Last September I had to go for 3 days to Montreal with my boss John, to a conference.
Before we left we planned carefully where we would eat and other things we wanted to do during our visit. John chose to eat out at a very nice Indian restaurant, we went for the all you can eat buffet lunch which wasn't perhaps the best idea before a long afternoon of meetings.
I found a British fish n chip ship and introduced him to mushy peas...yummy!
At this point I should tell you I like IKEA and the one in Montreal is the closest one to where we live. A mere 8 hour drive or less than 2 hour flight! John had never been to IKEA so happily obliged to come with me for a slice of dime bar cake before my flight back home. I was very careful choosing small items that would fit in my case or carry on bag until I saw an orange rug. Rugs are very expensive in Canada so when we'd decorated Josh's room last summer, I'd only got a small pretty boring rug for the middle of his room. This rug was 4' by 8' and was orange with big white spots on, it would just match his newly painted orange room and was only $30. I was tempted, very tempted! John was very convincing when he said it was a good buy and I could just check it onto the plane. Not being a very seasoned traveler I believed him! So with suitcase, laptop, handbag and 8' roll of carpet I was dropped off at the airport.
The Air Canada person directing me where to go looked at the carpet and asked what I was going to do with it. I told him I was planning on taking it onto my flight. He laughed and said he'd not seen that before and that I would have to check it in for about $70!!!! Now of course that wasn't going to happen, he suggested I left it with someone in Montreal to maybe get it to me at a later date...er no! I went back to the computerized check in and tried to check it in as an extra bag, they would let me but would charge me $25.....slightly better but for a $30 carpet (and a Yorkshire woman) still not worth it.
I went to a quiet corner of the airport to plan my next move. I had brought a medium sized case with me that could unzip and expand upwards, I wondered if there was any possible chance it would squeeze in! Well after emptying all my personal possessions onto the floor I unwrapped the carpet and started to fold, it was quite a feat as carpet doesn't bend very well but I managed to get it to a similar size as the case. Then I put it in and jumped on it just like Rumpelstiltskin until I could manage to zip up the case! There was room for a few of my clothes on top and the rest were put in my laptop bag and handbag...perfect!
I went back to the Air Canada person who did a double take when he saw me and said 'Where's the carpet?', I pointed to the case, he didn't either believe me or understand me or both so asked me again. He shook his head and when I explained how I'd carefully folded it into my case his comeback was 'It'll probably be overweight now.' It wasn't and I sailed through check in!
The rug took quite a bit of flattening when I got home and it was certainly a surprise Christmas gift for Josh.
Here it is in his bedroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment