This is London: Day 1

Yes!!! Vacation!!! And just in time – my head is swirling with way too many things that have to do with work and responsibilities – I need some time to just relax, rewind, unwind, unload and forget.

And what better way than to run across the big bad pond and drop right into Londontown!!

Terminal 1
This is my first time running through the new Terminal 1 at Pearson in Toronto – very posh indeed. And while I sort of totally understand and actually like the self-service kiosks – they are also a bit cumbersome to use when you’re lugging 2 or more bags.

Only Terminal 1 downfall? The Tim Horton’s is only a half service desk – no breakfast sandwiches for me! Sigh. I switched allegiance and went to the Starbucks for my iced tea lemonade and a scrumptious slice of Lemon Poppy seed cake.

Late Plane
While all the digital displays and lovely airport personnel insisted our flight was on time – you kind of know your plane is late when it is isn’t even attached to the gate deck and the flight staff are all waiting at the door with their luggage. But – c’est ca – I just settled down to play with my iPhone until something drove up.

Pod People
When we did finally get on our way – we were pleased to find our place was a fairly nice one. First class was made up of all these individual pod sections where you can actually sleep lying down, have your own personal flat screen TV and a footstool for added storage.

Not of course that we were in those seats – we just got to walk past them. However – our economy class digs weren’t too bad either. Even though our seats were labeled A and C – Mom and I were alone in a two-seater on the left side with a window and aisle – and everyone had their own personal TV/movie system with a ton of stuff to watch. Legroom was pretty decent, as was storage space. So much better than my last trans-Atlantic flight with Air Transat – need to remember that for the next time.

De-icing
After we were settled in, the captain let us know that the wings needed de-icing – which while I know is a damned consistent occurrence on flights in our weather – it still makes me nervous. By now we were pretty late and I believe the waiting around for de-icing took at least 30 minutes more – someone didn’t want us to get to London anytime soon.

Movie Time
Good thing the entertainment system was already up and running – time to settle in for a movie! Only problem was – I picked District 9 to start with since I hadn’t seen it yet. I got through about 25 minutes of it and couldn’t take it anymore. Watching a movie yourself in an enclosed space with headphones is NOT the ideal way to watch a movie that both slightly scares you and grosses you out at the same time. I had to give up by the time Wikus decides to settle on his first round of cat food.

Instead, I then settled on two mindless movie runs, to get the weird visions out of my head, and watched Harry Potter again, and then Twilight for the third time in my life.

Air Canada: -1
Only really crappy part of the flight: the food. Air Canada needs to seriously get with the program. Even Air Transat rocked in the food department. I barely kept the food on this flight down. Thank God for my earlier delight in lemony goodness.

Tons of babies – silent!
Twisted recurrence on this trip: lots of babies – but every single one of them silent. Not a peep through the whole flight – someone above was finally on my side!

Finally – in London
Well – in the end the flight went quite well with only a few rounds of turbulence. Ica met us at Heathrow and we took a supremely long ride on the Tube to her area at Holloway. However – to my delight – I reacquainted myself with the wonderful lady’s Tube voice that I love so much – and on the perfect line too as Holloway in on the Piccadilly Line. Ask H-Rabbit – I love saying, “Now arriving at Piccadilly Circus, on the Piccadilly Line!” H-Rabbit – I’ve got the accent down pat now! As the ride was supremely long, and during the last round of trains for the night – we picked up quite a few people who apparently didn’t really care that they chose to sit on our luggage. London is way too packed with people. Torontonians need to experience this to remember how good we have it – even during rush hour.

Walking, Walking, Walking
I forgot my sister’s love of walking – and I forgot how deep down the Tube stations actually are. To get out at Holloway you need to ride the escalator that resembles the stairway to heaven, it’s that freaking tall. I have no idea what happens when all these escalators break down cause there aren’t any stairs at all.

Fair-weather
Coming from -17 degree Toronto with the wind-chill – London’s 5 degrees is definitely balmy – though you can tell it’s much more damp and dingy here – the cold seeps into your bones and my hair is a permanent frizz ball.


Home Sweet Home – for 10 days
We get to Ica’s place, which is really quite nice. We meet her roommate Alex who is actually packing up to leave the next morning to head back to the States for the Christmas break. We quickly gather round the kitchen eat some of Ica’s peanut-butter chicken noodles (quite good actually despite the name and ingredients) because the plane food was so horrible. She also made some homemade Oreo cookies – those did not turn out as well. We trashed the inside and settled for the outer cookies alone, which were at least edible. Then it was time for bed – though Jessica snuck in some painting too as she had to finish Alex’s going away present before she took off the next morning.

Yay Londontown – can’t wait to get started!!

omg...NKOTB!!!!

Okay... so the title was my only throwback to pre-teenage-dom - I promise not to get riled up anymore through the post. Hehehehe.

Anywho - tonight was a pretty awesome night - regardless of what anyone thinks, feels or has an opinion on by way of NKOTB.

My friend Chele, from With One L, bought our tickets months ago, and in fact was going to every show in this run of concerts they are doing in Toronto. She's a huge fan and was a great partner to enjoy the night with.

We started off the night by meeting up with a group of fellow fans that Chele had met online through a few forums and groups for fans. They were an amazingly excited and lively group, and it was fun to meet all the new people. Many had come from all over the United States since this was the very first concert on their tour.

We all had a good meal at the Firkin and many of the girls caught up, met each other for the first time, brought their husbands, and listened to the radio show that was playing that some of them had attended earlier in the week.

After - we then all headed to the concert together - our tickets were all scattered - and some people had amazing seats right in the front row - but all of us faired pretty well with our seating - and it hadn't cost that much at all.


I absolutely adored the boys when I was younger - I had only been about 12 or 13 - and my favourite had been (and still is) Joey Joe. You don't forget your "first loves" and he was definitely one of mine. I never really cared for the rest of the band as much - mine was all about Joe and the music.

And yeah - I can hear some of you readers groaning... but seriously - it may not have been for everyone - but their music back then was the life chorus of an entire generation, or two, of pre-teen and teenage girls.

The concert was an amazing reminiscence of those feelings from that time. Throughout the entire night - I was amazed at how easily I remembered all the lyrics and knew how each song went.

In addition - their new material proved amazing - and just as good as anything else being developed on the pop scene right now. Catchy tunes, simple lyrics dealing with emotions, and well - a bunch of guys that haven't held up too badly for a bunch of 40-year-olds.

The energy in the ACC was absolutely amazing - so powerful - and believe it or not - the place was sold out. I don't think I've ever been to either the ACC or Skydome and actually seen that play out. Not a single empty seat in the house.

The guys played up the fact that we were "all" now adults - and the show proved pretty hilarious at points - I don't think there's been any other gathering of so many 30-40 year old in one place ever.

Natasha Beddingefield opened the night, and we weren't allowed to bring any awesome cameras - so I was left with my shitty, old point and shoot. I really need to get a new one - the shots Chele got with hers were jsut as good as anything I could get with my SLR (if they had allowed me to bring it in). Mine however is a good deal too old and my pictures are akin to a drunken man's view of the concert. Ha!

Anyhow - I've spread some of the shots that I took through the blog - even though they're so awful. I also took a few videos. Pretty short clips but I'm probably not going to post them. Maybe later - who knows. :)

The night was good - and I'm glad I didn't miss out on it. So many memories brought back - and so many new ones to remember as well.

A walk in pictures: August 3, 2008

We've tried this gambit a few times before - and it never seems to really take off - but Michele and I decided today was a great day for one of our random picture walking days where we randomly pick a subway station that we have never (or rarely) gotten off at (Today: Landsdowne) to get off at and then just walk, walk, walk - taking pictures all along the way.

It's actually a fairly neat way to experience Toronto - and catch a glimpse of things you may otherwise ignore.

Obviously - I took way too many pictures to post them all - but here's my top 6 for a little look around the city today.

Off the races in Dufferin Park

So close to the sunshine... maybe a bit too close

The beauty of ebb and flow

A bench of many colours

National pride of a gigantic size

And the Gnome stands alone

PS - The city isn't as big as you think, seeing as we managed to walk all the way from Landsdowne to the water's edge near Harbourfront in one afternoon... crazy!

Europe Day 21: Goodbye Europe...

Well – there’s not much to say about today. There’s very little of it that we’ve spent doing anything but being in the processes of leaving.

Our hotel provided a wake-up call on time and we managed to eat some breakfast. They also arranged for our car to the airport. It’s actually about a 30 minute ride from the city so we had to leave early in order to arrive on time for our flight.

Once there, we met up with the Toronto crew from our tour – we all had tickets on the same flight out heading directly to Toronto.

Checking in took quite awhile – there were a lot of people on our flight. However having a group of friends to hang out with during the waiting really made things better than usual.

H-Rabbit is a hijacker!
Well – not really – but one of the security guards thought so. She forgot that the Swiss Army knife she had bought her brother as a souvenir was packed in her purse instead of the suitcases – and when we were going through the security check – they stopped her dead cold.

They wouldn’t let her through and were going to confiscate it – but it cost a fair amount so she couldn’t part with it. Instead – she had to run all the way back to the check-in and check her purse. We emptied all her stuff into my carry on – and then she ran for her life – because if she didn’t catch the check-in before the line was over – she’d miss the packing of our plane and it would all have been for nothing. It sucked large that check-in and security were so far apart.


The Toronto Crew waiting patiently
The rest of us hung out and waited patiently hoping she’d make it back in time – and she did – I think she almost died doing it – but she did. After she passed through security a second time – the group of us then wandered over to the gate to hang until boarding.

Finally off and on our way home
We’re on the flight now and it’s smooth sailing. Definitely a long flight ahead – ten hours is a bit of a trek – but dreams of my own bed make it worth it.

Home Again
Well – this one’s a short one. H-Rabbit’s parents met us at the Airport and drove us home. We’re so glad to be back but the days ahead are going to be crazy. Our hectic schedule only continues here at home – but this Europe trip has been an amazing experience. We’ll remember it always and we can’t wait to figure out what we’re going to do with all of our pictures and souvenirs.

Thank you Europe for an amazing life experience – I can’t wait to see you again.