Airlines Hate Me

Happy Canada Day!

My flight didn't leave until 1pm, which made a nice change from having to get up at the crack of dawn to head to the airport. On the way into the city, mum and I passed what I thought was a really funny sight to mark the end of my time in Alberta...

So country. I also soaked in the last views of the big blue prairie sky - still and always the thing I miss the most about Alberta, though the sky in Edinburgh is much bigger than the sky in Sackville ever was, so it isn't quite as bad as it used to be.

Also, elk.

Like I said in my previous post, I love the way that the land they drained to build the highway just fills right back up with water (I pointed out all the water to Connie while driving past it, she then informed me that it is because they drained marshland, a fascinating insight that I never knew before).

We really wanted to drive through the brand-new airport tunnel, but missed the turnoff for it, so Connie pulled an illegal u-turn (like the rebel she was) so we could go through it.

It was very exciting.

And then I got to the airport and the fun began. I checked my bag (exactly 50lbs, whatup, I am the queen of packing), bid Connie au revoir, and proceeded to head to my gate. I was wandering around trying to decide whether I wanted an ice cap or a passionfruit lemonade to be my last Canada drink, when I thought I heard my name on the intercom, but was unable to hear anything else. A couple of minutes later, same thing, I heard my name, but what came after it was just garbled. Finally, the third time I caught that they wanted me to come to the WestJet service desk. I was told by the dude there that my flight to Toronto was delayed. I was supposed to be flying Calgary-Toronto-Amsterdam-Edinburgh but would be missing my Amsterdam connection due to the delay. He then told me I would be flying direct to Amsterdam instead, but after agreeing to let me on the flight, KLM then changed their mind and told WestJet I couldn't get on that one. After a bit more searching, the dude managed to get me on a British Airways flight to London, then from London to Edinburgh. I was pretty stoked, because that significantly cut down my travel time, and took away two connections, but it didn't leave until 10pm, and it was about noon by then. Yay. The guy gave me food vouchers for $40 for the Calgary airport, as he informed me that I wouldn't be able to get in-flight meals, and then told me I'd have to leave the secure area and then go back through security.

Fun.

I did that, and then grabbed some Tim Hortons for lunch and prepared to wait.

Just before getting on the flight, I also purchased a whole bunch of food from Starbucks with the rest of the money I'd been given, for my upcoming breakfast and lunch the next day (to my great distress, they were out of passionfruit, so I had a green tea lemonade, which, while good, is no passionfruit).

Eventually I boarded, about eight hours after I got to the airport. I made my way to my seat (a window seat) and sat down. I had only been sitting for a couple of minutes before the stewardess approached me and told me that she had noticed how tall I was when I walked past her, and, if it was possible, would I like to sit in the emergency exit row? To which I said yes, obviously, and a couple of minutes later she gestured for me to come up to the exit row. So for my flight from Calgary to London I was sat next to the window in the emergency exit row, with no one next to me. The attendant was really friendly, as was the English dude sat in the middle part of the row, and I chatted with them quite a bit.

We were late both taking off and landing, which meant that I ended up missing my connection to Edinburgh (Heathrow is HUGE) but it was fine because they got me on another one leaving an hour after that. And after going through customs and them back through security (for the third friggin time) I only had a little wait until my flight left.

When I got to Edinburgh I hopped on the bus, but was falling asleep, so woke up and panicked and got off at the totally wrong stop, ages away from any bus station that could take me home. After walking two blocks bent in half (my suitcase handle broke somehow while I was at home, and wouldn't pull out anymore) I just hailed a cab. It wasn't until the next day when I was crossing my legs that I noticed the huge black bruise on the back of my leg where the suitcase had been banging against them while I was walking, as well as more bruises down the length of my legs. So lesson learned: if you wake up on the bus, don't just panic and get off.

Farms 5eva

My first couple days at home I was sleeping in one of my Uncle Chris' spare rooms (as was Logan) but were spending most of my time up at Christine's farm at Connie and Brad's new cabin (which was very cute and much bigger than I expected it to be!)

One of the things that I always miss about Alberta is the landscape - there's just nothing quite like the prairies. I love the rolling hills, the spreading fields, and the snow-capped rockies in the distance. Highway 22 is one of my favourite drives for just this reason - though certain people (Logan) think its really boring, I just love it.

Look at that cute little cabin in the field - it was so cool to see it after watching it being built and all the little things that went into making it over on Connie's blog.

Though we didn't have any of those huge prairie storms that I love when I was home (you know the ones - all giant purple banks of clouds rolling across the sky, thunder and lightning, torrential rain, hailstones that, believe me, really hurt to get hit with) but the sky, as always, didn't disappoint.

Logan and Connie filled it some massive potholes that had developed on the road over the winter (driving up that road was like a very exciting and kind of alarming obstacle course). I helped by being completely useless and mainly wandering around behind them. It was great. Connie and Brad really have some beautiful scenery up at their new place.

Also, I swear Logan has gotten taller. I'm pretty sure I'm wearing my boots in this photo. What even. He is one of very few people I know who can legitimately call me short and have it be more than a superficial moniker.

Just a cute picture of Connie - aren't her glasses adorable?!

I also got my hair cut while I was home - the sides were getting really long. I went with the 1, which is what Logan told me he gets his sides buzzed to, so we really have the same haircut now, though he always wears a hat and also has naturally stupidly soft and straight hair. Jerk.

Brad was predictably horrified with how short the sides are, but I really like it this short.

The Canadian Geese that have been nesting at Chris' farm for a couple of years now made another appearance this year. They were frequently on the road when Logan and I were leaving in the morning and were 100% not fussed by the fact that we were driving towards them, but just ambled around.

I went down to the chicken coop with Lorry one morning to pick up the fresh eggs from underneath the hens - so cool!

Alberta Bound

So after buying my travel tickets on Friday, I left on Tuesday morning! My flight left from Edinburgh and went to Paris CDG, and then from Paris to Toronto, then from Toronto to Calgary. It was an extremely long day, as this trip always is. It was only about 18 hours though which isn't so bad, especially when compared to my previous journey from Calgary to Edinburgh. Going from the UK to Canada is definitely a shorter and easier trip than the reverse, as the time difference is a bit kinder - when going from here to the UK, I'll be landing the next day, as compared to the same day.

In the Paris airport I was very excited to have a Starbucks refresher - the iced drinks options in the UK leave something to be desired. 

The flight from Edinburgh to Paris was fairly nondescript, but my flight from Paris to Toronto, the longest part of my journey, was less than stellar, as I was sat between two people with very poor concepts of polite space sharing in tiny airplanes, and in front of a family with a very unruly toddler who kept kicking my seat.

However, while that was rather unpleasant, my flight from Toronto to Calgary wasn't very full, and the couple sat next to me decided to move to the back of the plane where there were some empty spaces, and I ended up with three seats to myself, which was lovely. Great views out the window, and I managed to get some really impressive pictures with my phone.  I really wish they made plane seats a bit bigger, as I do not really fit in them (my knees touch the seat in front of me).

Connie and Brad met me at the airport, along with Logan, which was a bit of a surprise. Ever since I returned from Sackville one time and found out that they had made bets on who I'd hug first, I'm rather wary on who I hug first - so I hugged them all!

I basically just passed out when we got to the farm.

Long Overdue Return... and Mallorca

I'm back! I know its been ages, and I'm super behind, but I'm gonna try and catch up on all of the stuff I've been doing for the last couple of weeks, starting with Mallorca.

I'm not going to be doing a day-by-day break down of Majorca, partially because its been so long I'm not sure I quite remember what happened each day, and partially because our day-to-day routine really didn't have that much variety to it.

Maya, Jordan, and myself flew down to Mallorca on Saturday, returning the following Sunday. We were flying on Ryanair, which I'm pretty sure is the cheapest of all European airlines, and thus has some pretty strict restrictions on what you can bring in term of luggage (aka pretty small) but luckily you don't really need to bring a lot when all you are planning on doing is lying on a beach for a week! There was a very... rambunctious hen party on the flight, but besides all the screaming, singing, and chanting, it was a pretty awesome flight - Jordan had been sat in the emergency exit row without anyone next to her, so she got the flight attendants' permission for Maya and I to move next to her - so much luxurious leg room!

Upon arriving in Mallorca, we wandered around the airport terminal for a bit until we located Jordan's friend, Chance, who had flew in from Germany, before grabbing a taxi to the hotel, all the way on the other side of the island (a trip that was a total of an hours drive - its not a very big island).

We arrived pretty late, so after wandering down to the beach and grabbing a small bite to eat at a restaurant called Mint (which we returned to quite a few more times) we just headed to bed. The beach was all of five minutes walk from our hotel, and our room, which was located in a small building off the hotel overlooking the pool, included a private balcony - rough stuff.

The loungers filled up pretty quick everyday, with people staking out their claim early in the morning with towels. As none of us had actually thought to bring a beach towel, and were too cheap/broke to buy one of the outrageously overpriced ones at the convenience stores/tourist traps along the beach, we never ended up having a day of lounging around the pool. However, we did spend quite a bit of time hanging out on our balconies - though Maya and myself and Jordan and Chance had booked our trips at different times, we still got adjacent rooms, and thus adjacent balconies, complete with chairs and bitty tables.

Above is the view from the balcony looking back towards town, away from the beach. Our first day there we went to a convenience store and picked up some very cheap wine to drink out on our balcony, which was ridiculously disgusting. After that terrible choice, we stuck to grabbing the occasional cocktail from one of the many restaurant along the beach.

Sunscreen was a definite must for all us pale people who had been huddled up in Scotland for the last couple of months getting whiter and whiter.

We landed on the west side of the island, but our resort was on the east side.

Our hotel included breakfast, so our daily routine was basically along the lines of eating a massive breakfast, heading down to the gelato shop for ice cream and free wifi, and then eating lunch/dinner around four. In between we oscillating between our time on the beach, our time on the balcony, taking siestas, and reading. A lot of reading.

Maya's Spanish was definitely a nice bonus, but the island is such a popular destination for German and English tourists that most of the people working in the town spoke at least some English.

The Mediterranean is absolutely gorgeous - its amazing how blue it is. Canadian oceans as a general rule are not quite as.... welcoming, but the ocean in Mallorca was beautiful, and not too cold (perhaps a bit nippy at first, but not too bad after that).

The weather was also absolutely gorgeous while we were there - though the Americans accompanying me were perhaps not quite as impressed with the highs of 25 celsius as I was (Maya was appalled when I told her how, when moving to Scotland, I left all my winter clothes in Canada as I was moving to a much warmer climate).

Maya got her hair done in braids by a lady at the beach the one day - like a true tourist!

Jordan, Chance, and I played ball on the beach while Maya was getting her hair did, which was a lot of fun, though the combination of super lightweight ball and strong winds did make it a bit of a challenge.

I definitely spent a lot of time reading on this trip - I finished a total of eight books, which was pretty awesome - I read Eleanor & Park and Rangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Let It Snow by John Green, Flash and Bones, Bones Are Forever, and Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs (all from the Temperance Brennan series), Dead Witch Walking, and The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison (all from The Hollows series).

It was awesome.

Mint was one of the most frequent places we visited, as they were fairly cheap but also pretty tasty.

I'm not going to have quite as many stories to share on my next post, but I do still have loads of gorgeous pictures to share, so just so you know :)