork didn't appear but a Kashi Go Lean bar did! It was probably the best food I had ever tasted! Finally I was able to get a hold of my team lead, who thought the whole situation was hilarious and sent over the necessary paperwork. I sailed through immigration, picked up my car and headed to my hotel.
P.S. My bag didn't make it on the flight at Philly but it showed up at my hotel around 10 pm that night. <sigh>
Well you know that little customs form you have to fill out where you have to declare, fruits, veggies, and what your purpose is for visiting the country? Well I marked business, because well that is what I was going to do. Apparently that little check mark sets off all kinds of flags. Next thing I know I find myself sitting in the immigration area answering all kinds of questions like, Who do you work for? What do you do? Why are you here? Where are you going? over and over and over again.
Finally they said before they can release me, I will have to give them some paperwork proving that I am there for the reasons I say I am (like I would make up teaching a class in identity management). I think no problem, I'll just log on to my laptop and print out the SOW...oopps I forgot my Verizon wireless wifi won't work in Canada. No problem I'll just use my phone email to look it up....ooops that is Verizon too and the data connection won't work....No problem I'll just call my team lead, voice mail....Boss, voice mail....Canada point of contact, voice mail....OMG Doesn't anyone pick up the phone anymore? What could have been able to be fixed in a matter of minutes ended up taking 2 hours. By this time I was starving and when I'm that hungry I can get irritable, but I was trying to stay calm, because I figured one place you don't want to be irritable is immigration.
I kept calling people, kept getting lots of voice mail. I even called the client site and of course the guy that handles all the contract paperwork was out that day. By this time as I was digging around in my purse hoping that some sort of paperwork would magically appear that would clear me of all this. Paperwork didn't appear but a Kashi Go Lean bar did! It was probably the best food I had ever tasted! Finally I was able to get a hold of my team lead, who thought the whole situation was hilarious and sent over the necessary paperwork. I sailed through immigration, picked up my car and headed to my hotel.
P.S. My bag didn't make it on the flight at Philly but it showed up at my hotel around 10 pm that night. <sigh>
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading Carry-On Style!