As they say “All good things must come to an end” and that is the same for our amazing Canada and US trip. The wildlife, nature and lovely people have blown us away, and if we were young enough for a working holiday visa (under 35 years old), I’m sure we’d be staying for the winter season.
As it was, Canada was starting to get snow on the hilltops and the overnight temperatures were dropping rapidly, so it kind of felt like the right time to move on.
We had enjoyed a lovely few last days with friends in Whistler and North Vancouver. With a frantic effort to sell Fred and our bike stuff, we were packed and ready to go. After clocking up 23,000km we handed over the keys for Fred to Agnius who was going to continue Fred’s Canadian adventure, filming for his work as he goes.
We went for one last drink and dinner in Vancouver before making our way to our Travelodge by the airport.
The packing had been a challenge as our additional two pairs of skis, ski boots and poles weighed a lot and we had just two 23kg suitcases and two 20kg snowboard bags between us to get everything home. After much moving about of stuff we thought we’d made it with just one snowboard bag a couple of kilos overweight.
The Air Transat scales thought differently but after a telling off by the lady at the desk and some Heavy stickers strategically placed on two bags, we were let off – phew! We weren’t so confident that the Easyjet machines would be so understanding.
After our nine hour flight, and no sleep, we landed at Gatwick at 1am Canada time or 9am UK time. With no flight to the Isle of Man until 7.15pm we checked into The Premier Inn for a couple of hours kip. The best £50 spent – until the fire alarm woke me (Pete had just got up) and we had to evacuate from our 10th floor room. Standing under the fly over in the drizzle wasn’t too much fun but the reactions of other holiday makers made for great people watching. Our towels and foil blankets also attracted a fair bit of attention from other airport goers.
False alarm determined, we had a quick shower and a repack to take some weight out of two bags into my hand luggage. All bags hopefully now on their allowed limit and two hand luggage bags that weighed a tonne, we successfully checked in. Must remember for next time that at the easyjet machines you don’t have to weigh the snowboard bags – hmm, good to know.
We had a quick Lebanese dinner in the terminal (you can’t buy that on the Isle of Man) and dashed to the gate. After bumping into a few people we knew, Pete was sat next to friends, Steve and Jenny, on the plane. Typical Isle of Man flight!!!!
Pete’s brother, Bob, picked us (and our masses of luggage) up in a transit van which was bigger than we’d just lived in for the last 6 months and dropped us at Pete’s parents. It was lovely to see everyone.
So is that the end for our travels? No, just a brief interlude to catch up with friends and family and find some nice new tennants for our rental house.
We have secured jobs in Bulgaria starting in December so watch this space. For now, we will be catching up and also getting as physically fit as possible for the next winter season – bring it on!
