Leaving & Arriving

Suddenly it’s all happening!

We’ve cleaned, packed, discarded, given away stuff and Monday 1st May is here. We packed Wendy off some time ago and she was full of our stuff for the next year. And now in front of us are four more big bags plus two camera backpacks plus a further bag for each of us. Must really travel light …! All got to get to Gatwick - via train. Luckily Linda next door has volunteered to drive us in her Range Rover which has the space. A quick diversion towards Teignmouth railway station is quickly corrected and we are at Newton Abbot railway station - thanks Linda.

Travelling alongside the Teign river for the last time for a year brings it home what we are doing. So a glass of Prosecco on the train helps get over the emotions of leaving, especially as a few friends had dropped by (or ran) to say goodbye, so touched by that.

Gatwick airport hotel - nuff said.

The actual transit through the airport went really smoothly, thanks to Alex. Being Autistic gets him some aspects of priority as long as you ask. Really great to be at the head of the queue to board the Air Transat A330 from Gatwick to Toronto. Journey was simple, apart for the searching for the odd bit of Lego as Alex made a Space Shuttle. We passed Halifax, Nova Scotia in the aircraft about 2.5 hours before we landed in Toronto, knowing that we have to retrace that route 3 hours after we land.

Well, that’s what we thought. Unfortunately WESTJET had moved to their summer timetable and our flight no longer existed. When we found the WESTJET check in desk we were lucky that the lovely Clarissa managed to get us booked on an Air Canada flight to Halifax which left at roughly the same time as originally planned. But we did have to change terminals and then check in, pay for our baggage and leg it through security to the gate. And grab a sandwich to keep us going.

But we made it, and landed in Halifax around 10:30 local and got a shuttle bus to the hotel. In bed around 11:30 pm local which for body clock time was 03:30 UK time. Alex had been super much of the time which really helped.

So it’s still Monday, we are in Canada but strictly homeless as we haven’t got Wendy yet.

Tuesday 2nd May and now to get Wendy back. We still have 4+3+2 bags to move around so a taxi gets us to the freight forwarder in a hotel conference room. Beside us there is a strike HQ organising action. We leave some bags in the hotel and off to Customs. All paper based documents but Customs are efficient and done in 5 mins. One more taxi to the docks. One piece of paper, three hi-vis vests and there she is. Wendy, intact, waiting for us.

No damage, but Emma’s DryRobe has taken a walk. The joys of shipping and having to leave a vehicle unlocked. But sooo good to see and get into Wendy - feels like she’s been away a long time.

Now we just need - food, diesel, water, LPG (propane in Canada), alcohol and getting used to driving a R/H drive vehicle on the opposite side of the road. Canadian Tyre solves water and LPG (you need an ‘ACME’ adapter for the gas fill point, which we have) and WalMart solves the food part. Diesel slightly trickier as lots of gas stations but not all sell diesel. As for alcohol - not Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Lidl but a government regulated alcohol shop. Price comparison here - Talisker 10 year old is £45 in the UK and $Cn 134 (£79) in Canada.

To finish the day we go and park near the cruise liner terminal in downtown Halifax, walk the boardwalk and get a pizza for dinner. Plus a pint of Garrisons Tall Ship beer, made next door.

And, for the British readers, the all important question? What’s the weather like? Cold, wet, mizzle rain and very windy. The daffodils are just starting to bloom whereas in the UK the tulips are nearly finished and there are leaves on the trees. Here in Nova Scotia the trees are just into bud. And Nova Scotia is roughly 6 degrees of longitude south of Britain. Go figure as they say over here!

Guy