Back in the Saddle...Well soon enough.

J and I arrived back in Sweden last Friday, after a 36 hour ordeal. Here's the rundown:

1) Air Canada changes our itinerary from an 18 hours and 15 minutes journey to a 22 hour journey. Instead of waking up at 8am or so, we wake up at 4:30am.
2) After a 9 hour layover in Toronto, which is not very far from my hometown in Ohio, we take off an hour late due to snow and ice.
3) Nearly 2 hours into our transatlantic flight we're told we must turn back to Toronto due to some failure in the plane, nothing to worry about, but it's unlawful to cross the ocean with whatever failure the plane had.
4) After arriving back on the ground at 10:30pm or so, we're told the plane will be fixed and we'll take off again at 12:30. (By this point I was so tired by getting up so early and waiting in an airport all day, I just wanted a hotel. Logic won out and I decided to stick it out just to be able to get home).
5) Boarding was to happen at 11:50. We don't board until 1:00 or so.
6) Take off at 12:30? Take off at 2:15.
End result? 36 hours home #1 to home #2.

Luckily they re-scheduled everyone's connecting flights in Frankfurt while we were in the air, and the rest of the traveling was smooth sailing. Lufthansa was great. Air Canada, although very nice and apologetic, I will never fly with again. Too many strikes, sorry. One thing they failed at majorly was keeping us informed. In my exhausted state I was nearly hysterical with frustration and anger. The staff was also not helpful when we asked about getting a hotel instead; they were just concerned whether we needed our baggage off the plane or not.

Sorry for the rant up there at the top, I guess the world isn't always peaches and cream! I've decided I won't fly Air Canada again, and not only because of that whole ordeal. I just don't like the routes they take. They like to go, from Gothenburg, to Frankfurt, Germany which is about a 1hr 40min flight. My KLM alternative is to Amsterdam which is barely over 1 hour. On the other end of things, the Air Canada flight then from Toronto to Columbus is in a tiny 2 prop plane which is bumpy as hell if there's any wind whatsoever (making my tummy very unsettled) and that flight takes about 1hr 30min. On the other hand KLM goes from Detroit to Columbus, on a nice jet, and takes only 25 minutes. Sorry Air Canada, but you lose.

As it's Thursday evening, I still feel jet lagged. I've just been so off this entire week, so I apologize for not posting any time sooner. It's been nice to have the week off to get settled back into the Swedish way of things. My Korta Vägen program starts again this coming Monday. I hope I'm ready to be in school again. Having nearly a month off has spoiled me. I have, though, been reading a book in Swedish this week. Since I missed the last 2 weeks of the term, and furthermore a big group project, my teacher assigned me the task of reading a book and writing a summary on it. Easy enough for me, as I already love to read, and also enjoy reading in Swedish.

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays! Happy New Year!