Archive for: airport

Girls arrive to heavy snow

Yesterday we started the day off by getting a few bits of shopping for when the girls get here.

We got back and hubby started to take the kitchen apart ready for the granite man coming tomorrow. Some of the wall units had to come down due to the fact they sit on top of the current worktop so needed to be removed in order to fit the new.

It took quite a long time and lots of huffing a puffing to get them down. Trouble was some of the other wall units had to come down too so I was left with half a kitchen.

At 4.30pm we set off for Toronto to pick up the girls. Their flight was due in at 7.30, but we wanted to start out early in case we hit any traffic. As it was we had a good, uneventful run into the city and arrived at the car park at 6.35pm.

We then sat in the café drinking tea and coffee for a while, wandered around arrivals and departures and then went back down to wait for their flight. Trouble was their flight was delayed and the screen as now saying due in 7.45 which wasn’t too bad. When 7.45 came the time changed to 8.00pm and eventually it showed they had landed at 8.03.

We then had to wait for them to come through immigration and baggage etc which eventually happened at 8.30, so not too bad.

After hugs and welcomes we made our way to the car, packed all their stuff in the back and off we went.

Although they were very excited, they were also very tired, so we told them to sleep in the car as we should be home in a couple of hours.

Trouble was the weather was not on our side. It started off as light snow flurries, which the girls thought, was good as they had arrived in Canada to snow. However, by the time we had got a few miles from the airport it had started to snow quite heavily. As the weatherman had only mentioned light flurries we didn’t think it would amount to much – we were wrong!

Soon we could barely see where we were going it was coming down so fast. The roads were getting covered and the traffic was slowing right down.

By the time we hit Oshawa it was gushing and several inches were on the ground and we were hardly moving. For the next 150 km we crawled along, with hardly any visibility and watched several lorries jack-knife and skid in the road. We saw several cars facing the wrong way and generally had a horrendous journey back. Lanes disappeared under the snow and cars and lorries made up their own lanes as they went along. Even in these terrible conditions, lorries were thundering past us!

If we had know this was going to happen we would have checked the girls into an airport hotel overnight and ventured out there the following day.

In total it took us over four hours to get back eventually arriving home at nearly 1am. By this time we were all shattered, especially hubby who had had to concentrate so hard driving. So off to bed we all went.

Today we woke at our usual time, but the girls didn’t stir until after 10am, although we were expecting it to be later than this.

We had a lovely Christmas card view of our garden, which was lovely, now we weren’t driving in it! We also had lots of strange animal tracks in the snow – not sure what all of them are.

Hubby removed the sink from the kitchen ready for the granite man (coming at 1pm) and also loosened all the worktops.

At about 12.30, I drove the girls round Belleville to show them the sights! By now the roads were clear of snow. We drove over the bridge to The County (Prince Edward County) and then drove the coastal route over the island to the other bridge, which we crossed to get back on the mainland. Took highway 2 to Belleville and then went to the mall.

Quinte Mall is ok, but it isn’t the Eaton Centre in Toronto, so I suggested that they wander round on their own and meet up with them in a hour – more than enough time, but God knows what I was going to do with myself!

About ten minutes later hubby phoned to say the granite man was not coming as they had broken the slab and would have to order a new one and we were back to the original fitting date of Dec 20th. To say we were annoyed is an understatement.

After a search of the mall I caught up with the girls and told them we would go back for Dad and pick him up and then all go out for a meal. They wanted more time at the mall (why????) so I left them there and headed home to pick up a rather annoyed husband.

We the drove back for the girls and collected them from outside the mall – they had managed to entertain themselves there for an hour and a half and still liked it – amazing! At this rate we could loose them for days in Toronto and New York!

We then went to Swiss Chalet for a meal and came back home. Hubby then had to refit the sink so we can use it, but the cabinets will stay down until the new worktop is fitted.

What an eventful couple of days!

We have finally landed

Thursday night we had a lovely meal with our very good neighbours and friends. We will miss them a lot. We went to a local pub and had a nice meal and some great conversation reminiscing on our nine years in the house.

We set off for the airport on Friday morning and I used my company’s car service to get us to Gatwick, which made the trip easier and stress free. We hit some traffic near the airport, but the driver went on a detour and we eventually got there.

Checked in ok, we were really concerned about the weight of our cases, one in particular as each case can only weigh a max of 32kg. Trouble was we had already thrown away our bathroom scales so could not weigh them properly. Hubby thought it was very near the limit, but there was very little we could do about it, so decided to see what happened and deal with it there (buy another case). However it weighed half a kilo under so we breathed a sigh of relief.

Had dinner at the airport and then went through to departures and eventually down to gate. Flight took off half an hour late, but the paperwork had suggested an 8 hour flight, but the captain said it would only be 7 hrs 15 mins, so would get in at the original time. Flight went well, but seemed to drag, eventually reached Toronto at 6.40pm.

Took a while for the plane to reach the unloading area and then had to walk 5 miles to the passport area (ok it wasn’t that far, but why can’t they park closer?) No queue at passport control, just one person in front of us. Went up to the woman and told her we were landing. She congratulated us and checked our customs form, scribbled over it in pink and told us to make our way to immigration where we would be processed.

Went to immigration – no queue. Went straight to a man at a desk who, once he knew we were landing told us to take a seat in another area and wait to be called. We didn’t even have the chance to sit as we were then called into a booth, even though there were other people waiting. The woman asked for our passports and the immigration paperwork we were sent with our visas. She looked at the photos and said she had to take new ones. Having been awake for nearly 20 hours, we were not at our best, so our PR photos will look awful.

She took new pics, then completed some paperwork, got us to sign the paperwork and then gave is a copy. She then told us to see a man at the end of the corridor who would give us our landing packs.

Walked along the corridor and a man greeted us with “Welcome to Canada”. He gave us paperwork to get our SIN number, health cards and other bits and pieces and a booklet giving details for general stuff in Canada.

We then collected our baggage and then had to go through the goods to declare customs section. Again, no queue and was seen instantly by a nice woman who asked for our goods to follow list. I gave her my home done list and she said it was perfect, one of the best she had seen. She filled in goods to follow form, typed some stuff on the computer and then stamped and stapled our lists to her form. I also gave her a list of items we bought with us, when she also stamped. She then gave us a computer printout, which we need in order to collect the goods when they arrive.

There, we were done and free to enter Canada. Whole process from getting to passport control, to walking out of the airport about 30 mins.

Got a shuttle to our hotel, showered and fell into a blissful Canadian sleep.

Woke early this morning and finally got around to reading through the booklets and paperwork we had been given. All seems pretty straightforward. We got ready and then went down for breakfast and then packed bits away and waited for a car to pick us up and transport us to Belleville.

Car came at 10am and after a stress free trip, complete with obligatory stop off half way at Timmy’s we arrived at our Belleville hotel at 12.00.

Checked in and after dumping all our stuff in the room, walked down to the Ford garage where our new truck is waiting for us. We had to sign some paperwork and show originals of our passports, visas and driving licences (they already had copies). Unfortunately the registration company do not open on Saturdays in the summer so we cannot collect the car today. However, now all the paperwork is complete, we are going back on Monday and will collect our new truck.

We then walked over to the mall and looked around Sears and other places for some bits and pieces for the house. Had dinner at Swiss Chalet and have now come back to the hotel to chill out for the night.

Will catch up tomorrow.