Canada - Day 1

Got up late, ate the snacks we had brought with us for breakfast and then checked out of our room just before the 12.00 deadline.

Drove to the airport and, after three circuits of the inner orbital road found the valet parking stand; even then we finally approached it on the 'wrong' side of the parking island.  The attendant seemed unphased and after completing the required paperwork we took our luggage and made our way into Terminal 5.  

Although very early, we quickly encountered one of the many benefits of travelling business class and were able to check ourselves and our luggage in almost as soon as we arrived.

We made our way up to the South Concourse lounge and settled down to wait.  Free food, drink and periodicals helped to pass the time, but we did move a couple of times to get away from overly loquacious fellow-travellers.

Settled at last:

As our flight made it's way to the top of the departures board we headed to the Transit Train for the short ride to Gate 55 at Terminal 5C:

Onto the plane - how nice to be turning left rather than right on boarding.

Amanda seemed to be quite pleased with her goody-bag:

while I was even more delighted with the leg-room:

Amanda decided that "yes, she would like a complementary glass of champagne upon boarding"...:

A view of the cabin:

and outside:

A smooth take-off:

and we settled in.

The meal (not pictured) consisted of a salad starter, followed by beef with hasselback potatoes and chocolate pudding (Amanda) and fruit (me) - all most acceptable.

The cabin lights were dimmed and everyone settled down to pass the rest of the flight according to their inclination.  In our case this meant watching two films apiece - Green Book and Vice for Amanda, and Vice and Destroyer for me:

As we began the final stretch to our destination:

a light meal and drinks were served.  Amanda enjoyed her tapas but I was unlucky - the cabin crew apologised that the sandwiches advertised on the menu had not made it onto the flight, so I opted to go without an alternative.

We landed on time at 19.30 local (01.30 UK time).  Disembarkation and our passage through Immigration and Security was all very smooth and rapid (largely helped by the Immigration processing being entirely electronic).

Luggage collected, we made our way to the cab-rank and after a short wait were on our way 'downtown'.  On hearing our accents our driver was keen to tell us about all the wonderful places we should visit while there.  In fact, weeks of planning and preparation meant that we already knew most of what he told us, our bodies were screaming at us that it was well past 02.00 at the end of a long and tiring day, and we longed to close our eyes and doze.  On the other hand, "we are British", so we listened and responded politely...  As we did so, looking out of the cab windows we noticed an inordinate amount of construction going on throughout the city - an observation that we would revisit many times during the days to come.

We finally arrived at our home for the next few days - Hotel Gault.  Thankfully, Reception was quiet when we arrived and we quickly checked in and made our way up to Suite 410.

Rationalising that it was unlikely to look this neat and tidy again during our stay we took a couple of quick pictures:

ate the complimentary chocolates on the coffee table, texted family to announce our safe arrival:

and so - exhausted but happy to be back in Canada after such a long absence - to bed.

And immediately back up, when I discovered that the standard lamp at the far end of the apartment was still on...

I got up, switched the lamp off and then, in the total darkness, walked straight into one of the glass-topped coffee tables, bruising and removing a fair amount of skin from one of my shins.  Not for the first time, I was grateful for the small but comprehensive first-aid kit that always accompanies us on our travels and so, patched up, to bed for the second time.