It was lovely to see everyone gathered at Myrna’s place yesterday evening where we ate, drank and reminisced about our two week stay, viewed lots of photos and tried to replicate the Friends ‘on the sofa’ photo which was great fun and turned out really well, though I say so myself. A great night was had by all and surprisingly after all the merriment we woke early without the hint of a headache or any reminder of the alcohol that was consumed! There was no yoga, no walking and no breakfast this morning due to the fact that we were leaving early as we a) needed to make sure we squeezed the last of our ‘stuff’ into our cases and b) needed to be at the airport for 9.00am. Myrna, who’s not usually an early riser managed to get up at the same time as us which was good as she was driving us to the airport and waving us goodbye at the departure gate.
We’d had a message from AirCanada the previous evening asking if we wanted to check in any hand luggage with our main suitcases at no extra charge due to it being a full flight so we decided to take up the offer mainly because a) it was something for free and b) it would be so much easier not having to worry about an extra bag with us. So all checked in we popped across to Tim Hortons where we ordered our morning coffee and ate cream cheese bagels. Although not up to our usual standard of coffee or indeed breakfast the coffee passed the test of being a decent non-barista coffee and the bagel was quite tasty too although we did miss our vanilla yoghurt sprinkled with hemp hearts.
When we arrived at security we were quite surprised to see a queue and a long queue at that. Apparently this is most unusual but we were advised that there were only three security belts working due to staff shortages. Even the ‘priority boarding’ people had to wait in the queue. You see, money can’t buy you everything! With a tear in our eye, we said our goodbyes to Myrna and shuffled our way towards security. Forty minutes it took to finally get there, forty minutes which apparently is unheard of at Kelowna airport. Fortunately the oversize playing cards didn’t get stopped or swabbed this time, probably because Maice took them out of the bag and dropped them in the box with her iPad so they could be seen, whereas usually they’re tucked away in her hand-luggage and obviously look a bit dodgy when going though the scanners.
Once through into the departure lounge we filled up our water-bottles at the water fountain, something we both believe to be the best thing that airports have introduced and implemented in departure lounges all over the world, and waited to board the plane. There was this wee little, very well behaved dog with her owner in the departure lounge who we were told is a well seasoned traveller, apparently this is her 30th flight so far. Thoughts turned to Sir Winston and how he would cope with being on a plane. Well, the answer is he wouldn’t as he can’t sit still for a minute. He’d fidget the whole time and try to get down on the floor and go looking for crumbs. Then no doubt he’d want to sit on everyone’s laps and have them hold his chew for him and his water bottle! So Winston won’t be flying anytime soon! There’s a tiny new born baby on board our flight who just happens to be in the seat behind me so we’re hoping it’s not going to be too grisly and cry all the way to Toronto, perish the thought! Today our trip back to Heathrow is via Toronto which takes four hours, then we have a two hour lay-over at Toronto where we need to add on a three hour time difference. Then we have a seven hour flight from Toronto back to Heathrow, add on five hours, then a two and a half hour drive back to Wool to collect Winston, then drop Winston and Maice back home, then go and collect Milly from Purrfect Cattery, then home. We think we should get back to our respective homes at around 4pm complete with pets, on Wednesday afternoon all being well with flights, retrieving the car at the airport, finding our way out of the airport and battling with rush-hour traffic on the way home.
We weren’t sure if we’d be fed on our flight to Toronto as we hadn’t thought to bring any sandwiches with us. Of course, just our luck that we didn’t get fed so all we ate was the complimentary tiny bag of garlic and herb pretzels, tomato juice and lots of water. We’ll grab a snack or something at Toronto airport during our two hour lay-over and hope we get food on the flight to Heathrow, it is seven hours after all! The flight from Kelowna was uneventful other than my feet were aching due to my Skechers being very tight. I brought them with me thinking I’d be wearing them every day on our walks but instead I wore my Ipanema flip-flops the whole time. The thing is this. My Skechers are quite tight as I had to soak them in a bucket of hot, soapy water at Myrna’s hoping that the aroma of feet that had attached itself to said Skechers would dissipate and would smell lovely and fresh. I now think they’ve shrunk in the bucket and wearing a pair of sockets has given my feet less room to move around. There is still a slight aroma of feet so I think once home these Skechers will need a) a good long cycle in the washing machine or b) thrown in the bin, which if this be the case it can only mean one thing….more shopping!!
We arrived in Toronto airport on time and made our way to the international side of the airport via the connections route. The airport was very posh and very spacious until that is we came to the departure gates where it was very busy and very very cramped. There were people milling about everywhere, people were getting in the way and it was very claustrophobic. We were in need of a coffee and some sort of snacklet but all the eateries seemed to be run by the same company and sold non-barista coffee and turkey sandwiches. We finally purchased a mozzarella and salad baguette and a non-barista cappuccino but dear oh dear, don’t we ever learn? The ‘cappuccinos’ were lukewarm and too milky and tasted so disgusting that they were undrinkable. And as for the baguette, well that was totally tasteless and at $33 what a rip-off. We realised there was a Starbucks nearby so Maice went to join the queue to get one for herself and I looked up the Air Canada details for our flight and saw that the flight menus had been posted. As vegetarians, our choice was penne and pesto pasta however Maice said what we’d ordered was in fact the pan-Asian dish and not the vegetarian dish so who knows what that will be. Happy with her Starbucks cappuccino we joined the queue for boarding. There has to be a much quicker way to board a plane, honestly its like pulling teeth watching everyone faffing around with their bags, putting them in the overhead lockers the wrong way, a pet hate of mine, then taking their jackets off and putting them in the overhead locker and then faffing about getting into their seat. We just got on and sat down. Simples.
Fifteen minutes after the plane had reached its cruising altitude the staff were handing out the vegetarian meals. Maice was given her meal which was vegetable korma, the woman next to me was given her vegetable korma, every other ‘vegetarian’ was given their penne pasta meals and I got nothing. Twenty minutes later I knew they’d forgotten me so I spoke with the cabin crew who brought me a penne and pasta dish plus I got a fresh fruit salad served in a ceramic bowl which came from business class! Then after lunch, just as I was getting comfortable the woman in the seat in front of me reclined her seat to the maximum and my knees literally concertinaed into my ribs and my nose was literally touching the screen. Honestly, my legs were so uncomfortable I then had to recline my seat, not a lot, and then had no option but to keep kneeing her in the back of her seat as I had no room for my legs. Then because my legs were cramped I got restless legs for the rest of the journey and couldn’t stop fidgeting. Then, said woman got up, opened the locker above my head and the blanket she had wrapped round her kept falling in my face. I wouldn’t mind she was sat in extra leg room seats and didn’t really need to recline her seat as much as she did….Furious!
We arrived on time to a grey and rainy morning. We breezed through passport control collected our luggage and headed up to Level 4 to collect the car. We’d had two telephone calls already from the Meet and Greet guys checking on our whereabouts and when we got up there the car was ready and waiting for us. Maice was so impressed with the customer service we received from the guy who sorted our car that she complimented him on his sunny and cheery disposition. Bless him, he was well chuffed. We managed to navigate ourselves out of the carpark, out of Heathrow and onto the M3 where we stopped off at the Winchester services for a bite to eat and a Costa coffee and as we’re putting ourselves on a diet starting from tomorrow we purchased a cheeky donut from Greggs to accompany our coffee!
We arrived at Jane’s house earlier than estimated at 12.30pm to a very excited Sir Winston who was beside himself with joy at the sight of Maice and made a total fuss of her. We believe Geordie will miss Winston when he’s gone but secretly he’s probably thankful he’ll have the house back to himself and not have Winston running amok at every opportune moment. So a big thank you to Jane, Mike and of course Geordie for looking after Winston so well, he really does love you all. Now all that’s left to do to complete our holiday is to collect Milly from Alison at Purrfect cattery who no doubt when she gets home will follow me around and won’t let me out of her sight. What a little darling she is.
Now that our holiday has come to an end, what can we say about our trip to Kelowna this time round. To be honest, there are not enough adjectives to describe the best time we’ve had. We’ve been so well looked after, we’ve eaten too much, we’ve drunk too much, we’ve shopped too much, we’ve done our yoga, we’ve done our daily steps and we’ve risen to the challenge and found new places to drink coffee…we’ve drunk some wonderful coffee, and some not so wonderful. We’ve had some amazing days out with the family, we’ve rekindled family ties, we’ve met the real housewives of Kelowna, gosh what else have we done? We’ll have to go back and read our daily blogs to remember everything. But what we do remember is spending good times with the family…..Tara and Dave, Kyran, Kerris and Katana and not forgetting Miller the dog, it’s been a blast. And of course there is one special person we need to mention and that’s Myrna. Not only has she had to put up with the two of us staying with her she’s had to keep her eye on her two kitty-cats Josie and Jenny, who are two bundles of joy, although very naughty at times. So Myrna, we salute you and we’d like to say a great big thank you for everything you’ve done for us.
With all our love and hugs to the whole family…
M&A 🥰 Xx
Welcome home Girls xxxx