Update of the Journey here to Toronto

As I havent got much time to blog (and I happen to have some now), this is the update of the 30 gruelling hours of travelling that got me here to Niagara Falls, Canada. The falls have credit for this too; when I got here, the view was so mesmerising I forgot all my previous complains of the tiring journey here. And so, I forgot to write about it when I first got the chance to blog. =)

Anyways,

It started at Changi Airport where I boarded UA 0896 (UA = United Airlines). This plane brought me to Hong Kong [some weird name airport, don't blame me Allena, blame the person who gave it it's name!] in the first part of the flight after 6 hours (it goes to Chicago). Not a very long flight.

Here I went straight to the check in area to transit. In the meantime, me and my dad grabbed a quick lunch at a Taiwan Beef Noodle restaurant (Hint hint! Calyn =p). It was sumptious -- it has received some gold award for its famous beef noodle, really good stuff. They gave free internet access to those who dine and I happily forgot to blog as I wasn't fully aware that I HAD a blog. So off I went to Chicago, America. This flight, however, took 13 LONG HOURS.
Same plane, UA 0896. Here I was given the panel seat, meaning that the movie screen was staring at me straight in the face. This seat has more space and leg room, but with the screen down, it's FREAKING hard to move out!! AND imagine the words on the screen so big u couldnt make out what the subtitles were. That was how bad it was for me. Seriously, it can be torturous. I had a hard time falling asleep due to the glare of the screen, though I did manage to watch 3 movies.


LUCKILY and FORTUNATELY, I sat next to a mother holding a 8-week-old baby, which made time on the plane pass more quickly. The baby's name is Zoe, a very cute name. Rebecca, Zoe's mum, was a friendly person who kept me quite involved in Zoe's activities; be it daiper changing or a slight cry. Oh! Zoe was quiet throughout the whole trip - she hardly cried and even if she did, it wouldn't wake anyone up. Real good girl.

The best thing was, I got to carry Zoe!! TWICE!
Eh, well.. The first time I carried her, she burst out crying. My fault! I was nervous! I think that was the loudest she ever cried on board. Ooops!

Then the second time it was so much better. I played her favourite game -- standing up and then sitting down (simple and fun) with her and she was more relaxed. Plus I kept pointing her mum out to her. It was really COOL. =))

Sadly, I only managed to get one picture with her and she was asleep. =(
But nevermind, I'll ask for some pictures and of course permission!, to put in this blog as a part of my journey.


Ok, so the plane landed on time despite having been delayed by 30mins. However, due to some stupid resistance of the Chicago airport that they will NOT transit our luggage, we had to wait patiently at the belt to collect them and re-check them in. They took forever!
Our waiting time for transit, which was 1hr 45mins, proved to be too short for the inefficient airport. By the time we got out of the arrival hall, re-checked ourselves into the check in area, rushed to the gate, it was CLOSED. Our plane leaves at 3.45pm and we got there at 3.41pm. The gate had JUST CLOSED! Man!
And the next flight was 2 hours later!! We were directed to the customer service area and they gave us our new tickets; we got to keep the old ones (well, they were deemed useless anyway. The gate WAS closed.)
By then we knew we were going to reach our hotel at 12am earliest. No choice. We HAD to wait. So we treated ourselves to pizza from Wolfgang Puck. Then we headed to our gate to wait and I slept for 1 hour. No luck with the internet access here either. All were pay-to-use portals. BOO!



Then 6.40pm came. We boarded UA 1110 -- a small plane with only two row of seats. I got the window seat this time but was too tired throughout the flight to take any photos. The took off here got delayed AGAIN due to some missing international clearance documents that someone overlooked (maybe the pilot?). The plane had left the boarding area and we had to go back there to collect the stuff. It took FOREVER. A few pieces of paper caused the flight to be delayed by 1 hour. Incredible.
We arrived at Toronto, Canada at 9.20pm and just look at how bright it is. (Don't you just agree its like 7.20pm? That's what I thought when the pilot announced the time. Apparently I got it wrong, it IS 9.20pm)
Here the luggage took forever, as expected. Those of you who think how great America or the West is, think again. They can be really ineffecient many a times. (and problematic when it comes to systems)

yet to finish this...