01 Jul 16 - Friday - Brisbane to Vanvouver toToronto

Part 1
Morning all,
We're off! Bit of a restless night for both of us but we did get an OK sleep, not enough to say we woke up refreshed. Transferred to the airport in good time and then came check-in... First up the auto check in wasn't working well so we had to get it sorted at the counter, this was where we found out we were seated 20 rows apart (not good for my nervous flyer), so much for prebooking seats. So the only available seating together was 2 rows from the back of the plane. Will let you know how that went when we get to the other end . . .
A large breakfast at the airport, a look at duty free and awaiting the call to board.   Ahead is a 13.5 hr flight to Vancouver, a dash across the terminal to catch the Toronto connection and finally a transfer to the hotel. Appears we also arrive on Canada Day (01 Jul) so might be busy. A rest up overnight before the holiday kicks up a notch and the tourist eyes go into hyperdrive...
This is a trip that ticks a few boxes; it's our 30th wedding anniversary on the 6th of this month, our first trip to Canada and a long overdue stop over to visit Samantha and Oliver. So there are a couple of luxuries along the way. The first is the accommodation for the next 3 nights, a 5 star room at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto shown below.

30 mins to boarding on the aircraft parked at gate 80 (below), so hopefully part 2 of a long day 1 to follow on from here.

Part 2
A little sooner than anticipated for part 2... our flight has been delayed due the above pictured aircraft needing a part. Expected departure is now 11:30 am so about an hour late (at the moment). For all my Defence workers, I wonder if this will be a MICAP (AOG) :-). Stay tuned for part 3 which will hopefully see us on deck in Canada.

Part 3
The flight eventually departed at 11:30 am and was a rather incident free ride, caught up on a few movies and played a few games. Assessment on the seating at the back, not too bad actually. The seats behind were for crew and empty most of the time but we stayed in allocated seats as the Dreamliner actually had enough leg room for me. I don't think people realised there were toilets this far down the back as passenger traffic was a minimum. Also there were no left or right side seats only the middle three so there was actually a bit more side room as well. A couple of downsides; there was no overhead locker space, but there was plenty not too far away, the toilets did make a bit of noise when flushed which was enough to hear through noise cancelling headphones but not too annoying but other wise a comfortable ride. The Dreamliner itself is very smooth in flight and well equipped with heaps of head room, also had some cool electronic auto dimming glass in the windows which dimmed the entire cabin, the sun looked like the moon. Was hard to believe we spent that much time in the air to be honest. More to come as we now have the connecting flight to Toronto that was delayed due to the Brisbane delay. All in all about a three hour delay in total but having no impact on our holiday as we had planned a rest evening in Toronto anyway...

Part 4
The last leg was a 4 hr 25 min flight to Toronto, Air Canada was great as they forwarded our baggage through to the connecting flight meaning no customs or lugging our bags around the airport. There was about an hour and a half stop over before we headed to Toronto. The flight was good and Pen managed to get in a few zzzz's while I tried sleep didn't come so it was time for another movie. We had pre-booked transfers to the hotel and after a couple of false starts we caught the Niagara Air Bus service to Downtown. The driver was nice enough but introduced us to the craziness on the highway :-)
We have arrived.

Booked in to the Fairmont at about 9 pm local time and had a very nice seafood chowder for a light tea before bed. While Pen caught a couple of hours sleep on the trip over I didn't and was awake for the entire trip; from Brissy to head on pillow at Toronto at about 11 pm local time with no shut eye (about 32 hours straight) so looked forward to the very comfy bed and a good night's sleep.

Photos from the point and shoot camera, through bleary eyes and on the move :-)

The Tourism begins...

Cheers
Gary and Penny.

30 June 16 - Thursday - Brisbane Overnight

G'day Everyone,
These last couple of weeks seemed to fly past with a lot happening on the home front prior to our departure :-( We seem to have been pretty organised for this trip and only cut it fine with last minute deliveries of Canadian cash this morning and our free Global Sim card delivered by snail mail an hour before we left home to get to the hotel. We are taking a few items (an entire suitcase) over to Samantha and Oliver as well as some Aussie gifts for friends but all in all managed to pack a suitcase each for the trip. Was difficult to judge what we would need due to it being a Canadian summer but with a chilly trip to Alaska thrown in.

To avoid possible Friday traffic during the school holidays we decided it would be a nice idea to book into the Novotel Brisbane Airport the night before we fly out as we had a free night's accommodation to use. Emily dropped us off and we had one last meal together before we headed back the hotel and Em headed home.

So tonight will be time for last minute checks, not that there's too much we can do if we've left something at home :-). Although I get the feeling the locks won't be coming off until we get to Canada. Novatel run a shuttle to the airport every 30 mins from 5 am to 9 am so we've booked a ride to the airport in the morning @ $5 a head, much better than a taxi ride or long term parking, hoping it will mean a more relaxed check in. All going well we will lift off from Brisbane @ 10:40 am direct to Vancouver (13.5 hr flight) with 1 hr 45 mins to get through customs and catch the connecting flight to Toronto which will more than likely be the next opportunity for a blog update.

Just knocked back a couple of complimentary drinks at the Novatel and now chilling watching TV until sleepy time.


Until tomorrow...
Cheers
Gary and Penny

Preparing for Canada

It is early days yet as we don't officially depart Australia until the 01 July 2016, but time stops still for nobody and it won't be long before it's upon us.

The tickets are booked and the itinerary is starting to take shape. We'll be flying with Air Canada as they now fly direct and non-stop from Brisbane, Australia to Vancouver, Canada taking about 13.5 hours. Not a bad run really, well for me at least, as Penny is not that fussed on flying :-)

Once we hit Vancouver we'll have an hour or so before catching a connecting flight to Toronto before settling down there for a couple of days. From there it's off to Niagara Falls to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary for a few days before flying to Calgary to meet up with our eldest Samantha and her better half Oliver.

A couple of weeks in Calgary to meet some new friends and take in the Calgary Stampede, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper before we head out on the next leg of the journey.

From Jasper its time to relax on the Rocky Mountaineer through Quesnel and on to Whistler and Vancouver. From here we hook up with Holland America cruises to head north to Alaska. Seven fun filled days of cruising on the ms Nieuw Amsterdam up the inside passage to Tracy Arm Inlet and back via Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan before returning to Vancouver.

From Vancouver its off to Victoria for a couple of days before returning once again to Vancouver to spend the last couple of days in the city before finishing up the vacation. It's a midnight flight from Vancouver back to Brisbane, losing a day to the international date line and ending 5 weeks of fun and frivolity.

The aim will be to update this blog frequently throughout the trip to keep you up to date on the activities, fun times and I guess all those events that will make the trip one to remember.

So for now, it's time to sign off, finalise the itinerary and secure those bookings, until we get a little closer to the departure date.

P.S. All the bookings mostly done and the tickets, itinerary and paperwork picked up, a big thanks to Samantha at Booval Flight Centre for her insight, enthusiasm and great communication in assisting us with the planning for the trip. :-)

Cheers
Gary and Penny