Travel: A Lesson In Improvisation

"The best laid plans of mice and men..."
Four days in Montreal with one of my best friends in the world, followed by another 4 days with her and 3 of the funnest girls I know in New York City. We have an amazing apartment to stay in, just 2 blocks from Times Square. Sightseeing passes, Yankees tickets, everything planned and organised. Not well organised, everything fell into place at the last minute, but it was organised nonetheless.

"...often go awry"
After the last couple of days, I'm stuck trying to work out if Staff Travel is indeed a benefit of the job, or another passenger - irritating, nerve-wracking, and something you would rather avoid.

Seeing as I was planning a trip to Montreal, I thought I'd do the obvious thing and fly directly into Canada. My own airline doesn't actually fly to Montreal, but Toronto isn't too far and I figured I would use the partnership airline deals that we get (called Zed fares) to get cheaply from A to B.

Fail. Toronto flight was overbooked by 50-odd passengers. Plus 11 staff on standby travel, of whom I was the least senior and therefore lowest priority to get on. So I needed 60-something people to just not turn up for their flight - not good odds.

Maybe I could fly with another Middle Eastern airline that fly directly into Montreal with a Zed fare?

Fail. Also overbooked.

Fly to London, then with British Airways on to Canada?

Fail. BA have currently got an embargo on staff tickets - they don't love us anymore.

Fly to Paris, then connect with an Air France Zed?

Fail. Fail, fail, fail.

My best option was to try get on standby to Houston, Texas, and then fly with Air Canada to Montreal the next day - connection times weren't in my favour (surprise, surprise). I made the flight, suffered through all 16 hours of it and even managed to get some sleep despite Mr Personal Space taking over half my seat as well as his own next to me throughout it. At the gate, I realised I had nowhere to stay the night in Houston as I hadn't expected to get on a flight until the following day. Thank god for Daddy, my hero, who managed to book me a (very fancy) room online. What we did without the internet, I'll never know. My specific directions for the hotel were that it was "downtown" and "on Prairie Street." Luckily, I've done a bit of travelling in my time, and managed to get there - for $1.25 on the Metro bus. Yeah, I can do budget travel, despite my fancy 4.5 star working lifestyle. I got in, took a shower (hot water has never felt so good), and tried to book my Houston - Montreal flight.

Fail. Un-advertised fact: Zed needs to be booked two working days before departure. I've booked flights with my airline less than 2 hours before departure before, and because of this I never even considered that it would be an issue. But an issue it was, particularly with the prices of air travel in North America. Ridiculous is an understatement. Full fare flights were going to cost me anywhere between $550 (with two connections) and $800 (1 connection). For a direct flight, they take a deposit of a spleen and the balance of a kidney on check-in.

I am officially stranded in Texas.

"When life gives you lemons..."
Obviously, a re-organisation of plans is needed here. Planes are out of the question. Trains, buses, boats...I'm in TEXAS. I am miles from anywhere, nearly as far across the country from either Canada or New York as I can get!

BUT - thanks to genius cheap flight search engines, I discover that to fly from Houston - New York is doable for around $300. It's still expensive, but it's money I have. And money I would gladly pay to not be in Texas, alone, wasting my precious vacation time. Done. Accommodation proved a little more tricky, as the World Police and Fireman's (Firepeople's?) Games are on this week and hotels / hostels are booked out everywhere, but thanks to AirBnB.com (lifesaver) I found a cheap room in a shared apartment with 3 other girls who I hope are not scumbags. Done. As for my Montreal reunion, my long-lost lady friend will catch the train down on Saturday, alone, instead of with me on Monday as planned. Done.

It's not at all ideal, but it's better than Texas. (Please don't think I have anything against Texas - really, I love it here, and the people, but when you plan for Montreal and New York, well it's kind of like going to The Shire when you could be Alice frolicking in Wonderland.)

"...grab the tequila and salt."
So plans are sorted. Holiday is back on. I have a day of exploring Houston, before heading off bright and early on Friday. I figure I will wander around the Museum District, absorb some country culture, maybe go to the Galleria Mall that everyone raves about, and eat a dodgy taco off the back of a truck.

Fail. I walk for three hours, past all of the Museums but for some reason not actually into any. I try to find a cab to take me to the Galleria, but there are none except those that speed past me before I can raise my hand to hail them. I walk from Downtown, through Midtown, through the Museum District and to Uptown, and I find no taco truck. Eventually I settle for Starbucks. It is not the same.

I come back to my hotel, only to be informed of the existence of Hurricane Irene. Irene is currently pelting the southern coast of the USA, and moving northward. She is a category 3 storm, which they expect may get worse as she makes her way toward New York.

Fail. My flight from Houston, because it is cheap, involves a connection. This connection is in Charlotte, North Carolina, just inland of the areas the authorities are currently evacuating. I have checked the airlines website - there is a travel advisory in effect, but it's not until the 28th and 29th. At this stage, the flight for tomorrow (the 26th) is scheduled to still depart. Fingers crossed.

Fail. Even if my flight does manage to beat the storm, it will drop me in New York just in time to meet it at the other end.

Welcome to my holiday.