Making Our Way Back

It occurs to me that I haven't yet shared the story of how we made it back to the UK. In the days leading up our flight airport closures continued in the UK and beyond into Europe due to the volcano, although the news in Canada rarely mentioned the closures anymore (old news I suppose). We'd already learned that Air Transat, both online and on the phone, had very little information to provide to us their customers, so we stayed glued to Toronto Pearson's website, the UK airspace authorities sites AND Air Transat's. Our flight wasn't until 8:30pm, but we wanted to check-in early, so we planned to leave Waterloo at 3:30 to get to Toronto by 5 (and beat rush hour traffic). Then Derek told me on our way to Walmart that he had spotted a new departure time from Toronto of 12:45am on Air Transat's website.

I got on the phone with Air Transat and asked what was going on and when check-in now was. They said to come to the airport for the original check-in time, between 3:30 and 6:30pm. I questioned it, but they said that the departure time was just a suggestion made by the airport taking into consideration the weather forecast, and that as recently as that past Saturday the delayed departure time of one of their flights ended up being brought forward an hour, so that convinced me to stick with the original plan. But by the time I made it back upstairs and onto the computer I saw that the departure time now said 2:45am.

I called Air Transat right back, and asked them if now that the estimated departure time was 2:45am, did they expect me to check-in at 3:30pm, and as I'd reached a different woman this time, she said of course not, but maybe give it an extra hour ie. arrive 4 hours early, just in case it changes again. She didn't bother to mention that our plane had been held up in Spain on its way back to Canada via London that morning because of the volcano, so it was still in Europe and wouldn't have even left the UK until after we'd left for Toronto. Therefore we decided to give ourselves lots of extra time by aiming to get there around 8, which also meant that my dad would get back home before midnight. So we got there at 8, and having carefully weighed our luggage, we proudly squeaked under the weight with 1.2kg to spare. We had a coffee with Dad, who headed out around 9, and then inched our way along the security line, where even though the metal detector didn't register anything, we each received two options: get patted down or go through the body scanner. No question -- we both chose the body scanner. I was excited to be able to say I've been through one. And I think Derek wanted to check it out, too, although probably for a different reason that will be expanded upon at a later date.

So by 10pm we were walking around the gates, deciding how to spend the next 3 hours before boarding began at 1:10. I bought a People magazine, and we bought a sandwich and a bottle water (since you can bring your own anymore!). At one point we heard a familiar noise on one of the tvs. It was a hockey game! Vancouver was trying to stay alive in the third period of what would turn out to be their last game in the playoffs. Within about 2 minutes of finding a seat they went from being at the losing end of a 3-1 game, to it being 4-1. About 25 of us all groaned in disappointment. We didn't make a noise when it became 5-1 a minute later. I think we were all in shock. I thought we were watching a replay. So there went our entertainment to keep us going.

At another point I managed to catch about 45 minutes of sleep on a bench at a nearby gate. We got to see the British Airways passengers spend $10 vouchers on food because their flight was also delayed, but then watch their tired and distressed faces as they heard the pilot apologise to them at 12:30am, but say that the fuel pump was faulty and they weren't going anywhere that night. After that ours was the only flight left on that day's list. A line had shown up underneath it with the next morning's flights. 1:10am came and went with no sign of airline staff. 2:45am came and went. Around 3am staff showed up and the people closer to the gate applauded. We eventually pulled away from the gate around 3:45am, exhausted.

After about an hour's sleep on the plane, they woke us up for a meal. We fell asleep again afterwards for a bit, but since we'd taken off so late it was already broad daylight within a couple hours, whereas normally you'd fly through the night and get there around 6 or 8 in the morning. We were also flying farther north due to the volcano, so between the new route and the sunlight I got to Greenland! We flew south of Greenland's south coast, but we could see its mountains and glaciers in the distance, and icebergs in the sea below us. And then we were told that we were flying over the northern coast of Iceland, and although it was covered in a thick layer of white cloud, we'd be able to see the volcano's ash plume out the right side of the plane. Very exciting. We were over on the left, but the ladies in the seats across the aisle would lean back to make sure we could see. I was worried that I'd miss it, but Derek spotted it first with a better angle and told me not to worry -- I couldn't miss it. And then there it was -- a black arm of smoke reaching out suddenly from the blanket of white. People were standing in the aisles looking out, taking photos and chatting about the sight. It was pretty cool, and makes for a good story.

We landed around 3pm, sailed through customs, and two buses and a short walk later we were home just in time for dinner. Apparently I slept deeply on the bus back to Edinburgh, not even waking when Derek was poking me to show me the church he'd spotted which we'd recently discovered was probably where my great-great-grandpa was baptised back in 1821. What a day/night/another day! And here we'd again gone about 38 hours with only a couple 1 hour naps in the middle to keep us going. It took a few days to over the jetlag, which is very unusual to experience coming back this way. I'm glad it's over. It'll be interesting to see just how long the volcano continues to erupt. I think it's pretty cool that we got the chance to see what all the fuss is about :)

Culture Shock

Alright, so maybe the term 'culture shock' is a bit of a stretch, but being home in Canada after almost 11 months away had its surprising moments, particularly when it came to everyday sights and items. Let me explain...

The most obvious surprising moment to me that made me realise that I'd gotten used to the British way of doing things came about three days into my trip. Around 8am I decided to do the morning Tim's run. I got behind the wheel, backed out of the parking spot, and drove to the end of the parking lot where I needed to turn left onto the street. There I found myself in a position I never thought I'd be in: wondering which side of the street I was supposed to drive on. I genuinely couldn't remember. With no cars on the road luckily the stop sign gave me a clue, and as my hunch had been 'the right', I stuck with that and thankfully was correct. That was quite the experience. It's not like I had driven in Britain, and had only been in a vehicle maybe 8 times over those 11 months. I guess I'd just gotten used to watching for cars on the road as a pedestrian.

Walking through a grocery store had become an exciting experience. They're so large! I noticed a lot of new brands and more space devoted to international foods, including some of the Indian foods and sauces we're used to here. I made a number of trips to Zehr's and made good use of President's Choice's sale on Decadent Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk cookies (which I highly recommend!). Walmart was also great for clothes and food and generic pain killers to bring back with us. But I was also surprised at how much the price of some groceries had gone up since I was last home. I was under the impression that £2 for a bag of Doritos was expensive, but here I was being asked to pay $3.59 for a bag at Sobey's (which I didn't buy, by the way -- just couldn't bring myself to).

There were also little surprises here and there, and things that I wouldn't have noticed before. For example, last June we moved to our current flat which is rather cold and damp all year round, so to be in a warm, dry home with central heating and air-tight windows was amazing. I was actually worried about getting too used to being warm, for fear of how bad our Edinburgh flat would feel (and I have been having some trouble falling asleep at night due to feeling so cold, although it's getting better). Normal smallish Canadian washrooms seemed huge compared to our tiny washroom here, where the two of can brush our teeth at the same time only if the door (which opens inside for some reason) is shut. The bathtub also seemed crazy wide. Being able to hop in the car and drive places was amazing and so convenient. The dishwashers were huge! and held so many dishes that it seemed to take forever to empty them!

And finally, something that struck both Derek and I was what I suppose foreigners might call 'Canadian politeness'. Cashiers chatted with us, even at large, busy department and grocery stores. I didn't see any angry yelling on the streets or public drunkeness in the mornings or evenings (except at a friend's birthday party :) ). And even the toughest-looking men walking towards us on narrow sidewalks moved to the side so that we could pass without running into them or having to walking on the street. People said 'sorry' and 'excuse me' if they came close to bumping into me. That would almost never happen here. You just get used to having to walk around like a bulldozer if you don't want to end up on the street with cars flying by. So good work Canada on living up to your polite reputation. It was a very nice break.