We wake up at 4am in Montreal – probably due to a mixture of being on UK time zone and excitement at starting our trip. We get to Air Canada Cargo by 7.30, hand over our Air Way Bill and I hear ‘encore un qui est allé à Toronto’ – another one that’s gone to Toronto!! Our bikes are not the only shipment yesterday that was sent to Toronto instead of Montreal! No wonder we never saw them be loaded as we were waiting to board our plane.
Maybe if Air Canada used more conventional airport codes like MON or TOR instead of YUL and YYZ we thought, they may not make such mistakes, repeatedly apparently!!! How about Air Canada send us to Toronto, we will pick them up from there as Toronto was on our way anyway. Sounds easy. But the little challenge is that the computer system shows the bikes being received in Toronto, and nothing else. Where are they now? It seems London hasn’t done anything to rebook them to get to Montreal. And the planes from Toronto to Montreal are not capable of taking the special motorcycle pallets. Are they on the truck over?? Some of the cargo is listed as being loaded onto a truck to Montreal but no mention of the bikes. “You can go and get breakfast while we investigate this says” one employee says cheerfully. Well, not only did we have breakfast at the hotel but we have no wheels to drive anywhere. So here we are – perfect opportunity for me to start our Day 1 report!!!
Within 1 hour of arriving at Canada Air Cargo, we find out what happenned:
The front cargo mechanism on our plane failed so half the cargo didn’t make the flight and they put this cargo including our bikes on the Toronto plane which was sitting next to ours at Heathrow and leaving one hour before us. Air Canada Cargo have an automated system which automatically rebooks such cargo to its original destination. Very clever. But the system failed. They were not rebooked back to Montreal.
We ask whether Air Canada will fly us or at least give us cheap tickets to fly to Toronto rather than us spending a day in Montreal for our bikes to get to us. They have never been ask anything like that but agree to go off and try. Not only are the passenger and cargo branches two different organisations, it is good Friday – no one is around for them to talk too. We quickly check the cost of flights – prohibitive – we are not spending $700 to get to Toronto! In the meantime the air cargo guys have put their thinking caps on for us: maybe they can extend our original tickets from London to Montreal to go to Toronto?! We wait…
The service manager Michel offers to take us to a local coffee shop. While there he get confirmation we have been booked onto the noon flight to Toronto. He is profusely apologetic and thanks us for making his job easier by being calm and patient about the whole situation. After our Delhi customs experience, this is nothing for us. He drives us back to the passenger terminal for our flight. We only need to collect our ticketless boarding pass.
An hour’s flight and we are quickly in a taxi to Air Canada Cargo at Toronto airport. The service clerk is aware of our bikes and immediately refers us to the Cargo manager Jalal as they have a problem with the keys. A problem with the keys?!?! Yes, they are in Montreal and won’t get here until 3.30pm. The automatic forwarding system worked for the keys!! We never got to find out why the keys didn’t stay with the bikes! They will be on a flight arriving from Montreal at 3.30pm.
While we wait for the keys, let’s get the bikes processed by customs so that we can get on our way as soon as the keys arrive. Another little issue to be sorted out: the airway bill has the bikes arriving in Montreal so that is where they should clear customs. The manager gets back onto the phone to a few people. It appears the customs officials cannot clear goods whose airway bill states are to be cleared in another entry port. More calls are made.
More thinking caps are put on and our very helpful Toronto cargo guys come up with a solution. New paperwork is produced with Toronto as the destination. A couple of trips between the air cargo warehouse and customs buildings, reminiscent of our Delhi saga but with hardly any other people around, and we have the bikes officially stamped into the country!!!!
In perfect timing, the keys are delivered to the warehouse just as we get back there. Time to ride our bikes out of the warehouse.
We cannot thank Michel, Jalal and their teams enough for all they did for us. Unbelievable!!
It is now 4.30pm. The air is crisp and skies are deep blue. Do we check into a hotel nearby and get a good night’s sleep or do we get going? We could be Niagara Falls by 6pm. Guess what we decided to do…
What a day: Montreal in the morning and Niagara Falls by the evening! We hadn’t even planned on going there – we had seen them from the air and were content with that. But what a sight they are and what a buzz to be here after such a day of surprises. What a fantastic day in the lives of the 2slowspeeds.
Thank you to those of you who humoured us with the caption challenge. You are all winners!!
– Anne
If it were all plain sailing you would not have all these rich memories. Well done.
LikeLike
Exactly! No complaints from us 🙂
LikeLike
you must be masters at solving rubric cube challenges as well
LikeLike
No, that’s much harder!
LikeLike
Unbelievable; sounds like third world country conditions! Happy and safe travels from now on.
LikeLike
It was a real comedy of errors and great example of people helping as best they could.
LikeLike
Well it would not have been a memorable entrance if it had all been plain sailing ! At least there was efficiency and all was solved . Beautiful scenery and all is at peace . A Blessed Easter to you both and many happy miles being clocked up xxxxxxx
LikeLike
Absolutely, everyone was so helpful too. And we had the perfect weather. Not sure we would have like riding in had it been raining. Happy Easter to you all too. Xxx
LikeLike
A lesson in patience and persistence! For us all.
LikeLike
Thank you. It makes it easier on everyone. And it helps that we had no plan on where we wanted or had to be. We always make border crossing day events in our minds so we are rarely disappointed.
LikeLike
Life in general would be so boring if we didn’t have any ‘spice’ to add to it, but only every now and then eh ?
Keep safe
LikeLike
Yes this was fun for a day and ended up better than we could ever have imagined. We’ll be content with uneventful days for a while now.
LikeLike
How typical! Have fun! C x
LikeLike
You know us well :-). Xx
LikeLike
Wow.. what a story ! Knowing French may have helped here ! Is it plain sailing once you are on the bikes now ??? Keeping a sense of humour is certainly important here 👍😄🏍
LikeLike
We were greeted in French but the conversation quickly turned to English when I translated to Anthony. It was easy to keep our sense of humour with such helpful people around us.
LikeLike
How boring for your faithful armchair followers if it had been just plain sailing ( or flying!). It’s another chapter for the book! Have fun and Happy Easter xx
LikeLike
Haha glad our armchair riders are enjoying it too :-). Happy Easter to you all too xx
LikeLike
What a palaver! If that is not being tested, I don’t know what is but, as usual, you came through with flying (c’est le cas de le dire..) colours. Bravo! And Happy Easter. xx
LikeLike
Haha, I can hear Grandma!! We had such a fun day –
made easy by the helpful staff and not having any plan for the day. Happy Eaaster to you too xxx
LikeLike
Great start. All that out of the way, now on for a flawless trip. Enjoy
LikeLike
It was a hilarious start! And with the added bonus of seeing Niagara Falls in glorious weather. Thanks for your good wishes.
LikeLike
Enjoyable to read your account although not enjoyable for you to experience. Have a happy Easter and an enjoyable onward trip.
LikeLike
It really wasn’t unpleasant – I think it was a lot worse for the poor staff trying to sort the various blips out for us. It was more of a comedy of errors. Take care! Xx
LikeLike
Oh my. Never a dull moment in the lives of 2 slowspeeds. Glad all is well now and that you’re on your way. Hope you had a lovely Easter. I’ve been here in Rocky with Katie but go home tonight. Love and safe travels to you both.
LikeLike
We had a beautiful ride for our Easter – no chocolate yet though!! What has Katie got you working on this time?! Hope you had a great Easter too. Xx
LikeLike
Some times good things falls apart so that better things can fall together. Xxxx
LikeLike
It was comical really and everyone was so helpful. Xxxx
LikeLike
Your attitude to these things never ceases to amaze me! So glad you were reunited in what seems like record time with your trusty steads. Niagara Falls looks stunning xx
LikeLike
It all got resolved remarkably quickly – we were really impressed. Unbelievable how much one can cram into a single day sometimes. Xx
LikeLike