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Colorado Family Travel / Humor

BREAKING NEWS: Chaos Ensues as Johnson and Children Are Grounded in Canada an Extra Day

By Amber Johnson on 45 Comments

**PRESS RELEASE**

(Calgary, AB Canada, July 21, 2008) — Amber Johnson made a failed attempt to fly solo with her two children back to Colorado last week and spent an extra day recovering at her parent’s home in Calgary.

“I thought the flight to Calgary was bad enough,” Johnson grimaced. “I mean, it was such a headache when they lost Bode’s reservation and we then got stuck in the plane on the runway for hours on end. I thought it could not get worse.”

Sadly for this mother of two, it did. Johnson showed up at the Calgary airport with Hadley (age 4) and Bode (age 2). All went smoothly with check-in and security, after which time Johnson set the children loose to play in the terminal’s play area.

What happened next will go down in the record books as the worst luck ever experienced at an airport within a week. “It was boarding time and we leisurely made our way back to our gate,” Johnson said. “That is when they told me a bird hit the windshield of our plane, causing it to divert and land in another city. Our flight was canceled indefinitely.”

Johnson says instead of rebooking their flight, Canadian law required them to go back through Canadian customs, retrieve all their luggage, drag it across the airport, battle all the other passengers trying to find another flight at United’s check-in and then go through the entire process of U.S. Customs and security again. All this with the #%&#* Chariot stroller in tow.

Johnson did not make it past check-in. “All the flights out were booked that day,” Johnson blubbered. “We managed to get a flight the next morning at the crack of dawn which, in some weird twist of fate, my parents were on as well because they were flying through Denver to visit my brother in New Jersey. At least I had a support system the second time around.”

When asked if she would ever fly solo again with the children, Johnson turned pale, exhaled deeply and replied, “No comment.”

Oh, and if you are ever tempted to proclaim, “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” in Johnson’s presence?

Please don’t.

###

Amber Johnson
Author: Amber Johnson

Amber is the founder and editor of Mile High Mamas, travel writer and former columnist for The Denver Post. She is a passionate community builder and loves the outdoors. She has two awesome teens and is happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin.

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Amber is the founder and editor of Mile High Mamas, travel writer and former columnist for The Denver Post. She is a passionate community builder and loves the outdoors. She has two awesome teens and is happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin.

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45 Comments

  1. Oh honey..owie, owie, owie. I wince reading that. A lot. Having a vivid imagination can be painful at times. Good luck with the recovery, okay?

  2. Ohhhh that is so awful! What terrible luck to have, especially when traveling alone with young children. I feel for you! Even though it’s a terrible experience, I do love the way you wrote about it, as a “press report.” I hope you can recover great from that experience!

  3. So what exactly happens when a bird hits the plane – besides like causing you to be admitted to a mental ward along with your two children and their stroller??? This is something that may stay with me for the day – the whole bird on the windshield thing – or the wing – or the propeller, heaven forbid. I would think it is all very dangerous but at the same time I am laughing. Why am I laughing. Not at you, no, not at all at you and your bleeping stoller! But at the bird thing. I don’t know why I am laughing.

  4. You poor thing!!!!

  5. That email is the VERY reason it gives me the tummy ache to think about flying solo with two kids! You are a brave woman! Glad you survived!

  6. YAY.. you made it back. BOO.. for the things that went wrong.

    Silly kamakazie bird!

  7. Oh that just plain sucks! I can’t believe that won’t freakin set you up for another flight at the gate. I am hoping things went much smoother the second time. Perhaps each grandparent took a kid and you took a cocktail!! Oh wait, maybe that would only be me who would do that!!

  8. Traveler’s amnesia will kick in and you’ll fly with your kids again. It’s like childbirth amnesia. You don’t remember until you doing it again.

    Glad you made it back.

  9. Bummer! Well hopefully the next flight will be super smooth and nothing bad will happen.

  10. Talk about NIGHTMARE! Goodness girl!

  11. All this will be for thy learning? And good? Or something like that??

    I’m just glad the bird didn’t hit your plane while you were in it. Trapped in the plane in another city might be worse. “Might” being the operative word, here…

  12. Oh jeez–crazy tales abound in airports. Hope you’re luck gets better.

  13. Oh.My.God. Absolutely a nightmare. And people ask if I’m going to fly solo with my two (7 and 4) anytime soon. Not unless I can have a bottle of wine hooked up to an IV, thankyouverymuch!
    Whew.

  14. Soooo have been there, done that. Except I had 52 choir kids and 2 chaperones (the rest decided to stay in Eastern Canada for a holiday) and our choir accompanist. Because they don’t allow carts past customs/check in, I had to carry 52 Subway Sandwiches and 100 drink boxes plus my own luggage and the choir emergency carry-on through Pearson Airport in Toronto.
    Without a word of exaggeration, we got home, I said good night and slept straight through 29 hours.

  15. You poor, poor woman! I think Jamie needs to treat you to a spa weekend 🙂

    http://mikeandtanya.blogspot.com

  16. No way. Wow. You keep flooring me with your horror stories. Chariot owes you a drink.

    Beth
    http://www.totalmomhaircut.com/

  17. Oh, you are a magnet for travel chaos! Remind me to travel on the days you do, but in a different direction, so all the bad karma heads away from me! (JK)
    Truly, I feel for you. How did you not throttle the next airline employee who crossed your path?

  18. Oh, man, you really do have the worst luck, don’t you. Hope you got home all right after all.

    http://www.richellesreflections.blogspot.com

  19. Oh my, I do feel for you. Hope you made it home safe and sound. It is stinkin’ hot here in Calgary today, so you picked a good day to leave.

    Jenn

  20. ouch! i hope you are well on your way to recovery.

  21. I can’t really blame Chariot because it wasn’t their fault I chose to bring the double stroller. Note to self: only use when working out.

    I am sloooooowly recovering but don’t think I’ll be traveling solo with the kids anytime soon!!

  22. Is this an appropriate time to sing “Blame Canada”?? 😉

  23. And I’m sure United was more than happy to write you a check for “changing your reservation”. DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED!!!!

    I am really very sorry you had to go through that, but I’m sure glad your parents were on the flight the next day.

  24. I am so sorry to hear that. It is terrible when a vacation ends with bad travel. You get home much more stressed.

    http://www.outdoorbaby.net

  25. It appears, from all of the sympathetic comments, that the readers don’t understand that the Breaking News report is relatively normal for you; in fact it’s almost tame and mild considering it is YOU!

  26. I think you should petition the publishers of Geometry books to change the term for “a surface generated by a straight line moving at a constant velocity with respect to a fixed point” to something benign, like the word “Splot.”

    No. More. Planes.

  27. Fantastic suggestions, everyone. And Serf ‘Rett–you’re right. My “regulars” know from my Murphy’s Law life this incident is normal!

  28. Well, yeah, you know I’m new here, so I’ll stick with the newbie, “Oh wow that really sucks!” line of commenting.

    I’ll learn.

    http://www.watchmenowatchme.com

  29. Oh, I’m so sorry. I will NEVER understand those inane customs rules where you have to go through and back through on international flights. I had to do this while changing planes in Montreal bound for England. Nightmare. I’m glad you had a little help the next day, but still, mostly glad for your sake that it’s over. I hope you have a vacation now. 🙂

  30. Christine–Yep, it doesn’t take long to catch onto my bad luck. I just hope it’s not contagious?

  31. And MommyTime? That WAS my vacation! 🙂

  32. You are a brave woman! I wouldn’t even consider flying with two kids without help.

  33. rotflmao… you are so funny. i like the fact that you were blubbering =)

    and only you could have such luck.

    http://www.sunshine-on-my-shoulders.blogspot.com

  34. What a miserable day that must have been!! You must have done something to offend the travel gods in a past life… 🙂

  35. You’ve convinced me never to fly solo with the kids! FYI -The Peg Perego stroller with the step for preschoolers to ride on is awesome for airports.

  36. Wow! I own a double jogging stroller of the same lovely name: *&*%, although it is a different brand. 🙂 Glad you got back and had a good time at BlogHer.

  37. You. are. hysterical.
    That is all I have to say about that.

  39. bad travel karma sucks! so sorry but glad you lived to tell all about it….

    http://www.pakletadventures.blogspot.com

  40. Erm … thanks for the wake up call as I was seriously thinking of doing the same: fly solo with my gremlins.

    Although I must congratulate you on your cool. I would have been raving mad no make that snarky to any individual who crossed my path in that chaos.

    Glad you survived but I guess that means that there won’t be any meet ups in Calgary anytime soon?

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  44. misplacing goats:stupendous exaggerating infinitives shiningly.hubris

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