跨国在线系列 TNCCS SERIES
“走向世界”之一：巴西行 (3）
编者的话
Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles means reading more books while connecting reality.“读万卷书，行万里路”,意在多多读书接触实际，开阔眼界增进见识。时而想着写这么一个故事，这个故事的主线也在脑中回响着，可是仍在寻找合适的落笔点。该怎么写呢？故事开头也许是主人公从乡下来到城市，又从地球这一边到了那一边。他总是随着时光列车跑啊跑啊！因为从乡下走来，走了很远的路，他总是在赶最后一班车......一路上，他遇上了她，还有很多好人。在这一过程中，他学会了朝着一定目标前行。有了坚持坚守，他积聚了自己的成长故事。编发这一跨国在线“走遍世界”英文系列，希望对于当下思索着尤其仍在成长着的朋友有所启迪启发。
Travel towards the Globe Series (I)
Road to Brazil
1) The Hotel Issue
We were quickly going to wait for the shuttle bus. From about 1:30 a.m., we had waited for more than 30 minutes to get on the bus. At the hotel, it was about 2:00 a.m. When checking-in, we noticed that only two rooms for three of us. Therefore, we had to have one room for two people. Moreover, when getting the room, we found that it was with a single bed. How a single bed for two adults who were very much tired for the whole night. One of us had to sleep in the sofa for the rest of the night. Although it was highly tired, we had to write an email and send it to the conference organizers in Brazil for addressing all these happens as we would have presentations. After sending the email, it was about 2:30 a.m. By any means, three of us almost did not sleep any more as we were required to go back to the airport before 6:00 a.m., which meant that we had to get up before 5:00 a.m..
2) Request for Transfer
About 6:00 a.m., we arrived in the Airport again. The first thing that we did was to find the luggage. Without finding where to get into the luggage room, we had to go in from the exit to entrance. My friend felt inappropriate. We were not able to find the place to get in, so two of three followed me to be in. Fortunately, we found it easily at the luggage place 090. The service staff told us last night that we would need about two hours to find the luggage, which was not true. Probably it was our luck. We arrived in the place in the early morning by taking an unusual approach.
The next task was to try the best way to request for having a transfer as soon as possible. We were advised on transferring to Sao Paulo through Dallas. In going to the ticket counter, a nice lady helped us carefully. She listened to our story about the experiences with a great sympathy. Unfortunately, we met the same problem when at the Ottawa Airport. Our names from the passage file were not consistent with the passports. The nice lady spent several minutes to help fix this problem. After then, she was starting to confirm the transfers.
The problem was coming again. The all transfers through Dallas were full. We were advised to find another place to transfer. The lady was patient to help us. After several minutes, it seemed still no result. She brought us to the other ticket account. We were helped with two ladies. They tried the best to search all possibilities. After a few minutes, there were still not seats to locate. Wile feeling highly disappointed with the bad luck, we understood that the ladies had tried all ways they knew to find a place to transfer.
Suddenly, one of the ladies said that there was one seat from Miami. With this little message, two ladies were encouraged to further search. We did not know how they searched. Finally, three of us were arranged to transfer through the Miami Airport about 9: 00 p.m., July 22 (Monday) to Sao Paulo about 6:00 a.m., July 23 (Tuesday). We finally felt that this travel was now clear. Unless unexpected happens, we could be able to reach the destination tomorrow.
3) The Unforgettable Experience
From July 21 leaving Ottawa for Brazil through the first transferring place at Toronto Airport, we experienced some hard time. Firstly it was the names to be mistaken from the flight tickets to passports. After then, the flight seats were gone leading us to wait for another place to transfer. Because of this happen, we had to stay at Toronto for a night when taking risks to catch up the conference arrangements. Moreover, we missed the foods, along with a highly expected stay in the hotel for a couple of hours. The airport staff advised us to claim the costs for compensations. We did with each for $1,350 as below. After this trip, we spent a large amount of time to make this claim for a few months. Finally, we had to give up the efforts. The Airport Company declined this claim. We was advised that this was not unusual for international trips.
| Item | Ammount | Justification |
| Hotel | $200 | Two rooms |
| Foods | $50 | Breakfasts/lunchs |
| Connection | $800 | Sao Paulo to Maringa |
| Service | $300 | Evening services |
| Total | $1,350 | $4,050 ($1,350X3) |
