We received a call from our liaison stating that we would be catching a flight to out at 6am on our Day 4. I'm already packed so and ready to go so the excitement starts to build.
I wake up at 4am and get to the airport for 5:15am. I had the tickets for us so I met my group at the airport, gave them their itineraries and off we went to catch our flight.
The weather was bad again and our flight was delayed due to the de-icing of the plane. So when we arrived in Montreal our connection was boarding. Just a quick note on our landing in Montreal: We hit an air pocket and dropped about 20 feet, which scared the hell out of us, and then as we approached the runway we were caught in a crosswind and the plane was heaving left and right, our landing was very hard and scary as hell. When we got into the terminal we were informed that we were going to miss this flight due to baggage issues and late arrival and that the next flight out was at 17:30 that night. So, we had roughly 9-10 hours to kill in the busy airport. So, we killed off time by taking a taxi into Dorval to eat breakfast and possibly find something to do. The taxi cost for a 4 minute ride was 15 bucks and that kind of set the trend for the cost of everything else. We ended back at the airport and decided to sit down and relax and have a beer. Cost: 10.99 each. So, that idea was thrown out the window, and we just ended up lounging around the airport waiting for our flight.
Tired and cranky we boarded our flight to Vancouver and off we went. The flight was roughly 5 hours long and uneventful, then from there we took a quick puddle jump to Victoria where we were quick to find out that our luggage had been lost. We were given lost baggage tags and went on our way to the WP Venture barracks where we finally were able to get into our rooms and shower. There was no point sleeping as we arrived at roughly 3:30am and we had to be up for our breakfast for 6:30am.
After breakfast we were scheduled to do our Interviews with the Board Members. So we waited as groups as we were ushered into a room with high ranking Naval Officers. The interview lasted for about 15 minutes or so as they threw some questions at us and observed us answering. At this point, I just want to express my complete and utter respect for these men and the jobs they have to do. They were extremely friendly, gave us all a chance to ask questions, and even joked with us about our nightmare flight down.
The interview shook me a bit because I was so tired and I wasn't sure that my answers were being given clear enough. Shortly after the interviews were over we gathered for some tours. We toured the Naval Clearance Divers area and listened to a quick brief by the CO (who was one of the toughest men I've ever seen in my life) and how much he enjoys "blowing shit up" hehe. I was extremely impressed by the actual jobs that they do and by how well regarded they are in the world for their training and expertise. We saw some of the equipment that they used, the ships they used, and even some stories on what it was they did.
Afterwards we visited the Damage Control training center, where we were given another brief and then shown through some of the actual training rooms. This was just so cool it was hard to explain. The fire training rooms were awesome, and we were placed in one and then they lit it up. We then saw the flood training room, the bio/chem/nuclear training equipment and rooms, and then for the icing on the cake we watched a mock up helicopter on fire....soooo impressive.
Then it was back to the barracks for supper and a night out with the group. It was a very exhilarating day for us.
Oh...and still no baggage. So going on a 2nd day in the same clothes.
I wake up at 4am and get to the airport for 5:15am. I had the tickets for us so I met my group at the airport, gave them their itineraries and off we went to catch our flight.
The weather was bad again and our flight was delayed due to the de-icing of the plane. So when we arrived in Montreal our connection was boarding. Just a quick note on our landing in Montreal: We hit an air pocket and dropped about 20 feet, which scared the hell out of us, and then as we approached the runway we were caught in a crosswind and the plane was heaving left and right, our landing was very hard and scary as hell. When we got into the terminal we were informed that we were going to miss this flight due to baggage issues and late arrival and that the next flight out was at 17:30 that night. So, we had roughly 9-10 hours to kill in the busy airport. So, we killed off time by taking a taxi into Dorval to eat breakfast and possibly find something to do. The taxi cost for a 4 minute ride was 15 bucks and that kind of set the trend for the cost of everything else. We ended back at the airport and decided to sit down and relax and have a beer. Cost: 10.99 each. So, that idea was thrown out the window, and we just ended up lounging around the airport waiting for our flight.
Tired and cranky we boarded our flight to Vancouver and off we went. The flight was roughly 5 hours long and uneventful, then from there we took a quick puddle jump to Victoria where we were quick to find out that our luggage had been lost. We were given lost baggage tags and went on our way to the WP Venture barracks where we finally were able to get into our rooms and shower. There was no point sleeping as we arrived at roughly 3:30am and we had to be up for our breakfast for 6:30am.
After breakfast we were scheduled to do our Interviews with the Board Members. So we waited as groups as we were ushered into a room with high ranking Naval Officers. The interview lasted for about 15 minutes or so as they threw some questions at us and observed us answering. At this point, I just want to express my complete and utter respect for these men and the jobs they have to do. They were extremely friendly, gave us all a chance to ask questions, and even joked with us about our nightmare flight down.
The interview shook me a bit because I was so tired and I wasn't sure that my answers were being given clear enough. Shortly after the interviews were over we gathered for some tours. We toured the Naval Clearance Divers area and listened to a quick brief by the CO (who was one of the toughest men I've ever seen in my life) and how much he enjoys "blowing shit up" hehe. I was extremely impressed by the actual jobs that they do and by how well regarded they are in the world for their training and expertise. We saw some of the equipment that they used, the ships they used, and even some stories on what it was they did.
Afterwards we visited the Damage Control training center, where we were given another brief and then shown through some of the actual training rooms. This was just so cool it was hard to explain. The fire training rooms were awesome, and we were placed in one and then they lit it up. We then saw the flood training room, the bio/chem/nuclear training equipment and rooms, and then for the icing on the cake we watched a mock up helicopter on fire....soooo impressive.
Then it was back to the barracks for supper and a night out with the group. It was a very exhilarating day for us.
Oh...and still no baggage. So going on a 2nd day in the same clothes.
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