Severe Cold and Snow

A massive snowstorm is moving up into Ontario from the US. Some places will get 1 cm per hour overnight.

I'm glad I did my grocery shopping earlier today. Still, bad news of a whole different nature for some people:

Air Canada said it expected cancellations at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Sunday and Monday and is advising customers to call before embarking on travel.

From Toronto thousands of foreign students go back to Asian countries to visit their families during the school / university break. Many will be stranded for over a week if they miss their flight on Sunday or Monday. It's worse for them because (a) they have to worry about getting connecting flights from European nations and (b) they'll have to spend hundreds of dollars for a room in a hotel since their dorms are closed.

I once had to wait nine days -- but not because of heavy snow.

Comments

[Classical Liberal]

Okay, I'll bite. What happened?

[Isaac Schrödinger]

I was traveling to Saudi Arabia from Toronto. I had a connecting flight in Germany. This was after 9/11.

The Germans had made a new rule which required holders of certain citizenships to get a visa -- for merely landing at the airport and changing planes within the same airport.

I found this out at the ticket counter a few hours before the flight left. I had called Lufthansa ten days earlier to check if any new documents were required. They said, "No, you're fine."

The new rule had been in effect for about 14 days.

The folks at the counter got me a new flight schedule. The flight left the next day. Therefore, I had to get the visa the next day from the German embassy.

I stayed at a hotel overnight. Got to the German embassy, showed them my schedule, gave them the money for the fee ... and they told me to come back the next day for my passport.

"My rescheduled flight is tonight!"

"Sorry but it takes 24 hours to grant this visa."

"Then why did Lufthansa reschedule my flight for tonight!?"

". . ."

". . ."

"You'll have to show us your new flight times tomorrow when you come to pick up your passport."

So, I had to rush to the airport and ask for a new flight schedule. The best they could give me was 8 days into the future. I took it.

The next day I went to the embassy to pick up my passport. Now everything was in order. Except that I had to deplete lots of cash for staying in a motel and eating crappy food for a week.

That was my first Christmas in North America. I was alone and I watched a lot of best-of-whatever shows.

[Liber]

Sorry for that, man...

Liber (German)