First flight (actually second one scheduled) ...

Aboard a plane -- my first flight ever on Air Canada -- was refreshing. Four seats across each row (two to a side) makes everything much more comfortable for a 6-foot-4, 265-pound person such as myself. Sat next to a guy who, for the next three-plus hours only blurted a word once to let me know he needed to get past me to go to the bathroom. Sleep was the order of this flight, but the small screen in front of me prevented that from happening. Air Canada, for those unaware, offers a bevy of entertainment options to let the time pass. You can watch a movie (current stuff like in a hotel), listen to music, TV, etc. all from the comfort of your seat.

The comfort of this flight, however, couldn't stop my worry about the past 24 hours. Here it was, 24 hours AFTER my original flight was supposed to be a non-stop jet from L.A. to Vancouver where I'd spend Christmas Day. Snowy weather in Vancouver, the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics, forced tons of cancellations and postponed flights across the board. My flight, a 7 a.m. gig, was cancelled only hours before I was to be at LAX. Upset with this predicament, I contacted Orbitz.com, who I had booked my flight with and they were able to help me immensely. They rebooked me for a flight on Dec. 26 and were able to refund me money for the lost hotel night. The rebooked flight, however, was curious. I'd fly LAX to Calgary and then to Vancouver. The worry I felt, though, was that the weather would open up enough for me to make the connecting flight, get to the hotel quickly and then make it to the Vancouver Canucks arena in time for the Canucks-Edmonton Oilers game, the first of five games to see on this trip.

The flight from LAX to Calgary was smooth. We arrived at 12:45 p.m. (mountain time) with what would still be plenty of downtime before going on to Vancouver for a 4:15 p.m. flight that would get me into the city at 4:45 (Pacific time) for a 7 p.m. game.

All reports, though, out of Vancouver weren't looking too good. I had been told by a friend of mine that he was apologizing days before I was to leave that the city doesn't do too well when snow falls on its city. Again, this is the host city for a Winter Olympics? I realize the bulk of the snow-related events will be in Whistler, but should snow fall in Vancouver in February 2010, will the town shut down?

Anyway, I chose to grab lunch at Chili's in the Calgary airport to wait out my layover. I did so with a bacon burger and Rickards Red beer (made by Molson) which was delicious. I was served by Jaime, a 20-something bartender/waitress who was really cool and really Canadian with her thick accent. She also had her left arm in a sling, earned through a snowboarding accident days prior. "I've got to work. I can't afford to take time off," she said with a great smile. Her injury, however, did make it a bit hard to prevent spilling some brew. At one point, she knocked over a bit of beer that splashed onto my burger and caused her to apologize three or four times to me, even though it was all right. No harm, no foul. Perhaps I should have asked for a free beer? Then again, after the Rickards, there weren't any other good choices to tap into to be honest.

It was also here that another young person, Sashi, sat down next to me and ordered a Coors light and "clam juice." When he combined the crappy beer with the V-8 knockoff, I called it a Bloody Coors Light. He laughed when I told him that Coors Light isn't a great beer at all and that I could completely understand why he wanted to do SOMETHING to make it taste better, even if it was a V-8.

We struck up a conversation and he was pretty entertaining. He asked about my travels, showed me pictures of his family and told me I should go to Montreal for New Year's instead of being in Toronto. "Montreal never closes, it's like that Las Vegas of yours." We'll see about that, though in the last few days, I did read about professional parties that occur in Montreal each New Year's Eve and how great and wild they are to take in. Trouble is, I'm still in Toronto through Jan. 2 with a hockey game to attend on Jan. 1, so no go. Perhaps I'll assess the aftermath of a Montreal NYE by seeing how many people are at the airport when I fly in on the 2nd.

After this conversation reached a conclusion, we exchanged cards and parted ways. He did get on a flight to Toronto I'm certain while my flight to Vancouver was subsequently postponed three times while at the airport. When it got to be a 6 p.m. flight out of Calgary to Vancouver is when I chose NOT to take the flight. I went searching for my baggage in hopes that it wouldn't go to Vancouver without me. I did get the bag and that flight, I think, wound up not leaving until 9:30 that night. It would have been pointless for me to board the flight because I'd already missed the Canucks game -- a 3-2 Edmonton victory by the way -- and since I was already scheduled to come back to Calgary the very next day, I felt I should just stay in Calgary and not risk being stuck in Vancouver on Dec. 27 which might then also prevent me from seeing the Calgary Flames-Ottawa Senators game. So I stayed in Calgary and it proved to be the right choice.