Home to Canada!!!!

I have been looking forward to this day for a year! And it's finally here!

I didn't end up sleeping great last night. The room was cozy and clean but the bed felt like I was sleeping on springs. The cheap price I paid also meant a shared bathroom and I could hear people from the other rooms opening and closing their doors through the night going to the bathroom. So I woke up every 2 hours and that was probably ostly due to my excitement to go home.

I got up at 6am, got ready and walked to the train station for 7am. Caught the hour train to Gatwick which seemed to take forever. Finalyl arrived at Gatwick just after 8am and wow this airport is crazier than I thought. I think everyone flies out in the morning because the place was very busy. I eventually found the Air Transat check in after 15 minutes of walking around and finally asking someone. No wonder I couldn't find it - it was hidden down a flight of stairs. I walked right through the check in and security as there were no lines up - how nice!

I spent the next few hours checking out the shops, which there are a lot of. I bought a bottle of Pimms (British liquor) to bring home. It ended up being an eventful visit to Gatwick with a fire alarm. Nothing major, just a nuisance more than anything.

It's time to board!! By midday I was in the air and on my way to Canada! I sat with a lovely lady on the flight. She's British but has lived in the Valley for 30+ years. The flight was uneventful and pretty enjoyable as I had paid a small fee for a better seat which left me ots of leg room and a wider seat. It was great. We arrived in Halifax 40 minutes early! I'm on Canadian soil again! Yay! As we taxied towards the airport I had to fight the happy tears. I was doing fine until I saw the Canadian and Nove Scotia flags. What a feeling to see those again.

I could barely contain myself in the Customs line up. By the time I got through customs (which wasn't a problem at all) and got my luggage it was our original landing time. It was great to arrive early except no one else knew so nobody was there waiting for me! I ended up waiting 20 minutes before Mom and Lexie arrived then Aimee, Lynden and Jamie were right behind. I was disappointed to not have anyone there when I arrived but was so happy to see them all when they finally did. What a feeling to see my Mom after a year and 2 months of being away!

We chatted for a bit then hopped in the car to do the 5 hour drive to Ingonish. We stopped at the causeway for supper than I drove from there for an hour and a half or so. Mom and Lexie drove to Halifax this morning and Mom has to be up at 3am for fihsing tomorrow so she needed a snooze in the car. I was pretty wired so I didn't mind. It was nice to sit on the left hand side to drive! I ended up driving on the wrong side of the road for a minute when I took the turnoff to the ferry! I didn't even realize, it was Lexie that said 'Mandy, you're driving in the wrong side of the road!'. Too funny! I had no idea.

We arrived home at 9pm and I ran into see Dad. Once again what a feeling to hug Dad after so long. After dropping Mom at home I popped out to see Nan and Gampie, ran to Deb's to pick stuff up, dropped into see Nanny Neil then to Karen's for a few minutes. When I got home at 10pm Graham was home and I got another big hug from him. So weird to come home and Matthew not be here. Really disappointed he won't have a chance to come home while I'm here. I crashed hard by 10:30pm and fell asleep so happy to be home.