We got a deal including parking so started our holiday early with a wonderful dinner and stay at a hotel near the airport. My faith in the chef was rewarded, the mackerel starter and seabass main I had were both incredible. Tasty 241 cocktails followed before early-ish to bed ready for our lift to the airport. Once again Aimi wanted to be REALLY early but its an excuse for a relaxed breakfast where I ordered way too much!
The first flight came and went easy enough. Frankfurt arrived and we were +1 hour further away from Calgary… hooray for efficient travel… I’m no eco-mentalist, but carting our butts further away, to fly literally right back over the UK and on to Canada… ludicrous.
Landing in Frankfurt the bus got stuck in some traffic, then we followed the pied piper around in circles for a while, then an automated bus/train thing to the next terminal, then – get this – ANOTHER security check. All the while Aimi is getting twitchy and anxious about us missing the next flight. And I have to admit, things are taking time but that security check made me dump out all my water from my bottle. My £3.69 bottle of water from down the road in Buxton where Kayto can drink it out the wall for free… so tight as it was (and I am) I wandered off to find a water fountain because bugger me sideways if I’m going to buy any more water.
Checking in to our flights in Manchester the helpfully mute computer screen gave us a worrying pop-up that the extra legroom seats I had booked may not be available. This was particularly frustrating becuase initially when booking the flights we had chosen to go from Manchester to Toronto, and then Toronto to Calgary, so each flight would be no longer than 5 hours (my cattle class comfort limit). So when we were told that our flights were rerouted to Frankfurt first, this meant a 9 and half hour flight. Luckily computers are wrong and the extra legroom seats we booked were available after all. And boy was I grateful. Its only an extra 10cm, maybe? But it makes a huge difference. What also makes a difference is having a screaming child sitting behind us kicking our seats, but luckily that eased up after a while. I wonder if they do adult only flights anywhere?
A couple movies and dinner into the flight and my legs needed a stretch as much as i needed a piss. Behind the curtain the air hostesses were chatting as I waited for the loo, leaving a tray of cookies unattended. Some may have gone missing when they weren’t looking!
We watched Fall Guy, which sounds rubbish but is really cleverly done and funny. Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling had good chemistry and the jokes between them seem natural. Its a feel good action romance which ticks all my boxes.
Then we went back in time and watched Rush Hour, the original, its such a good 90’s film. With loads of casual racism which is refreshing to watch without feeling awkward as its from a time gone by. Its classic goofy Jackie Chan kung-fu.
Lastly we watched Joker: Folie à Deux which was a real slow burn just keeping the interest up enough to keep you engaged. The introduction and duplicity of Harlequin and the effect on Joker was interesting. But I spent the whole film waiting to see them go a bit mental and blow stuff up and it just didn’t happen. Finally, about 20mins from the end of this 2 hour film there is an explosion but then it just fizzles out and the ending is really disappointing. The first Joker was really good but don’t bother watching this one, you’ll be disappointed there is no action, just a load of singing, or even the setup for a decent sequel with the madness you expect.
Arriving in Canada I was grateful for Aimi’s preparedness in getting the ArriCAN documents done. We literally scanned our passports and walked through customs and immigration almost without stopping, straight into Canada. Julia and Graham had kindly come to collect us and bought Aimi a lovely highland cow cuddly toy for the trip.
First stop was a department store to pick up a SIM card so we had mobile connection out here, before going to their home. I was struck by just how large and flat the countryside was. There is SO MUCH SPACE around here its nuts! The highways are 3 lanes wide each side but there is space enough for another whole motorway on the central reservation!
Pulling into their house we were surprised by just how large they all were on the street. Everything is huge here. With a huge double garage I’m very envious of, a basement, 5 bedrooms and a gorgeous large open plan living space, their house is wonderful. Having a walk with Graham and Suki their dog later, we saw that all the houses were massive but the gardens were tiny. But as we walked thru the local park, you wouldn’t need much of a garden with all the green space around.
That evening after a wonderful dinner of spaghetti bolognese we really started to feel the jet lag kicking in. It was ably 8pm here but felt like 3am to us. My eyes were basically closing in their own so it was time for bed.
