I'm home, I'm broke and I'm back to reality. Sigh.
Best way to cure end of trip blues? Start planning the next one!!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Canada - En Route to Ottawa - It Ain't Over Til It's Over!
As I embarked on my ridiculous transit route home, I was filled with the excitement of going home, the disappointment that the trip was over and the terror that I would miss my connecting flights and my bags would be horribly lost (see Flight to LA, January 2009). I had heard very bad things about British Airways losing luggage, about Heathrow and O'Hare being the world's worst airports, and had had bad experiences with American Airlines rebooking connecting flights.
My travels home began pleasantly enough, with my bags (there are now TWO, the backpack and the duffel bag) weighing in at 34 kg combined, up 21 kg from my departure last January. I was delighted to learn that I could check my bags straight through from Vienna to Ottawa without having to move them to security or between terminals along the way. I did triple confirm that I wouldn't have to reclaim them in Heathrow, since I was handed an intimidating manual on how to change terminals there along with my boarding passes.
Heathrow itself was certainly massive and busy, but it was well organized and signs were posted intelligently to redirect passengers. Better yet, I managed to score the shortest security line by far to get into my next terminal (about thirty people shorter than the next shortest queue). And wandering around for my two hour layover was actually fairly entertaining. All the Christmas decor was up (there was nothing in Ethiopia; I had actually forgotten Christmas is coming) and it felt just like being on the set of Love Actually, minus Billy Mac's hilarious tune Christmas is All Around. Things were looking up.
And then the other shoe dropped. Having boarded our plane to Chicago completely on time, we then sat at our loading gate for 45 minutes while a minor traffic jam was addressed on the runway. Not a problem, thought I, since I have a four hour layover to kill in Chicago anyways. One less hour to wait at O'Hare, right?
Which would have been dandy, except about forty minutes into the air, the flight attendant goes on the intercom to ask if there are any medical staff on board. Turns out a passenger with a heart condition was having a tiny medical emergency in the back of the plane. We had to make an emergency landing in Shannon, Ireland to evacuate him to a hospital (don't worry; the paramedics got him under control and safely to the hospital). Thank goodness it hadn't happened midway over the Atlantic where there is nowhere to land!
Now, Shannon is only a domestic airport and it was off course for us, so it took no less than three hours to reroute our flight and landing time with Chicago, not to mention we were NOT ALLOWED OFF THE PLANE because they didn't have adequate security to process us. So we had our light lunch grounded on the runway and took off three hours later with the promise that the pilots would make every effort to make up the lost time. Unfortunately, since planes already go so fast, there's not a lot you can do to make up time. There isn't a network of shortcuts they save up for such occasions or anything. And there goes my connecting flight to Ottawa.
As I hurriedly enter O'Hare airport twelve hours later, I learn I now have a connecting flight at 9pm (a three hour layover still) with my dear friend United Airlines. The only downside of United is that it requires me to reclaim my bags, go through US immigration and customs and re-check them since they have to change airlines now and need new tags. Boooooo. At this point, I have been awake for 25 hours due to my 4am departure from Vienna and the seven time zones I had crossed. It tok every ounce of determination not to pass out at my gate before my flight, as I knew I would be OUT and therefore would likely sleep through the boarding call.
I did however pass right out as soon as I hit my seat on the plane and pleasantly awoke to find out the flight attendant was passing out Canada landing cards since we wer on our descent already. My immigration officer was incredibly nice and welcomed me home very genuinely and I cannot tell you how happy I was to see my parents waiting for me with my winter coat, my bags safely rounding the luggage carousel and the ground still clear of snow!
Home sweet home, indeed!!
My travels home began pleasantly enough, with my bags (there are now TWO, the backpack and the duffel bag) weighing in at 34 kg combined, up 21 kg from my departure last January. I was delighted to learn that I could check my bags straight through from Vienna to Ottawa without having to move them to security or between terminals along the way. I did triple confirm that I wouldn't have to reclaim them in Heathrow, since I was handed an intimidating manual on how to change terminals there along with my boarding passes.
Heathrow itself was certainly massive and busy, but it was well organized and signs were posted intelligently to redirect passengers. Better yet, I managed to score the shortest security line by far to get into my next terminal (about thirty people shorter than the next shortest queue). And wandering around for my two hour layover was actually fairly entertaining. All the Christmas decor was up (there was nothing in Ethiopia; I had actually forgotten Christmas is coming) and it felt just like being on the set of Love Actually, minus Billy Mac's hilarious tune Christmas is All Around. Things were looking up.
And then the other shoe dropped. Having boarded our plane to Chicago completely on time, we then sat at our loading gate for 45 minutes while a minor traffic jam was addressed on the runway. Not a problem, thought I, since I have a four hour layover to kill in Chicago anyways. One less hour to wait at O'Hare, right?
Which would have been dandy, except about forty minutes into the air, the flight attendant goes on the intercom to ask if there are any medical staff on board. Turns out a passenger with a heart condition was having a tiny medical emergency in the back of the plane. We had to make an emergency landing in Shannon, Ireland to evacuate him to a hospital (don't worry; the paramedics got him under control and safely to the hospital). Thank goodness it hadn't happened midway over the Atlantic where there is nowhere to land!
Now, Shannon is only a domestic airport and it was off course for us, so it took no less than three hours to reroute our flight and landing time with Chicago, not to mention we were NOT ALLOWED OFF THE PLANE because they didn't have adequate security to process us. So we had our light lunch grounded on the runway and took off three hours later with the promise that the pilots would make every effort to make up the lost time. Unfortunately, since planes already go so fast, there's not a lot you can do to make up time. There isn't a network of shortcuts they save up for such occasions or anything. And there goes my connecting flight to Ottawa.
As I hurriedly enter O'Hare airport twelve hours later, I learn I now have a connecting flight at 9pm (a three hour layover still) with my dear friend United Airlines. The only downside of United is that it requires me to reclaim my bags, go through US immigration and customs and re-check them since they have to change airlines now and need new tags. Boooooo. At this point, I have been awake for 25 hours due to my 4am departure from Vienna and the seven time zones I had crossed. It tok every ounce of determination not to pass out at my gate before my flight, as I knew I would be OUT and therefore would likely sleep through the boarding call.
I did however pass right out as soon as I hit my seat on the plane and pleasantly awoke to find out the flight attendant was passing out Canada landing cards since we wer on our descent already. My immigration officer was incredibly nice and welcomed me home very genuinely and I cannot tell you how happy I was to see my parents waiting for me with my winter coat, my bags safely rounding the luggage carousel and the ground still clear of snow!
Home sweet home, indeed!!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Ethiopia - Lalibela - Another Contender for Eighth Wonder of the World
The number one tourist destination outside of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia is a city of 25,000 people called Lalibela. The reason for its popularity is that it is the site of the should-be-more-famous rock-hewn churches. Yet one of Lalibela’s greatest assets is that it does not seem to have been affected by tourism. The twelve churches are a living relic of history, with hundreds of Ethiopian Orthodox followers making a pilgrimage to them every year at Christmas and Timkat (Easter).
I wasn’t sure what to expect and as we approached the church site, all I could see was the tent coverings installed by the UN to protect the churches from the weather. You see, the churches were not carved into the mountainside, but rather hewn out of the rock below your feet.
Yes, they are underground! There are three different kinds: the cave church (which is a cave carved in the ground), the semi-monolithic (which is partially stand-alone and partially cave-like) and the monolithic church (which stands completely separately from the ground around it, i.e. you can walk around the entire perimeter of the building). And these are not little chapels my friends… St. George, the most famous of the churches, is three floors high!
It is still not known how the churches were constructed but as we admired the tiny chisel marks found on every wall inside, outside and around the churches, we couldn’t help but think some teeny tiny hand tools and tons of people that would have been required to operate them. The churches took 25 years to build, to give you a point of reference. On the whole, pretty amazing to see!
In addition to being free from tourism fever, Lalibela makes Axum seem positively cosmopolitan in comparison. The road is only partially paved, compared with Axum’s pervasive construction of infrastructure projects. There are about five minibuses in town; these constitute the only forms of transportation for hire for the entire city. Most people travel by donkey or on their own two feet, and some of them are carrying some pretty serious loads of wood or goods for the market.
One reason for Lalibela’s integrity is its isolation. The nearest town is 160km away. Lalibela itself has one road and before the airport was built it was a 5 day donkey ride to get there. Did I mention it’s also perched on top of a mountain? We stayed at Mountain View Hotel, a brand new hotel that takes full advantage of the views.
From anywhere in the mostly glass hotel, you get sweeping vistas over the mountains behind and the massive valley below. An ideal place to stay for my last trip within the big trip.
After this, I head back to Addis to pack my life back into my backpack, say goodbye to friends and jetset home on my unfortunate two day transit route of Addis-Cairo-Vienna-London-Chicago-Ottawa. Here’s hoping Ottawa isn’t too cold when I arrive home!!
I wasn’t sure what to expect and as we approached the church site, all I could see was the tent coverings installed by the UN to protect the churches from the weather. You see, the churches were not carved into the mountainside, but rather hewn out of the rock below your feet.
Yes, they are underground! There are three different kinds: the cave church (which is a cave carved in the ground), the semi-monolithic (which is partially stand-alone and partially cave-like) and the monolithic church (which stands completely separately from the ground around it, i.e. you can walk around the entire perimeter of the building). And these are not little chapels my friends… St. George, the most famous of the churches, is three floors high!
It is still not known how the churches were constructed but as we admired the tiny chisel marks found on every wall inside, outside and around the churches, we couldn’t help but think some teeny tiny hand tools and tons of people that would have been required to operate them. The churches took 25 years to build, to give you a point of reference. On the whole, pretty amazing to see!
In addition to being free from tourism fever, Lalibela makes Axum seem positively cosmopolitan in comparison. The road is only partially paved, compared with Axum’s pervasive construction of infrastructure projects. There are about five minibuses in town; these constitute the only forms of transportation for hire for the entire city. Most people travel by donkey or on their own two feet, and some of them are carrying some pretty serious loads of wood or goods for the market.
One reason for Lalibela’s integrity is its isolation. The nearest town is 160km away. Lalibela itself has one road and before the airport was built it was a 5 day donkey ride to get there. Did I mention it’s also perched on top of a mountain? We stayed at Mountain View Hotel, a brand new hotel that takes full advantage of the views.
From anywhere in the mostly glass hotel, you get sweeping vistas over the mountains behind and the massive valley below. An ideal place to stay for my last trip within the big trip.
After this, I head back to Addis to pack my life back into my backpack, say goodbye to friends and jetset home on my unfortunate two day transit route of Addis-Cairo-Vienna-London-Chicago-Ottawa. Here’s hoping Ottawa isn’t too cold when I arrive home!!
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