“45 hours! It’s a new record!”

However, this was one record we didn’t set out to beat.  That was the amount of time it took at least one of our intrepid travelers to go door-to-door from the hotel in Christchurch to home sweet home.

The original Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Los Angeles was to leave with about half of the World Wheelchair Games Canadian contingent at 4:20pm.  That flight got cancelled due to some sort of engineering problem with the plane, and the departure was pushed back to 9:45.  Our group was protected, and guaranteed spots on the next flight, although it was going to be jammed packed, and our seat assignments would not be able to be honoured.  The airline did give our people meal vouchers at the airport, which at least made the unexpected delay more palatable. (sorry)

One member of our group took that 9:45pm flight.  Maybe it was because ‘London Calling’ was heard playing on someone’s Sony Discman.  I don’t know — I’m just guessing.  The others opted for “Plan B”, which was for a red eye flight, due to leave at 1:00am the next day.  So far, that amounted to an anticipated 8 hour and 40 minute delay.  The ‘Early Bird’ 9:45pm flight didn’t end up leaving until 11:00pm, and ended up turning around and coming back at midnight, for both mechanical reasons, as well as due to the illness of one of its passengers.  That passenger had to de-plane, and then their personal luggage had to be found and removed from the plane, since modern day security rules require passengers & their luggage to travel together.  Eventually the not-so-early-bird flight left (again) at 1:00am, and the ‘official’ red eye flight left at 2:30am.  "Hurry up and wait!"  Isn’t there an existing 'Murphy’s Law' to cover this situation?  The only one of Mr. Murphy’s rules I learned recently was the one which goes something like ‘When in a one-on-one football pool, the only guy you’ll be paired up against will be the only possible guy who will get enough points to beat you.  The Dude, who is the resident football guru on the national team, took me down (again) over the weekend, despite not having access to a computer and using a less-than-complete roster against me.  My Dallas RB and Tampa QB fumbled or threw intercepted passes like they were candies thrown at Halloween kiddies with bad costumes!  Ohhhh, well maybe that’s just me.  Their costumes really were quite lame.

En tout cas, the redeye, much to the team's delight, was a 747 jet, which normally holds over 450 passengers.  This time it had all of 57 people, along with a full flight crew, which meant that our group practically had a cabin to themselves, and were able to stretch out at their leisure.  The Air New Zealand crew were great with our group, and despite the delays, the long 12-hour long flight to LA was quite enjoyable.

As it turned out, the two Auckland to LA flights arrived at similar times, and our ‘early bird traveler’ was met in the luggage carousel alongside our Red Eye Gang.  It took close to two hours to get the next to last piece of luggage, as one small piece went missing.  Hopefully, Steph gets it back soon.  Naturally, our scheduled connection flights had long since left Los Angeles, and another ‘Clash’ decision had to be made – ‘Should I stay or should I go now’?  About half of the group opted to bunk up for the night at a hotel which was paid for by Air New Zealand (thanks!), while the other half continued making attempts to fly out of LA, and get closer to home.

For those making their way towards Ottawa, where the local downpour of rain was quickly devolving into freezing rain, the latest delays were almost expected, coupled with extra security checks on all the electronic gear our group had the misfortune to carry on board.  While dusting the video camera for explosives, the security crew probably got a sneak peak at what wheelchair rugby at the World Wheelchair Games looked like.  I'll be able to do the same when the game tapes come in, and I hear there are a lot of them, so it's something I'm looking forward to.

Meanwhile – here’s a rugby related story from the Games.  Shades of Ireland and GB at the 2002 Worlds, another international player has been classed out of the game, and it might not be who you’d normally think it might be.  More on that when the RRJ gets back at you, sometime soon.

~That is all~