The Dash 8 from Ottawa to Montreal was probably more than 8 centuries old; hence the name. It did not disappoint and left right on time. The airport in Ottawa was empty which even surprised an Air Canada agent I encountered.
Squished into 18J on Qatar's flight 928 to Doha. I now know how to pronounce the name of this airline and country ... Kaw-tr, with the accent on the first syllable. I was pleased to score exit row (middle) as this equipment is the one where the exit is a 4-foot wide door in front of me. Hence a 6-foot gap in front of me until the bulkhead between me and the next section of the cabin.
Trudeau was its boring self and naturally, gate 59 was at the other end of the terminal. While walking there I heard a gate change announcement for my flight. Apparently it had originally been scheduled for a slip that was way too close to where I had landed. At the risk of breaking a record, it was moved so I could walk the additional 300 metres. That is now a grand total of 5,345,908 flights where the passengers have been forced to walk as far as possible. My favourite (least) hike to get a plane was on my return from Nairobi to Addis when I was on crutches. One boards planes on the tarmac in Kenya and the jet was a piece from me. That was probably the longest 150 metres I have ever walked or hobbled.
Many times I heard "you're flying Qatar ... you'll love it". I was told the same thing a few years ago when I flew Turkish. That time I was coming back from Addis Ababa through Istanbul when a volcanic cloud had wafted over Europe supposedly from Iceland. I still believe it was a conglomeration of BS from parliament hill. Had I flown through Frankfurt as I had done a few times before, I would have been delayed a few days. Turkish was just another airline and so is Qatar my friend. There is no difference in the space in economy and the food was standard fare.
My second biggest beef (or maybe lamb since I am going to India) is the state of the WC on airplanes. Last year I experienced one that ran out of soap. When I pointed this out to staff, I was told "we don't have any more". 928 is out of towels, not as bad as soap, but disappointed for such a "fine carrier".
I am watching Heat with DeNiro and Pacino. I wonder if those two guys were born at exactly the same time on the same day. I love them together. It's a perfect airplane movie except I keep dozing off. I wake up and do not have a clue what is going on and how they got there. I rewind to try and catch up but that does not go very well. I know, as per standard experience, that once this starts happening with a movie, one will NEVER EVER see the whole thing start to finish. For me, watching movies is like playing tennis--I decide each movie is the start of my stay awake at movies life just like each serve made or received is the start of my new tennis carreer.
I have a bit of a hectic travel schedule for the next few months. I am back from India on February 1 then off to Calgary and Vancouver the 17th for 10 days. After that I go to Vegas the 3rd week of April for COLLABORATE, a user group event I have been attending for over 20 years. Rumour has it I will have some travel companions in Vegas ... none other than one and maybe two of my sons; that would be a treat I'll say :) So back at flight 928; returning to doze-land which is also known as sore-neck-from-sleeping-sitting-up land. As Waters and Gilmour so eloquently said "Wish You Were Here". Or as one of my favourite people at Pythian and I say when closing a phone chat ... good night Chet; good night Dave.
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