Jane in Wonderland

Hi everyone - I'm back :) Truthfully, I've been back for a few days but I had a wicked case of jet lag to get through and since then I've been editing and deleting photos - I only took 1497 of them! I take a lot of duplicates from various angles and distances, then keep the best and delete the rest. I'm not finished yet but thought I'd get started on some new posts anyways.

Wed. May 24th saw me rise at 4:00am in order to get to London, Ontario's International (yes, truly) Airport to board an early flight to Toronto and then on to Vancouver. My daughter hooked me up with an Uber app giving me a $15 credit which was just enough to get me to the airport. Lucky huh?

Below is a photo taken shortly after my arrival - that's it - the whole airport. It doesn't really operate like an "international" airport - I left my suitcase inside while I went out and took this photo - then I realized I'm not supposed to leave my suitcase unsupervised incase someone wanted to turn me into a drug mule...or worse! But when I went back inside the security folks seemed quite unconcerned. Welcome to London!

I'm hoping this isn't my airplane...

No matter the time of day or night a Timmy's somewhere is always open :) A shot of caffeine was exactly what I needed at 5am. And again I left my suitcase unsupervised while I lined up for a dark roast. I did keep my eye on it though.

Pretty spiffy huh? I like it because I don't have to look very hard for my gate.

Of course there is the usual pathetic corporate nod to our First Nations people. I'm sorry, I just think those in power could do so much better. And then...everything went to sh-t!!

I thought I had everything under control! I signed myself up for notifications (delays and cancellations) of London to Toronto flights because lately there have been a LOT of delays and cancellations due to construction at Pearson airport in Toronto. But I didn't receive any notifications and we boarded promptly.

However, once they had us trapped on the plane they announced a 20 minute delay. That doesn't sound like much but the whole flight to Toronto only takes 20 minutes. Then the 20 minute delay became a 40 minute delay. My heart rate went up with each increase. Finally we took off - at the same time as my Toronto to Vancouver flight was boarding!

First sight of the Rockies

 Once we landed I chomped at the bit wanting to get off of the plane to see if I could still make my connection. Well, you know how long that process takes! I sprinted into the airport and asked an employee which gate I needed - she yelled out Gate D34 and I raced down several hallways suitcase whacking at my heels. I found the gate and the last couple of people in line. Thank God!! I was in quite a lather but managed to make it to my seat before I collapsed.

The fabulous Canadian Rockies.

The flight was uneventful (thankfully!) though I have to say as we started to descend I was a bit worried about the mountains that were poking up through the clouds.

But I guess the pilot knew what he was doing as we broke through the clouds with the mountains at a safe distance.

I travelled with just a carryon and a backpack so leaving the airport was easy peasy. Finding the Enterprise car rental depot wasn't quite so easy but a lovely volunteer at the info booth gave me directions (I'm sure he's done it 10,000 times before) and within minutes I was on a shuttle and then in my rental. A Hyundai Veloster which I never quite got used to. Never thought I'd say I missed Dougie the Dodge but I did. I mean, if my foot even got near the brake pedal I almost went through the windshield!!

Stay tuned for the rest of DAY ONE. It gets better :)

Up Up and Away!

Just moments ago I "checked in" with my local airport to receive my boarding pass via text. I am also signed up to receive "flight notifications" in case of a delay or cancellation - this has been a huge problem lately with feeder airport flights heading to Toronto as the domestic flight part of Pearson airport is undergoing construction. However, now that I have officially checked in and have received NO notifications I am feeling quite confident that at this time tomorrow I will have arrived in Toronto (safely) and have connected with the flight that will take me to Vancouver.  I know there are hundreds of other things I can do with my phone that I don't currently do yet I somehow feel very tech savvy at the moment. (That won't last)

Straight out of the 1960s.

My daughter has also convinced me to download the  Uber App to get a ride to and from the airport as both flights occur while she is sleeping/working. As someone who takes a taxi about once a year I haven't really gotten into the debate between Uber and taxis. Kazi has used Uber frequently and has been very impressed with their service. But then she's 26. Like how I can casually toss terms around like Uber and App? Aren't you impressed?

I will be impressed if I can find one available tomorrow at 4:30am. 😁

I like the fact that payment occurs through my Paypal account so don't need to use cash or credit card.

My itinerary is jam-packed as is my suitcase. My carry-on suitcase is actually quite roomy and I'm taking a day-pack as I plan to do a lot of hiking and walking about. No purse, just my wallet. Kazi rented a car for me once I arrive in Vancouver so I can explore to my heart's content. My ferry (fairy?) across to the big island is booked for 1pm arriving at the Swartz Bay terminal at 2:30. I should arrive at my AirBnb around 3pm (ish). And then it's time to explore the city and find some food.

Should be called BC Fairies don't you think?

I better get busy and charge all of my camera batteries!!

See you on the other side! (of the country!) Oh, and the best thing...

...I'm bringing the sunshine!!

Double D's

heeheehee!

Dear Diary:
In 36 hours I will be at Robert Q waiting to board a van to Toronto Airport. I hope I come back alive. I did a second trial packing job today after watching several youtube videos about rolling and layering and stacking etc. It didn't seem to make any difference other than I'm more organized. However, just as I folded in the last T-shirt I realized that my pj's are way down in the stack and I'm not too impressed with that little "oops". 

My first night involves arriving at Heathrow at 8:10pm and making my way to a B&B not too far from the airport. It's pretty much just for catching up on sleep then the next day I make my way to Moreton in Marsh for my walking tour of the area. So all I need to get out of my suitcase on Night One are my jammies and my toiletries. I'm tempted to just squeeze in a pair of black tights and use them and a T-shirt as my jammies rather than dig through a carefully organized suitcase. 

Of course I never get to really settle in anywhere as I stay somewhere different every night until I get to Norwich where I stay for 3 nights and get to recover a little bit...if you count riding around the countryside on a bike "recovering!"

Yup, gonna squeeze in some black tights...or just sleep nekkid!

Eventful Journey So Far

Yesterday Kazi and I made the trip to Pearson Airport in Toronto to launch her trip to Australia. We had gone only about 50km when just past Woodstock traffic was diverted from Hwy. 401 to Hwy. 403.  We assumed we'd be able to get back on the 401 at the next overpass but instead we were faced with this:

And again at the next overpass and the next. At that point we had no idea what had happened and were a bit concerned about getting to the airport on time. (well, I was concerned, Kazi remained optimistically  upbeat during the whole ordeal; maybe I would have too if I'd been the one heading to Australia!)

Eventually, after a detour that covered over 30km and travelling at an average speed of about 30km per hour we made it back on the 401. Once my "map" skills were no longer needed on my iPhone I googled "accident on the 401" and discovered there had been 2 major accidents on that stretch of highway Friday morning.

First an eastbound tractor trailer slammed into the concrete median causing debris to fly over into the westbound lanes - as far as I know the driver was OK. Then a little while later there was a collision involving 3 tractor trailers killing one driver and injuring another-oh no!! I'm so thankful we weren't travelling in the morning! There had been snow over night though I don't know if that was a factor or if it was driver error - police aren't releasing much info yet. When we began our journey on the 401 approximately 3.5 hours later the roads were clear and dry.  Very sad. I have to admit (and my daughter did too) that I try to pass large trucks as quickly as I can when on the 401 - it's not a pleasant experience!  And there are so many of them!

A piece of positive news is that Kazi met up with someone she sort of  knew who was travelling to Australia too - same plane! (2 planes actually as they have a stopover in L.A.) She knew the young woman would be on the plane (this woman is also in the law program in Australia that Kazi's friend is in and lives in the same apartment! They even had seats next to each other on the plane!!) Kazi hadn't met her before but it was still a happy moment for her to meet up with her and have a travelling companion who was familiar with where they were going. I was relieved because TWO are safer than ONE!

Unfortunately there was some not so good news. Kazi texted me around 6:30am (my time) that there were some issues with the plane they were supposed to board in L.A. and their 3 hour stopover had turned into 5 hours at that point. She had grabbed only 1 hour of sleep at that point by laying on the floor in the airport. I replied that a long stopover was still better than boarding a plane that is having problems!! I haven't heard from her since then so I can only assume that she is now somewhere over the Pacific winging her way to Australia - a 14 hour od.

As for me I arrived home shortly before 7pm. As suggested by Jane (The Maple Syrup Mob blog) I put a tray of food together with a glass of wine and parked myself in front of the TV.  Within the hour I was having a lovely nap....woke up around 11pm and went to bed!! So much for my first exciting night on my own lol!

Of course that would explain why I was wide awake at 6:15am this morning! I was actually sitting in front of the variety store (in my car) that carries my favorite newspaper before the owner had arrived! Pairing my newspaper with not one but two coffees from Timmy's and I had the most lovely and relaxed morning (well, as relaxed as I could be with my daughter hurtling over the Pacific!!) And of course now I am writing this post whilst doing laundry and will be catching up on my blog reading momentarily. I'm also going to check out the Ontario bloggers page over at Cindy's blog "North of Wiarton and South of the Checkerboard!" Perhaps you should too!

Talk to you later (TTYL!))