Tuesday, June 22, 2004
P writes from Calgary
For future reference - 1 or 2 days to finalise travel/packing for a 2
year trip IS NOT ENOUGH!!!). We left our house in a complete mess,
bedclothes still on the bed, piles of rubbish lying in corners etc, and
basically left complete chaos in our wake (a million apologies to
everyone left to sort out the mess). Anyway, we have now made it to
Calgary, and they have let me in to the country as "the accompanying
dependent" of Mr Jonathan White. Mind you I could get used to it...
As an illustration of my state of mind on Saturday - we were sitting in
departures at Belfast waiting for the flight to Manchester - when I
suddenly remembered that I had the keys to the hire car in my bag - had
totally forgotten to hand them back. This was after a foo-fa at
Belfast check in of course! Mr White had gone to TK Maxx and bought
two very large suitcases, which we proceeded to fill. One weighed 42kg
and the other weighed 38kg!! We knew we had a baggage allowance of
30kg each but we figured that we could pay for the excess. What we
didn't know was that, for health and safety reasons, airlines simply
won't handle bags that weigh over 30kg. You can have as many 30kg bags
as you like, so what we should have done was to have smaller bags, but
more of them. Well... you know those people you see on the "Airline"
programme who are scrambling about at check in, hauling stuff out of
bags - that was us (complete mortification!). The check in lady was
lovely and gave us two large see through plastic sacks that we ended up
putting our shoes in and checking through to Manchester. Thankfully
they arrived and we were able to buy another hold all in Manchester,
where we repacked. The flight from Manchester was uneventful - Thomas
Cook airlines aren't too bad - a bit cramped but we had a choice of
films/TV and the food was fine (also, they took pity on us and didn't
charge for excess baggage).
So we got here - passed through immigration really quickly, had a fight
with Avis who didn't have the car that I had reserved (ended up with a
bigger car but managed to negotiate a better price) and left the
airport at about 2pm. We knew we wouldn't be able to get into the
house until 5pm, so we ended up in Ikea (where else!!) to buy cutlery,
2 bedside lights and 2 mugs. We had bought sheets etc last time we
were here, and we knew the bed was already in the house. Came up to
Tuscany (corny - but that's the name of the housing estate!), met Emma
(who lived in the house before us), got the keys, made up the bed and
crashed out.
The house is as nice as we remembered it - there's no furniture (apart
from 2 Ikea chairs that Emma and Richard have loaned to us, and our
bed) but we have plans to return to Ikea and sort that out. Yesterday,
we ended up buying a TV (ex demo - $50 off retail price), an amplifier
(to play the iPod through - also ex demo) and 2 speakers - so you can
see where the priorities lie in our house! I also went and did a big
shop - it took me absolutely ages 'cos I haven't a clue about brand
names etc. For example, we have liquid detergent for the washing
machine that's called Purex, the fabric conditioner is called Snuggle,
the cling film is Glad, and the stuff you spray the shower with is
Tilex. Its a bit disconcerting when you have to read the labels on
everything you buy. The other really mad thing is that you most
certainly do not pack up your own shopping. I started yesterday to put
the stuff into the trolley and the till ladies were horrified. A wee
man comes along with a cart, packs your stuff into bags for you,
trundles out to the car after you and lifts everything into the boot
for you. It feels a bit strange but I suppose that you would get used
to it.
Anyway, that's it so far. We have to go to customs today and clear the
trunks through, and Jonathan has to go for an interview downtown to
prove to the Albertan medical authorities that he actually is a doctor.
Given that he peeled a large portion of his finger off yesterday with
a new potato peeler, I'm not sure that he'll be able to convince them
of his proficiency with sharp instruments. You never know, we might be
home by the end of the week!!
year trip IS NOT ENOUGH!!!). We left our house in a complete mess,
bedclothes still on the bed, piles of rubbish lying in corners etc, and
basically left complete chaos in our wake (a million apologies to
everyone left to sort out the mess). Anyway, we have now made it to
Calgary, and they have let me in to the country as "the accompanying
dependent" of Mr Jonathan White. Mind you I could get used to it...
As an illustration of my state of mind on Saturday - we were sitting in
departures at Belfast waiting for the flight to Manchester - when I
suddenly remembered that I had the keys to the hire car in my bag - had
totally forgotten to hand them back. This was after a foo-fa at
Belfast check in of course! Mr White had gone to TK Maxx and bought
two very large suitcases, which we proceeded to fill. One weighed 42kg
and the other weighed 38kg!! We knew we had a baggage allowance of
30kg each but we figured that we could pay for the excess. What we
didn't know was that, for health and safety reasons, airlines simply
won't handle bags that weigh over 30kg. You can have as many 30kg bags
as you like, so what we should have done was to have smaller bags, but
more of them. Well... you know those people you see on the "Airline"
programme who are scrambling about at check in, hauling stuff out of
bags - that was us (complete mortification!). The check in lady was
lovely and gave us two large see through plastic sacks that we ended up
putting our shoes in and checking through to Manchester. Thankfully
they arrived and we were able to buy another hold all in Manchester,
where we repacked. The flight from Manchester was uneventful - Thomas
Cook airlines aren't too bad - a bit cramped but we had a choice of
films/TV and the food was fine (also, they took pity on us and didn't
charge for excess baggage).
So we got here - passed through immigration really quickly, had a fight
with Avis who didn't have the car that I had reserved (ended up with a
bigger car but managed to negotiate a better price) and left the
airport at about 2pm. We knew we wouldn't be able to get into the
house until 5pm, so we ended up in Ikea (where else!!) to buy cutlery,
2 bedside lights and 2 mugs. We had bought sheets etc last time we
were here, and we knew the bed was already in the house. Came up to
Tuscany (corny - but that's the name of the housing estate!), met Emma
(who lived in the house before us), got the keys, made up the bed and
crashed out.
The house is as nice as we remembered it - there's no furniture (apart
from 2 Ikea chairs that Emma and Richard have loaned to us, and our
bed) but we have plans to return to Ikea and sort that out. Yesterday,
we ended up buying a TV (ex demo - $50 off retail price), an amplifier
(to play the iPod through - also ex demo) and 2 speakers - so you can
see where the priorities lie in our house! I also went and did a big
shop - it took me absolutely ages 'cos I haven't a clue about brand
names etc. For example, we have liquid detergent for the washing
machine that's called Purex, the fabric conditioner is called Snuggle,
the cling film is Glad, and the stuff you spray the shower with is
Tilex. Its a bit disconcerting when you have to read the labels on
everything you buy. The other really mad thing is that you most
certainly do not pack up your own shopping. I started yesterday to put
the stuff into the trolley and the till ladies were horrified. A wee
man comes along with a cart, packs your stuff into bags for you,
trundles out to the car after you and lifts everything into the boot
for you. It feels a bit strange but I suppose that you would get used
to it.
Anyway, that's it so far. We have to go to customs today and clear the
trunks through, and Jonathan has to go for an interview downtown to
prove to the Albertan medical authorities that he actually is a doctor.
Given that he peeled a large portion of his finger off yesterday with
a new potato peeler, I'm not sure that he'll be able to convince them
of his proficiency with sharp instruments. You never know, we might be
home by the end of the week!!
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