Melbourne to Calgary (8-10 April 07)

Having made all the arrangements and boxing and packing the trikes (see preparations) we awoke early on the day of our flight, took an uneventful trip by car to Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne and enjoyed breakfast in the airport, Mum & Dad bid us farewell and we commenced our journey to Canada.

We were flying with Air New Zealand so after leaving Melbourne later than scheduled and after three and a half hours in the air, we arrived in Auckland just as our next plane was due to leave. Fortunately for us, and a few others, they had delayed the flight and we managed to catch it with a minimum of fuss.

Our 11 hours, 55 minute flight from Auckland to LAX was also uneventful but we manged to watch a couple of movies, eat some fairly nice airline food (washed down with some nice red wine), and catch a few hours sleep before we disembarked into the throbbing metropolis of LAX.

Despite only transiting LAX we were required to colelct our bags and the trikes and clear Customs and Immigration. Having been fingerprinted and photographed we made our way into the terminal area and over to the Air Canada check in desk.

Despite having booked to fly from Melbourne to Calgary with Air New Zealand, the LAX to Calgary leg was to be with Air Canada, and that was where with the words "we have no record of you on our system and we have no flight of that number" the nightmare commenced We were told that the flight was an Alakan Air one but knowing it would not be an Alakan Air flight we threaded our way through the thousands of people and over to the Air New Zealand ticket counter.

After the Air New Zealand staff had checked the computer we were told "we cannot help you because that is definately an Air Canada flight", and so we proceeded back to the Air Canada desk, where we managed to find a person whose fingers flew around the keyboard and suddenly we had boarding passes. "the gate will allocate your seats" we were told as we headed off to catch our plane. After going through a very rigourous security check we happily, and somewhat relieved, arrived at Gate 25, where the nighmare really commenced.

It turns out that despite having a boarding pass, issued from a ticket, we did not have a seat, and so we learn't tht a ticket does not guarentee you a seat, it just allows you to get to the next step of getting a boarding pass, and as they always over book their flights, it is a first in, first served affair. We were then told that the flight was already full and that we were now on standby - along with a number of others.

The flight closed as did the doors to the aircraft and we were left standing there with nine other people wondering what the hel had just happened and what the next step was. The Air Canada staff we encountered were the most unhelpful, unprofessional, dis-interested people we have ever met, and to top it all off they were unable to tell us what had just happened, what they were going to do about it, or even what they might suggest we did. The Supervisor was not there and despite our contunually asking to talk to one, never arrived. Each case was dealt with and the standard reply from the Air Canad staff was "you need to contact who you booked with, it's not our problem nor our fault " . When I asked the woman how come our bags and trikes were checked all the way through to Calgary and were actualy loaded onto the flight that we were not booked on because it didn't exist she just said to me "I don't know, that's not my problem, talk to Air New Zealand". Well, that was the last straw and she bore the force of both barrels from this very tired and annoyed passenger, which was quickly followed by the other passengers joining in, one of which was a barrister who was going to talk to the media, and the head of the airline.

Realising that they were in trouble the Air Canada staff decided that as they couldn't get us on a flight that they would "compensate" us as we had suggested. Their plan of attack was to put us up in a hotel, give us some meal vouchers and ask us to return in the morning (when someone else was on duty) to attempt another stand-by excursion. it was then that we gave them our list of demands - to stay at the Hilton Hotel, to have transportation there and back, and meal vouchers for dinner and breakfast. What we got was exactly that, but the meal vouchers were for a poultry $15 each for dinner (the soup cost $16!) and $10 each for breakfast!

So after making a few international calls to let people know of our prediciment (at Air Canada's expense), we took a shuttle to the hotel, checked into a very nice room on the 12th floor, went down for dinner and eventually flopped into bed at 10 pm (local time).

Hoping for a better day, we awoke at 4 am and dozed until the wake up call came at 4.45 am. Showered but still in the same clothes as before (the rest being in our bags already in Calgary), we took the shuttle to the airport where we again attempted to get a seat on a plane.

The nighmare was to continue as it again appeared that the flight was full and we were again going to be left standing on a rcok in a snow storm! Some of our fellow rock dwellers had managed to find other flights to Calgary, but had gone there via a 12 hour flight to Toronto, we however were stuck not knowing the system and relying on staff who we thoguht were going to be as helpful as an ashtray on a motorbike - and then it happened.

An angel by the name of Lynne Burrow, Supervisor for Air Canada decided that she was going to redeem our faith in Air Canada. And so, despite our total doubt, she lived up to her words of "let me see what i can do - I have my ways" Some 20 minutes later Lynne had found us a seat on the 5 pm flight, changed that seat window seats on the 12.10pm flight, given us access to the Air Canada Executive Lounge and, issued us each with a voucher for $300USD to be used on any Air Canada flight in the next 12 months and which can be extended again if need be! Suddenly we had won lotto and had smiles on our face again.

So there we were, with confirmed seats on a plane, having spent the night in the Hilton Hotel, our $300USD vouchers safely tucked away in our bag, sitting in the very comfortable Air Canada lounge eating their cakes and rolls, drinking their coffee, thinking about polishing off their bar, using their free wireless Internet, and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Taking off on time our flight to Calgary was totally uneventful and culminated in our coming down through the clouds to be greeted by a very wet, grey day in Calgary. Flying in, we passed over many frozen lakes and the area still with snow on the ground.

Clearing Immigration we were re-united with our bags and the trikes, cleared Customs with no issues at all and took up a spot in the arrivals lounge while we sorted ourselves out. A call to Chris followed by a short wait and there he was, standing in front of us with his girlfriend Jessica. We loaded the trikes into the covered rear of Murray's 4 x 4 and headed through the rain to the house. A quick meal and we were tucked up in a nice warm bed trying to sleep like the dead.

1 am and we were awake - Ouch! Our body clocks are so out of whack it is not funny, and we both dozed until around 8.30am when we awoke to snow falling and 2 deg C.

Rugged up against the cold we took a short walk to the shops and then spent the rest of the day sorting ourselves out and taking a Nana nap.

The rest of our time here in Canada can now be found in the Canadian Journal part of our site.

Read about our cycling trip around Australia in our book - "Ants, Dust & Flies in my Coffee..."