Flight: West Jet. WS391 with service from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Edmonton, Alberta. Flight time: 5 hours, 18 minutes.

I’m leaving Nova Scotia after my first visit in 9 years. I moved to Edmonton in 2009 in order to make a life for myself. I moved to fix some things with myself, and I came back to visit family and mend some old, broken bridges. I feel like I managed to get a decent start on that, and for the first time ever, I leave Nova Scotia missing most of my family. I feel like I’m actually leaving something behind, not just the shattered shambles of what I once called my life.

Looking back over the last 9 years, I can see it’s taken time, but I feel like I’ve actually accomplished something with myself, and I feel like I’m moving on to a bigger and brighter future. I feel like I literally have all of the open road ahead of me to traverse, and I feel like at this point, anything is possible.

This trip has not been without it’s share of issues. On the way here, I flew with Air Canada. I’m not sure I’ll ever fly with AC again. I was delayed multiple times in Edmonton, with the flight eventually being rescheduled, me having to go pick up my luggage and recheck it and rebook my flight. By the time I had gotten to the plane, I boarded about 10 minutes before flight time. So much for a nice luxurious morning. It was a short 3 hours to Toronto, and in Toronto, I’d been delayed by another hour. Originally, I was supposed to land in Halifax at 730. In reality, I landed at 1230 am, and it was a whole headache.

There was little to no communication. I ended up having to call their “flight interruption” line, and I spent a good hour on hold to find out they’d rebooked my ticket. I got no email, no text, no phone call. The 16th was a day spent stressing about everything, trying to make sure I got to Halifax, that I had no time to sit back and actually enjoy the experience of travel.

The way back was different. My flight back was with West Jet, and despite the two and a half hour delay, every time a change was made to my flight, the sent me out an email and a text. The crew AND the captain apologized profusely, and all said and done, they were more than epic in dealing with the delay. I got to sit down, enjoy a decent breakfast in the airport, I browsed the shops and actually got to enjoy the experience. All said and done, I’m starting to think that I might actually be a West Jet convert to the point that I’m going to have to sit down when I get home and work on a rewards account with West Jet for points and possibly extra perks.

What pisses me off is not the delays. It’s the lack of communication. I like to be in the know. The more information I have, the better the decision I can make. When I’ve paid several hundred dollars to fly on an airline, and that airline literally can’t be bothered to tell me anything about my flight, it drives my anxiety through the roof, to the point of possible panic attack (which I actually had one while I was in the airport in Edmonton). I like to have the information at my fingertips so I know what’s going on, I like to feel Want to add a caption to this image? Click the Settings icon. like I matter and that I’m not just another number. West Jet definitely made me feel like I was more than just a wallet they can dig into.

Now that I can sit down and write about my experiences, I’m feeling fairly relieved. It’s like a load has been taken off my mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s somewhere between 8 am and 11 am. I’m 33,000 feet up, watching the fluffy whipped cream clouds flow below me. I think I’m going to go grab myself a beer, grab my external and watch a freaking movie in style while enjoying my extra leg room in the emergency exit.