With hundreds of cancelled flights at Vancouver International Airport (YVR)┬аafter the region was blanketed with snow,┬аsome travellers have had to rely on strangers to get home.
A B.C. woman says she managed to make her way from YVR┬аto her home in Kelowna, after connecting with a person who was driving back to the city in the Interior.
One trucker, meanwhile, has offered rides to┬аpeople travelling from Alberta to B.C.┬а
Mai Nguyen says she┬аarrived at YVR from Japan on Sunday morning to find her connecting flight home to Kelowna┬аwas cancelled and rebooked for Tuesday.
She was offered a refund┬аwith no chance to rebook, she says, adding that she tried making arrangements with other airlines and looked at taking a bus,┬аbut had no luck.
Desperate to get home to her two-year-old daughter, she posted a message on a Lake Country community Facebook page. She connected with a man who was travelling from Kelowna┬аto Vancouver to drop off a friend who had a┬аconnecting flight to YVR cancelled.┬а
Nguyen says her husband was concerned that she was accepting a ride from a stranger, but she felt it was a risk worth taking to get back to her daughter.┬а
Hundreds of passengers have had travel plans thrown into disarray as heavy snow at the Vancouver International Airport results in delays and cancellations.
Nguyen says the man gave her and two others a ride back to Kelowna.┬аShe finally arrived home at 3 a.m. Wednesday.┬а
Coming home was emotional, she says.┬аShe had to travel to Japan for a few days┬аto attend to a personal matter; prior to that, she had never been away from her daughter overnight. The delay in Vancouver made their time apart even longer.┬а
“The snow was really crazy … I’m very, very happy and lucky that I met a nice person, who drove me home and I can be with my family again,” Nguyen said.
Truck driver Logan Long, meanwhile, has been offering transportation to people looking to get from Alberta to B.C.┬а
Long┬аsays he has made offers on a Facebook page dedicated to ridesharing.┬а
He says his itinerary┬аincludes a stop to pick up a traveller stranded at the Edmonton┬аairport, and another┬аin┬аCalgary to pick up two puppies to be dropped off to their new home.
From there, he’ll pick up two more people┬аwith stops in Revelstoke and Kelowna,┬аbefore heading down to Vancouver.┬а
Long,┬а49, says he already has plans to pick up people for the ride┬аback to Alberta.┬а
“I hope that sometime they’ll┬аremember that┬аsomebody stepped up for them and they’ll do the same for┬аsomebody else,” he said Wednesday. “What do they call that тАФ┬аpay it forward?”
