Shouldn’t WiFi be FREE? Like Radio is.

So, I got an email from a friend of mine suggesting that I reply to an ad on Kijiji. The ad was for a television show that was searching for Italian speaking chefs. You needed to be bilingual and have experience cooking Italian food. I satisfy both those requirements. On a whim I sent in my resume and head shot. I took my head shot photo in my house that night on my crappy digital camera. To my great surprise I immediately received a reply requesting to set up an audition. An audition! I have an audition. So we set up an audition for today, February 3 in Toronto. Now I don’t have high hopes or any real expectations of getting the part, but I’m essentially using this as an excuse for a 36 hour get away. I have many friends in Toronto and am looking forward to seeing them tonight.

I have been pretty excited about this trip simply because I love to travel, especially on planes or trains. It was easier and more practical for me to take the train today than to drive. When I was booking the trip Anastasia felt sorry for me that I had to take the train. Her experiences are those of legend. Most of her trips on Via were returning home from school in Toronto. There had been one incident or other on every trip home. Incidents such as hitting a cow and being delayed for numerous hours hence turning a four hour trip into an eight hour trip were the norm. I on the other hand was excited for the trip. I, through choices that I have made, have not been able to travel as much as I like in the last few years. Just the idea of taking a trip gets me excited. I love simply picking people up at the airport. I love the smell. The first thing I do when I walk into an airport is stop and take a deep breath. Weird? Sure. But I know most of you know what I’m talking about. That smell triggers the realization that you’re embarking on something great. I have been on many a long journey and really appreciate the fact that the actual trip can be as fun and interesting as the vacation spot you’re going to. Road trips are the best example of that.

So here I am on the train and all excited especially because everywhere I look there are WiFi symbols. I get to work and write and surf. Four hours to relax and just have me time. This is going to be awesome. Well to my dismay when I turn on my computer and go to log on it directs me to a Via page where I have to pay for the internet use. What the F@#K!! You have to be kidding me. Not only do I have to pay but the minimum for 24 hours is $8.95. Unbelievable! Not only has that already ruined my trip, and I’m just out of Chatham, but I now am bitter at every little bump that I was easily willing to disregard before. For the past hour it has felt like there are tiny brail messages written on the track and my intestines are trying to decipher the message before puking. I am writing this, by the way, in Word because I refuse to pay ten bucks to use the internet for three hours. Many people won’t find this as appalling as I do. Those people are probably not reading this blog. They’re probably not online. How is it in today’s day and age that a company like Via offers WiFi, promotes it like crazy (there are stickers and symbols everywhere!) and feels it’s ok to charge for it. I’m scared to go to the bathroom. I don’t have any cash on me in case they charge for that too. I simply don’t get it. Everywhere you go, restaurants, cafes, bars, apartments etc, there is FREE WiFi. We offer free WiFi at BKB. FREE! How can we afford to offer this service to our customers and Via can’t? I just spent well over one hundred dollars for this trip and to go online for a couple of hours is going to cost me ten more. Man o man. We wonder why more people aren’t online. This is one good indication why. I’ll let you know how the audition goes, just had to get that off my chest.