Back from Europe

Granny and I landed at Edmonton International Airport on Thanksgiving Monday (October 12) at about 17:00.

The flight back home was not uneventful! Starting with the morning: I got a ticket to Ryde (and she don't care!). OK, we got tickets to Ryde. The ferry was basic, uneventful. We did get to the other side earlier than we thought, so we had to wait for the taxi. As it turns out, the taxi was already there! But we had no idea! (Yayyy!) We were only 15 minutes early, so it wasn't a horribly long wait. We eventually found our driver and car and proceeded to Heathrow.

Side note: I now consider Heathrow a city all on its own.

The cue for Air Canada was wonderfully short. Our baggage was checked without a problem. We had plans to see a relative of ours (Granny's' nephew, Moms' cousin, I don't feel like working out his relation to me) at Heathrow. Our gate hadn't been announced yet, so we would have to check the screens after we had gone through security.

Since the cue was short, we had about 30 minutes to spare. We explored Heathrow (a bit). I found the Internet section :) This is where my "idiot tourist" role paid off: I couldn't figure out how to use the computers, so I just looked blankly at a machine. A young woman got my attention and told me she had five minutes left on the computer she was using and offered it to me. I happily accepted. I had my five minutes on the web and I was good to go.

We then met Paul then had lunch at a small restaurant within the terminal. This is one of two potential places I had bad food. Rawr. The cannelloni was really good and I did scarf it down. We talked for about one hour, 30 minutes then said our goodbyes. Especially since you really have no idea how long it will take you to get through security. We made it through security within 10 minutes, haha!

But then comes the exciting part of Heathrow - the shopping! Actually, it was productive. Granny found a perfume that she hadn't been able to find for 30 years. She indulged. I found a Beatles alarm clock; I indulged. By that time, the gate for our flight was announced so we headed down to Gate 28. We were both so happy it rhymed, it was so much easier to remember.

Gate 28 was found and we boarded our plane, nothing spectacular or note-worthy.

This was, very possibly, the most uncomfortable plane ride I will ever have in my entire life. We were given our airplane food, which I also scarfed down. Minus the couscous but only because it was cold. I did eat the feta cheese (maybe that was the culprit). But whatever was ingested during that meal was potential cause no. 2 of 2 for my indigestion.

About 15-20 minutes after eating that meal, I felt the pain in my stomach start to develop. It was just the beginning. The pain from the indigestion was so painful, much more so because I knew I would be 35, 000 feet in the air for the next eight hours. After "toughing it out" for a few hours, I finally decided to mention something. Granny was great - she had the flight attendant bring me some ginger ale. When she brought it to me, she also offered some Gravol. The combination of these two god-sents were my saving grace. First of all, the ginger ale helped to settle my stomach. Second, the Gravol knocked me out for a few hours. Woot woot!

The rest of the flight was okay. Which was a big improvement since the first part of the flight was torture. Yes, I am being a drama queen. I was tired and I was uncomfortable. The feelings linger.

The landing was smooth. Canadian landings are great - all the landings have been flawless. We got through customs easily, no problems there.

The problem was with the luggage: Granny's luggage didn't make it to Edmonton! Thankfully, mine did, phew! She had to file a claim. All this time, of course, Mom and Dad were wondering why we were taking so long. We made it through, and all was well in Narnia.

I so very happy to be back home, in a one-terminal airport. I was even happier to be back at my little basement suite, cozy and warm. Sigh.