Internal Mono(b)log

I’m writing this entry during my YYZ->EWR (New Jersey) flight, the 2nd leg of my 4 leg journey today.

1st leg was home->YYZ which was pretty flawless.  Driver showed up early, and helped Kim and I load all my gear.  Said “Bye” to the dogs. Had a nice, cheery (no tears) g’bye moment with Kim  was away.  At Pierson I picked up one of the luggage carts and managed to sherpa myself to the checkin.

At checkin I was told that my kit box was 5 lbs TOO HEAVY.  Fortunately my carry-on was well underweight, so I moved my case of Clif Builder bars and tub of EFS Sport Drink (Grape flavour in case you were curious) to my carry-on and all was good.  $225 in baggage, and bike handling fees (expected and not crazy – only $50 extra handling fee for the bike).

After checkin I got to whiz thru immigration thanks to my Nexus pass.  I loaded all my checked baggage onto the oversize conveyor and with a tear and a wave sent my bike to parts unknown.  Parts unknown that is, hopefully ended in Panama, intact and complete, with me tonight at 10pm 😉

Then off to security theatre.  I truly question the value that this “service” offers, but if it keeps the sheeple flying because it makes them feel safe, ok.. whatever.  Today it was a breeze, no line, friendly competent staff, in and out faster than I could doff and don my shoes (and they have speed laces)!

Next stop Starbucks and currency exchange. Starbucks for a decaf Americano (yea there’s a little caffeine in it, I know, but its going to be a long day, so shoot me!) and to the currency exchange to have some US$ in my pocket for misc expenses, groceries in Panama, etc.

1st glitch (and hopefully only one) of the trip… I try to take out funds and the ATM tells me my card has been cancelled.  WTF?!!!  So I’m on the phone to the bank, on hold, waiting, transferred, waiting more, security questions, transaction history questions, et voila! Card fixed. (Phew!) Seems that my attempt to withdrawal a larger than normal amount of money in the airport tripped their loss prevention systems and locked down my account.  On one hand, awesome that they’re so efficient, on the other hand – AAAAH STRESS!!!!    At least dealing with that helped pass the time at YYZ.  🙂

A little while sitting in the boarding area waiting to board, consuming some of the free airport wifi (thanks Boingo and Rogers) and here I am.  Sitting in 15A, looking out the window at the sea of cotton-batton. Just woke from a power nap.  Life’s pretty rough.

More from EWR…  I have two new products that I’m going to be reviewing that literally just arrived as I was packing yesterday.  I’ve had almost no time to even look at them.  But I’ll tip my hand a bit and show you what’s “coming soon”.

Oh my goodness, I’ll be happy to be out of this plane and stretch my legs a bit.  Wonder if I’d get strange looks doing a yoga routine on the floor of the waiting area in the airport.  I doubt I’d be the 1st 🙂