First Day Of Travel
Leaving for Canada
We began our trip, meeting at the airport at 6:00. Well most of us, anyway. A few were late, and 4 people from one family will be coming up tomorrow because of visa problems. One of the things that struck us immediately was the international flavor of our group. 5 people of Filipino extraction, 2 of Indian, 1 from Pakistan, 1 who is part Finnish, and then 4 Hispanic and 2 Anglo members. Our group is a true picture of the American melting pot. Check-in went smoothly except for the fact that David Soliz's name was misspelled on his ticket, and we decided it would be easier to fix things right away. Then Yvonne left his paperwork at the counter and he had to be pulled out of line at Security to pick up his paperwork.
Speaking of security, things went well in general. They made me unpack my bag because of the video camera. Alex Gonzalez, meanwhile, got the full going over. Here is a hint: if you have a Game Boy, video camera, digital camera, electronic chess clock, and a CD player, be prepared to have your bags checked. The security guard suggested that Alex pull the electronics at the next checkpoint and have it checked visually rather than wait for the inevitable.
Mr. Sudhakaran and I waited for Alex to finish the security check. When we arrived at the gate, everyone else was already aboard the plane….except for David Soliz. Yep, he was our victim of the random check…or perhaps he was a volunteer…we are not quite sure which it was. I passed through the gate and waited for Mr. Sudhakaran and Alex. Alex must have some sort of magic about him, because sure enough, he got the random search also. Alex, what IS it about you that creates such suspicion in the minds of others?
On the plane, most of our seats were together. They did put David Soliz off in the corner, but a kind-hearted person who was next to Yvonne offered to change places and we let David join our group. (David and Alex, trouble just seemed to follow them!) The flight was uneventful after Xavier stopped screaming. This was his first flight. Most of the people around him could guess that. As we were getting ready to depart in Houston, the flight attendant thanked everyone on board for flying with Continental, and made a special point of thanking the "Alice Chess Club." This caused a bit of uproar among the Corpus Christi contingent, but eventually we all reached a compromise and settled down. The people at the Alice Chess Club can expect a bill for all the costs for the tournament and the flights. That sounds fair enough, right? Mr. Eberhard, get out your checkbook!
We walked from our arrival gate to our new departure gate. During that time, we decided that Yvonne had overlooked one thing. She should have arranged for one of those busses to pick us up and take us to the new gate. After all, 12 people traveling together should get some kind of consideration, right?
Interestingly enough, we have had 2 people specifically ask if any girls were involved. For those of you who do not know the situation, a few girls were involved in the qualifying tournament, but none made the top 4 in each group. So girls, help us out and work hard next year so we will have some of you in the home leg of our match with the Canadian group!
As we left Houston I found out that I was secure. I was supposed to go ahead with the kids to the plane, but the security forces had other ideas. I had thought about buying something to eat in Houston, but after looking at the prices, I thought, "Why bother? We are getting lunch on the plane anyway?” We will talk more about that later, though.
The flight attendant asked what this large group was doing traveling together. When we told her that we were getting ready to play a match against players from Montreal, she chided us because some of them were playing cards and didn't have any chess sets out. Little did she know that the chess sets wouldn't have fit on the airplane lap trays. Later, Kumar let me use his magnetic set while I was looking over some problems.
As lunch came out, I thought back to my decision not to buy anything at the airport. We had a tiny little ham sandwich, potato chips, and a small piece of candy. I decided that the $5.00 pizza at the airport was MUCH better than the free meal!
During the flight, Yvonne told us that she had gone 6 hours, 21 minutes and 37 seconds without a cigarette, but that she hardly noticed it.
We landed in Cleveland and rushed to the gate, since we didn't have too much time to get to the plane. Well, we beat the plane! The plane arrived about 10 minutes after boarding was supposed to start, and we took off twenty minutes late. Interestingly enough, not one person in our group got hit with the security wand.
The flight attendant on the small little plane created an uproar among our group when we realized that she was passing out Customs Declaration forms. What was the purpose of our trip: personal, study, or business? We found out later from Canadian customs that personal would be ok.
Meanwhile, on the flight, Samuel set a new record for scarfing down peanuts as the flight attendant had to keep bringing him peanuts. Meanwhile, we discovered that Kumar is not only a magician, but a mean blackjack dealer.
We arrived in Canada, and got in line for Customs. For those of us who were first-timers, the lines seemed long. Some of our experienced travelers said that the lines were not too long, and that they moved quickly. We found our bags and went through the last checkpoint, even though Yvonne lost her customs declaration.
Maria and the rest of the Canadian contingent were outside the customs area waiting for us and gave us a warm greeting. We split up to our respective host homes for dinner. At our host home, Maria and Richard cooked spaghetti and entertained us while they were cooking. They just informed us that there is an international Class XI tournament being held here and that they are working to let us meet them during the week.