Belated 'I have arrived in Toronto' post :)
The trip here took forever. I left at 5.30pm Beijing time on Wednesday, 6th February and we flew and flew and flew for 12 hours and I got into Vancouver at about 12.30pm, 6th February (yes same day but you know timezones). As I arrived, the Canadian had messaged me to say that there had been very big snow storms in Toronto and heaps and heaps of flights had been cancelled. Thus my flight wasn't going to leave until like 5.30 pm instead 3.30pm.
If people have been following the news you'll see that they had more than 50 cm of snow in less than 6 days which is nuts. I was dead tired because the flight to Vancouver had been quite hellish.
I'll describe it in more detail later because it was funny in hindsight. Then I managed to get an earlier flight but as we were about to land in Toronto, the pilot said that the runway was icy and we were going to circle around for a bit. We ran out of 'holding pattern' fuel, so the pilot took us to OTTAWA where we landed at like 1 or 2am. Air Canada was shocking and didn't give us any assistance in the form of a hotel or even details of what we were supposed to do.
The passengers all looked around for a place to sleep. I found this sofa.
I lay there for a couple of hours until the cold air from the sliding doors, the noise from the vacuum cleaners and the cleaners emptying out the bins made me give up :) I then proceeded to go the check in area at about 4am to check in. By that time my eyes were so sore and red. Fortunately I found one of those comfy airport chairs that gives you a massage :) It was nice to sleep in.
The Canadian hung around Toronto airport until 3 or so until I finally asked him to go home so he went home. After many more endless trips through airport security, I finally got in to Toronto just after midday - without sleep for about 36 hours. Gah. The Canadian whisked me back to his place where I rested.
Will update more later but yesterday we went to see the Toronto Maple Leaves playing the Detroit Red Wings. The Leafs won, 3:2. Yay :) Go Leafs Go :)
If people have been following the news you'll see that they had more than 50 cm of snow in less than 6 days which is nuts. I was dead tired because the flight to Vancouver had been quite hellish.
I'll describe it in more detail later because it was funny in hindsight. Then I managed to get an earlier flight but as we were about to land in Toronto, the pilot said that the runway was icy and we were going to circle around for a bit. We ran out of 'holding pattern' fuel, so the pilot took us to OTTAWA where we landed at like 1 or 2am. Air Canada was shocking and didn't give us any assistance in the form of a hotel or even details of what we were supposed to do.
The passengers all looked around for a place to sleep. I found this sofa.
I lay there for a couple of hours until the cold air from the sliding doors, the noise from the vacuum cleaners and the cleaners emptying out the bins made me give up :) I then proceeded to go the check in area at about 4am to check in. By that time my eyes were so sore and red. Fortunately I found one of those comfy airport chairs that gives you a massage :) It was nice to sleep in.
The Canadian hung around Toronto airport until 3 or so until I finally asked him to go home so he went home. After many more endless trips through airport security, I finally got in to Toronto just after midday - without sleep for about 36 hours. Gah. The Canadian whisked me back to his place where I rested.
Will update more later but yesterday we went to see the Toronto Maple Leaves playing the Detroit Red Wings. The Leafs won, 3:2. Yay :) Go Leafs Go :)