Takeoff!!!

I spent a lot of yesterday stressing about the confusion of timezones and what time I should go to bed, wake up, take my pills etc. to avoid jet lag. 8 hours behind is certainly a bit of a conundrum. Anyway, unusually for me, the night before flying I actually managed to sleep. Thank goodness for sleeping pills. 

I was pretty impressed with my timings too, arriving bang on time for check-in (noting that I’d already done this online, of course). That said, bag check-in is done at these kiosk things which is quite new to me, as I’m so used to hand luggage only, and it all seemed pretty pointless as a time-saving mechanism because everyone seemed to be doing it, only to then queue up to see a human being to dispose of your bag. Lucky I did arrive 3 hours early then.

When I’d finally made it through check-in and security I only had an hour before boarding and still needed to sort my currency. I had a bit of a laugh with the staff member about what the exchange rate might be when I came back…

I also discovered that you can get this travelcard thing which can have multiple currencies on it, which is really helpful given I’m hostelling it whilst there and would rather not lug about lots of cash. Things have definitely progressed since I’ve last done a big trip. That, or as I keep reminding myself, other than Oz, I’ve only travelled in developing countries before.

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Ooooh, I like Air Canada. They tell you what’s on the menu. That would definitely have been helpful in years gone by, although my veggie option wasn’t pasta with tomato sauce, but a curry instead. Not complaining as in previous experience of aeroplane food, pasta can be quite stodgy. Anyway, the curry was good. 

We also got a tub of ice vanilla bean ice cream – you know the size you pay £3-5 for in theatres? I definitely think Air Canada missed a trick not incorporating maple syrup. I’ve saved the cookie that came with it for later.

I also loved the irony that it was served whilst flying over the Arctic. It’s really nice, that on the screen you can watch the cockpit view. I’ve followed the flight path view before, because I’m geeky like that, and like working out where I am in the world, and if I can see out, being able to see what I’m flying over, but with the cockpit view you can see the terrain. Scotland looked lovely.

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I've arrived. Canadians definitely like having an extra stage for things. We had to go to a machine to register ourselves, before the border check, and then there was another person to collect the receipts from the machine (after I'd finally got my luggage, which seemed to take an age to arrive). Still the border man seemed very friendly - like interested in my travel plans rather than quizzing me. Then when I arrived at the arrivals an information helper person asked if she could help.

It was also really straightforward to get to where I needed to go - even I couldn't get lost, although disappointingly it had started chucking it down with rain - Manchester-style. I had a good chat to a Canadian on the metro (YES LONDON, I SPOKE TO SOMEONE ON THE METRO!) who was full of tips about where to go. I even found my hostel without using GPS. Aren't I amazing?!

The hostel is okay. I've stayed in better, and I've stayed in worse. The toilets are a bit skanky as are the showers. I think having stayed in hotels for the last few years I've been spoiled, but this was always going to be the way with this trip. Hopefully it'll improve outside the city centre. The people in my room seem nice.

I'm signing off now. It's 9.30pm Canadian time and I've been up since 5.30am UK time (with some sleep on the plane). I'm knackered.