Waiting in Limbo

Sooo...if you read the last blog, you know a little about what is happening. If not, let me resume it for you:

On New Year's Day, I found out about the closures of restaurant dining rooms in Quebec for a 3-week period, and simultaneously received a message from my boss that she was extending her vacation until the beginning of February. After inquiring with her further, I found out that I could possibly extend my time in Guadeloupe. Also, this year, Mario is able to extend his time away, which has never been the case. Both us, with time time to spare, and currently on a tropical island? Who wouldn't take that opportunity if presented with it?! 

At first, it seemed like a dream - an extra 2 weeks in paradise - but the more we thought about it, the more it seemed like the right decision to take. So we pulled the trigger, and started the process. Now, it seems fairly simple, just call Air France customer service, have them change the arrival date of our tickets, and that's it, right? Well, these tickets have already been changed on us, even before leaving, as Air France is diminishing their direct flights from Montreal to Pointe-à-Pitre from 4 a week to ONE, and of course our flight got cut. We were issued return tickets taking us from Guadeloupe to Paris, then to Montreal, with a layover, totaling 23 hours of travel time, where originally we had only FIVE. I never wanted that, but we had to get home somehow, right? 

At the same time, Mario started researching plane tickets, and found out that Air Canada was now offering direct flights PTP to YUL, and we could upgrade our ticket to be completely refundable, in case of emergencies. Okay, so we decide to instead cancel the AF tickets outright. Now, we have a phone plan for calls in Guadeloupe, but it only includes 100 free minutes, and I didn't want to waste them waiting for what I thought could be a 30-40 minute wait for Air France customer support to pick up (like it was before Christmas during our first reservation changing session), so Monday morning's first activity was researching how to make phone calls from my computer through the internet connection. That came easily enough through Skype, and surprisingly was free because it was a toll-free Canadian number. Thank goodness for that! So on January 2nd, I called, pressed all the numbers, and listened to the lovely hold music, and the pleasant voice thank me over and over again for my patience. 

While I waited, Mario took care of some housekeeping: a little laundry, sweeping all the fine sand out of the house, airing out the bedroom and bed sheets. An hour in to my waiting, I hear the recorded message change, mention the abnormally high number of calls, and then hang up on me. Huh. So I call again.

After the second hang up, and late lunch, I decide I have had enough of being "in the office" and suggest we try to get out for a bit. We spend what's left of the afternoon on Plage des Trois Îlets, soaking up some sun, getting sand in all the places, and discussing our options. We sit on the beach and enjoy a beautiful sunset, and luckily the sand flies aren't so bitey tonight. Ultimately, we return to the guesthouse more relaxed, definitely more sandy, and with the decision that we will go ahead with the rest of the bookings - car rentals and places to stay - regardless of the response from Air France. 

We eat pasta to the tune of the AF hold music, and after another 2 hours, we give up, but not before securing new plane tickets and two new Airbnb rentals. Our return date? January 31st, adding another eighteen days onto the end of our vacation. Plenty of time for me to work on my tan.

On January 3rd, I decided I wasn't going to waste any more time on hold, so we set up the Skype call in the morning, and let the hour run its course while we ate breakfast and packed our gear for the day. Having another month ahead of us meant that, all of a sudden, what we brought for 3 weeks was not longer sufficient, so into town we went for a bit of shopping. 

Our obvious first stop was at the bakery for fresh pain au beurre, but we also toured some of the more local clothing shops, looking for another dress for me, a straw hat for Mario. I had forgotten my nail polish, and a few inquiries led me to the pharmacy. I also found, while hunting down postcards for Liana, a wonderful perfume that smells like old fashioned Hawaiian Tropics suntan lotion - you know that super-nostalgic coconut scent? Exactly like that. Now I can smell like Guadeloupe. 

For lunch, we order a couple of bokit sandwiches - fried bread filled with cod, lettuce, tomato and chili - from a stall in town, and realize it must be cheap and good, as half the population of the local high school lines up behind us for lunch. Back at the guesthouse, I try to start another phone call with no luck - looks like Air France is having so many people calling, their lines are down. But with everything else in place, booking-wise, I suddenly feel a little lighter, so we opt to continue on with enjoying the vacation.

Three years ago today, Mario and I were hiking a small trail along the rocky coastline towards a formation called Les Galeries, where a massive cavern has been formed by wind and water erosion. Today, coincidentally, we find ourselves on the same trail, scrambling over sharply eroded rocks, between fallen boulders - it's an extremely technical trail, but also a lot of fun, especially the rough surf splashing up the coastline at us, waves churning forcefully below. 

Again, we stopped in the cavern of Les Galeries to listen to the sound of the ocean echo off the wall behind us, watching the splash again the shore rise high into the air with the crash of the waves. But this time, rather than turning around to head back to the car, we continued on, completing the full trail. I have become a much more enthusiastic hiker recently, and so every trek Mario and I embark on, I find I am enjoying it more. Especially when the reward is a few hours soaking in the ocean, or lying on the beach!

Henry's grilled chicken is again the star of dinner, with its oh-so-delicious secret sauce, and crisp French fries, which I compliment with a simple cucumber-watermelon salad, and we toast our extended time on the island with a rum punch tonight. I absent-mindedly set up the Skype phone call to Air France, with not much hope of an answer. 

Finally, in the last minutes of the seventh hour of waiting on hold, a voice that is not the recording comes on the line and almost catches both Mario and I off-guard. And sure enough, I finally got through to an actual human being.  Within 10 minutes, it's all over, my tickets are cancelled, my refund request processed, and just like that, the final weight is lifted. We're here for a month. 

Could I possibly be smiling any wider right now?