Victoria

I am usually so happy to get back to Victoria after a trip but not this time.  Not after our 57 hour vacation.  I just had some dinner and watched Game of Thrones so now I will tell you about my day and then go to bed (I'm on Winnipeg time, don't you know...)

When last we left off, Mom and I were blissfully leaving the hotel to head to the Via Rail train station for our noon departure to Churchill.  When we arrived, the station is all torn apart with construction.  You can see it is beautiful and full of history but you have to look behind scaffolding and plastic walls to make sure. 

Train Station

Anyway, we couldn't find the check in desk.  I planted mom on a bench with our luggage and wandered around until I saw a guy being directed to behind a tarp.  I followed him and got to overhear that the train was cancelled due to a huge freight train derailment just outside of Churchill.  Our choices, reschedule or cancel for a full refund.  I went and gave mom the bad news.  We did not cry but it was close. 

Back to Via desk for some more info. We wondered if we could change our ticket to return from Churchill.  But the days really didn't work.  Either return on the 7th, less than halfway into bird camp.  Or on the 12th which would have meant staying in Churchill for a couple of extra days (with high hotel costs) and changing our Calm Air tickets and our WestJet tickets and extending my vacation (I assumed the only easy part of the many issues) and cancelling our Seattle weekend on June 13. 

Despite all of the probable problems with the switch-flight-for-rail and rail-for-flight plan, we tried.  First we called Mike at CNSC on a payphone.  He said it is too late for a refund but we can defer for one year. There was so much construction going on, I could barely hear him.  We would call him back once we knew if we could get there.  Next call, Calm Air.  This time, we switched to mom's cell phone and  moved outside  because it had to be quieter than the work zone inside.  We called Calm Air but the street noise was so loud, I had to hang up and call back from another location.  We were running out of places to hide from the noise. 

We pulled a Fonzie and made the bathroom our office.  We had so many bags that we just rolled our cart in there and blocked two stalls and used two sinks as our desk.  When we went in, it was empty.  But as our wheelings and dealings progressed, more and more women came in.  At one point, the cleaning lady came in and said that the workmen would be entering to change the lights but I think the look mom gave her scared her so she said she would tell them to come in later. 

Our office

Hard at work doing bathroom office stuff

Now parked in the Ladies, I managed to reach the reservations desk at Calm Air.  Sure we can fly up on the 4th, that will be an extra $1000 please and thank you for 'day before booking' or we could cancel for $52 with the rest on credit for up to one year.  That pretty much sealed the deal.  We couldn't afford the new tickets plus several hundred more in additional hotel/food costs.  So we called WestJet.  There were so many people in the bathroom at this point, I had blocked one very polite lady in a stall.  They were all lining up for the two stalls we had left free and the one sink we weren't completely hogging.  As I was talking to WestJet reservation woman, I had to keep apologizing for the flushing toilets.  We all had a good chuckle as it had become so ridiculous, we could only laugh.  Upshot of WestJet, we could change our tickets home for a mere $247 each.  That would drop if we waited until Sunday but that would have meant that much in hotel costs.  And as WestJet woman and all urinating ladies heard, I did not want to stay in Winnipeg for another 5 days.  It just isn't that nice.  (Sorry Winnipeg, it's not your fault, I was having a bad day)

WestJet woman said we could book for 3:30 tomorrow.  I said, how about today.  Done and doner.  Then both mom and I got to read our Visa numbers, expiry dates and secret codes to all the women of the bus station.  What with the open Wifi and the public bathroom Visa reading, I may want to alert Visa of the upcoming identity theft. 

Decision made, new tickets booked.  We had to call and update the other legs of the trip.  This is when we moved into the handicap stall.  Much cozier and with a change table that worked way better as a desk than the sinks. We were quite taken with our spiffy bathroom stall.  I can only imagine what we must have sounded like laughing our heads off in there.  Oh, well.  We called Mike and he will let us know when Bird Camp is next year.  We went back to Via and cancelled our tickets.  Then we jumped in a cab and headed to the airport.  Except that just as we were pulling away from the curb, I realized I couldn't find my wallet.  This day was not going my way.  Back to Via where Via lady did not have it.  Then we emptied out the taxi trunk and found it under our bags.  It must have fallen out of my bag.  Back to on the road to the airport. 

Via Lady whose name I have forgotten but whose name tag declared her 'in charge' in English and 'Responsable' in French.  We suspected she wasn't too keen to be either in charge or responsible on derailment day.

CN Hotel outside the Train Station

WestJet for boarding passes and bag check.  Then to the Calm Air desk to explain, once again, our predicament.  We cancelled our June 10 tickets.  We have credit for one year.  Let's hope next bird camp happens by June 10, 2015.  We did get the name of the one person in the world apparently, who could extend us for a few days if we plead our case.

So, there you have it, we are home, our trip is over and that is that for now.  To be continued next year...