Travel Day

I'm home!

Let's say that yesterday was the most boring travel day I've had in a while - -YEAH! But still, a couple of things happened that were funny!

As I was driving back to the airport and observing those speed signs! I was thinking about the cleaning process that we had done at the farmhouse. A gang of us was doing the sorting, which made things go so fast! One person pulled down boxes, another opened them and looked through them, and collectively, we said - yeah or nay. Having third parties in the process made dealing with the stuff much easier and faster. 

All of us would have loved to have a dumpster or a pit to get rid of the stuff deemed useless, so no one would have to go through the stuff again. Because someone likely will -- "just in case!" And that will probably be me, but that's OK. But it would be so nice to walk out of a room, and it's empty, and you know that you have dealt with everything! The number of times we have gone through the same boxes is crazy! But -- one must remember that the owner of those boxes is now in a different mindset, so we can look at them in a different light. 

If we were in the city and clearing a house, we would have a dumpster to do just that. We could make it happen at the farm, but I'm done for the moment. 

So, if you have a space to clean out, I suggest getting a group together if you can and potentially a third party who has no attachment to anything in the house. Get garbage bags, boxes, gloves, and a dumpster, and go for it! We had such a couple of fun days doing it, and as I said, the time passed so fast, and it was good visiting time!

The other good thing about a group was that if one person didn't know what to do with something, someone else might have a connection, and we could get rid of a lot of stuff that way. I will look at this office in a different light when I get a chance in October. 

The backseat of the car was filled with stuff, and I had to drop that off before I left town. 

Oh crude! As I load PICTURES today, I see that my camera got left in the LONG mode. I have quickly changed that back. 

As I was packing up in the morning, I had to laugh as this was the mess I had on the desk. Yep --- I don't bring much; everything is necessary, and I like to spread out. But it all fits in the office packback! I had a "panic" attack along the way as I didn't remember packing my speeding ticket, which was on the desk for some reason. I checked later, and it was there! Phew -- I'm sure it would have been complicated to get a duplicate because god forbid, I forget to pay by the due date. 

I'm a spreader! 

And yes, there I was in the parking lot, packing the last bag. I weighed it with my scale, and it was borderline at 50 lbs. But I thought I would be OK. 

Packing the last suitcase

I literally couldn't put anything else in my suitcases. One was filled due to weight, the other was filled due to space, and even my carry-on was borderline if the airline would accept the size. My backpack was OK. 

The farm is on a gravel road -- does anyone in Ontario know what that is? OK -- I know we have gravel roads here, but they are less common than in Saskatchewan. This is what happens to your car on those roads. 

OH -- a bit of dust!

I chuckled when I saw this in the morning. That was me closing the trunk! 

And many of the leaves have turned and are falling rather quickly on the streets in town. Wow --- I don't think we're quite that far ahead here, but I'll see this morning when we go for a walk. 

The leaves are turning and falling!

I had an item to return to a store in Saskatoon, which required me to cross the bridge that is under construction. Oh boy -- it looks like a lot of traffic on the way back over the bridge. I returned the item and was back on the road. It took all of five minutes to go through the traffic, which merged from three lanes to one. HA --- I bet many people are complaining about that. Wait until they get into the same situation here! It won't be five minutes, but it's all relative!

Because of the errand, I came to the area where the gas station is by a different road, and I missed the gas station. Good grief - I drove past the darn thing and had to turn around. 

It was one of those you had to prepay, so I chose $75. I don't think I have ever put $75 in my car, and this one was half empty, or so I thought. I got to $75, and oh crap -- I needed more, so I had to do two transactions to fill the car. I think it was about $82. 

When I arrived at the airport, it was easy to get rid of the car -- they make things so easy, and I could have done it online, but it takes only two seconds to do it in person. I remember many years ago when we were late for a flight because of a ferry in BC, and we literally threw the keys at the desk as we ran past to catch that flight!

I got to the Air Canada kiosk to check in at the far end of the airport, but we're talking Saskatoon, which is small! As I was printing out my bag tags, an agent came by and commented on how quickly I went through that process. Yep -- it's not my first rodeo with the kiosks, but I gather that some people struggle, which I get if you don't travel a lot or have never encountered the kiosks before. 

Then she asked me if I wanted to check my third bag (my carry-on) compliments of Air Canada. I told her I usually gate-check it, and she said I could do it there for free. So I did! I forgot to ask if I could get Zone 2 boarding, but what does it matter - I don't need to find room to put my suitcase, and I didn't need to take it through security. Apparently, this is something new. So that saved me carrying that darn bag around. Thanks, Air Canada, for that!

I had two options for dropping off my bags -- the automatic spot or to see an agent. The agents were sitting idle, so I went to them. One by one, I put the bags on the scale. Oops -- that last one was 50.6 lbs on their scale, but they didn't say anything. You get charged for overweight baggage, or you have to shuffle stuff. 

I arrived at security to find a HUGE line. What? In Saskatoon? What's with this? I suppose I could have asked at the desk if there was a priority line (I have a NEXUS card), but I didn't bother. It won't hurt me to wait in line. Again -- if you know what you're doing when you arrive at the checkpoint and if you've packed right, it's easy! 

In Toronto, we no longer have to take laptops out of our bags (at least in the priority line), but I had to there. It's all about MINIMAL stuff. 

I had time to sit down and eat a late lunch. And then it was time to board the plane. Two people I knew were arriving about the time I was leaving, and as the plane pulled away from the terminal, I saw two WestJet aircraft at the other end of the airport, so that was probably their plane. 

Then there is always the fun of getting the luggage in Toronto, which can sometimes be crazy. I was watching the sign to see if they had started to unload, and suddenly, my bags were zipping around on the carousel! No warning. So, that was a relatively quick process, and all three came through. I don't think there was much luggage on that plane. 

But -- my big bag got tagged as HEAVY - 50 lbs. I didn't get charged for it. Another, yeah, Air Canada moment!!!!

Heavy bag tag!

Then, off to the Uber pickup, and I had to take the elevator, not the escalator, because of the cart for all those bags. It took a few minutes to realize where the elevators to that level were.

I called the Uber on the phone app. Let's say I LOVE Uber, but the pickup at this airport is a smozzle. And I thought I had a dud of a driver again, but he was great. I don't know how they could do the pickup differently, but there are often three rows of haphazardly stopped cars and tons of people on the sidewalk looking for a specific vehicle. 

Anyway, with no traffic at night, all was good for the drive. Two very excited girls were waiting when I finally came through the door after lugging the suitcases up the steps. One of my shoulders is sore this morning, and part of that is because of carrying that backpack on ONE shoulder instead of two. I know better!

I checked my Air Canada status last night after I arrived. Oh! - I am about 270 KM away from getting my 25K status, which will give me automatic Zone 2 boarding (I think!). The question is - will they give it to me before my next flight, or do I have to wait until after? 

So the end of another great trip, and let's hope that is the last that I need to take so much luggage - I hate it! 

I have to unpack today and repack and see what else needs to be done. I know there are some e-mails and scheduling things I have to check out, so I think it will be a paperwork day!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!