PLEASE NOTE ISSUES LOADING BLOG IN CANADA – SO NOW BEING POSTED IN SCOTLAND! SORRY FOR ANY DELAY.
Departure day finally here – Wednesday 11th Jan 2023 and met with much excitement and enthusiasm by us 20 Central tourists.
Central and East tours had a very early start leaving our Edinburgh airport hotel at the back of 6am (our West tour team mates had the luxury of a long lie) where we trudged (although our caption said this should be documented / walked smartly and with suitable poise to the BA check in desks where those with over weight bags were waiting with baited breath to see if excess baggage charges would apply. Fortunately the BA staff on the desks were were very helpful and we checked in, broom bags and all without hitch. BA will raise its head later in this diary entry and it may be of no surprise to hear the references to them later are somewhat less complimentary.
The joys of international travel quickly reared their ugly head when the captain came on the tannoy and advised us of a significant delay which had one tour captain at least reached for the antacids as stress levels started to raise when this delay was factored into a fairly tight transfer time at Heathrow.
Staying on the delights of airline and airport travel 4 tourists had major challenges with boarding passes at Heathrow and these for some reason not being accepted so after a few “pleasant” exchanges with a certain airlines staff 3 quickly got through and their issues resolved leaving one tourist namely Mr Alan Campbell watching the departure time trundling down at an alarming pace and putting the fear of God into him he was going to miss the flight as had been politely told they were not going to hold the plan.
Before you all get bored of this saga it is worth noting the said Mr Campbell now holds the record amongst the touring party for a 400 meter sprint and tram transfer in terminal 5 Heathrow to get C53 gate where we finally left for our Toronto flight.
It is worth noting the Central team captain doing a great job admirably there at the gate to ensure all his charges made the plane.
I will say no more other than note we sat on the Tarmac at Heathrow for the best part of an hour which really upset a certain Mr Campbell who just about had a coronary as he tore through Heathrow in an effort to make the flight!
A pleasant flight for all plenty of movie watching you can get three movies in on this flight by the way.
Arrived all in one piece at Toronto suitably wined and dined with some colleagues perhaps more wined and less dined after enjoying BA’s collection of fine reds!
Off the plane in good time and onto Toronto immigration, now here is a plea from us older guys… bring back immigration officers, us 50 to 79 year olds don’t like to much tech.
A fully automated immigration area was just about to much for us all and after what we would politely call significant phaff we got through to baggage reclaim.
All I will say is this was a very pleasant and enjoyable experience lasting approximately 2 hours I think as our airline provider for some reason left approximately half the touring parties bags in London.
Tour captain remains very calm as his teammates are subjected to much angst and form filling.
Now to the important stuff:-
Having now made it through immigration and bagagge collection ( for some) we were very warmly welcomed by a group representing the Canadian organising committee and past tourists supported by our tour guide sporting a welcome banner and accompanying pipe music blaring out from a stereo system, I think for us all it hit home the tour has begin in earnest.
Our first night in Toronto saw us check into our hotel after a short transfer from the airport and after a quick freshen up the tour and our airport welcome group enjoyed a very pleasant “dinner” of locally produced ale specialty labelled and brewed for the Strathcona tour I would add and multiple large takeaway pizzas. Just braw!!
A great chance on the first night to build relationships, catch up on past tours and hear about what lies ahead for the tourists.
Day one concluded at some time, some guys off to open their luggage and prepare for day 2 and our first curling games, for others it was a night of worry and lack of sleep wondering if the lost bags would ever see Toronto and when.
Alan Chalmers