theDIBB - Our first taste of Canada - Pre-Travel/Travel Day

Our first taste of Canada - Toronto and Niagara Falls

Index here

Introductions here

Pre travel day – Friday 22nd May 2015

This was very much a normal day, consisting of work along with the last minute packing.

Martin arrived home from work at around 6:30 pm, had a quick shower, before starting to load the car with the cases. We eventually left home at 7:30 pm. I had made us a couple of baguettes for us for the journey, so we wouldn’t have to stop to eat on the way, or wait until we got there.

We eventually arrived at the Premier Inn M4/J4 at around 9:20pm. We soon ditched the bags in the room and were in the hotel bar by 9:30 for a well-deserved drink!

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275413

By about 10:30 pm we were back in the room, where to my delight George Clooney was on Graham Norton. I went to sleep happy that night!

Travel Day – Saturday 23rd May 2015

I woke up for the first time at 6:45 am, then dozed on and off until just before 8am. It was bliss having a lie in until 8 o’clock while at an airport hotel - we normally have to be up around 5am!

We got up and showered, then went down for breakfast at around 9am.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275485

Breakfast was plentiful, although not quite hot enough - the only gripe from our stay at this Premier Inn. Breakfast was entertaining though, listening to a gentleman on a table of two couples, very loudly extolling the virtues of using Excel, especially the 2010 version! What an exhilarating conversation for those lucky enough to be with him!

After breakfast, we grabbed our luggage, checked out and headed towards Terminal 5. As part of our hotel’s Sleep Park Fly deal, we’d got Meet and Greet with Purple Parking. We followed their instructions to the car park, and here followed the very easy process of handing over our keys, and descending the lift to the check in desks.

Once Bag Drop was complete, we cleared security. Now it was time to shop, although that proved to be a little disappointing. We looked for some sunglasses for Martin, but as he’s quick to break any sunglasses he has, he was reluctant to spend over £100 on a pair. The only things I ended up buying was some plasters, travel sickness tablets and a meal deal for the plane!

My tablets for motion sickness require them to be taken 2 hours before the flight. I opened the box and read the instructions and discovered I shouldn't drink with them - think that's maybe where I've gone wrong before! Tablets taken, it was rather unfortunate that we were seated right by the champagne bar, which I can assure you I gazed longingly at.

It was soon time to head to the gate, where we had to get on a bus to the plane – it was miles away and I’m sure we can’t possibly have still been at T5! We were soon on board though and found our chosen seats – right at the back of the plane. We were flying on a BA Dreamliner, though I was slightly worried about this as the reviews of it were not good in terms of the space it has for Economy passengers. We had purposely chosen the last row as it was a row of just two seats, so I knew we wouldn’t be shoulder to shoulder with strangers. There was quite a big gap between my seat and the window, which was very handy to access our bags during the flight – no banging head on the seat in front, which I always do when I want my handbag. The only proviso was they had to be stored elsewhere for take off and landing.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275605

We were soon on our way, only about 20 minutes later than scheduled.

The drinks service was brought round fairly quickly, then my tablets kicked in and I had my first little nap of the flight. I was woken by the smell of food. The downside of being at the rear of the plane is that we were last to be served. I could hear the choices being offered a couple of rows in front of us – Chicken Curry or Pasta. I don’t eat spicy food, so had chosen pasta in my head. Unfortunately, by the time we were served, there was only chicken curry left, so I declined the hot part of the meal and just ate the bread roll. Thank goodness for that meal deal from WHSmiths!

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275665

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275692

After lunch, I fell back to sleep for about half of the remaining flight, while Martin watched a couple of films. I’m such a great person to travel with!

Near the end of the flight, they brought a snack of a chicken sandwich and a mini KitKat, which was very welcome.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275757

We were soon nearing our destination, which kept me awake now as the flight approach was very bumpy.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275809

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275876

With just one minute to go, and when we were almost on the ground, the plane suddenly started climbing steeply again and the flight map changed to show a 25 minute landing time. Apparently the wind speed suddenly changed as we were landing and it was no longer safe, so we had to circle for a while. Even Martin felt queasy and my motion sickness tablets had definitely worn off!

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433275929

Thankfully we landed safely on the second attempt and made our way through the airport. The immigration hall seemed quite busy, but it moved a lot faster than the queues at US airports we’ve experienced in the past. It took us 30 minutes to clear immigration in total – the officers certainly don’t ask as many questions as their American counterparts.

We collected our bags from the side of the carousel, and headed towards the ground transportation signs. We easily found the dispatcher and opted for a town car into Downtown Toronto for a flat fee of $60. As we approached our hotel, the newly opened Delta Toronto, I suddenly had a last minute panic as I realised I hadn’t read up about the tipping etiquette. We gave an extra $10 and hoped for the best. (We checked online later and luckily this was an appropriate amount as 15% seems to be the guide.)

We were allocated Room 1214 on the 12th floor, and as we rode up in the lift, I felt a little disappointed that we hadn’t got a higher floor. However, all feelings of disappointment soon disappeared when we entered our room and saw the view awaiting us. We’d booked a corner room, and it had a view of the lake and Toronto Islands from the bathroom, and the CN tower, Rogers centre and aquarium from the bedroom.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433276122

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433276174

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433276256

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433276290

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433276331

We unpacked, freshened up, then decided to head out and have a bite to eat. We checked with the free wifi for somewhere suitable and found a place called Real Sports Bar and Grill which was just a couple of streets away. There weren’t any tables available, but we were invited to sit at one of their bars, which were situated on different levels, and we could order food from there.

They had got a huge range of beers, draught as well as bottled. We eventually chose a beer each and just ordered burgers to eat, which were very tasty and went down well. The bill came to $60, which included a 15% tip.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433276411

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/atta...1&d=1433276475

I'd been feeling fine, but suddenly hit a wall after we'd eaten. Rather than ordering a second drink, we decided to go back to the room, calling at Lando’s store on the way to pick up some essentials for our in-room fridge. I knew from reading Bonzo’s trip report that he’d struggled to find things open early on a Sunday morning, so just in case we were awake at some ungodly hour due to the time difference, we thought we’d buy something for breakfast. We bought some fruit, juices and Danishes, as well as some water and some Diet Pepsi.

We were soon back in our room, trying desperately to stay awake in the VERY comfortable bed, which we only managed to do until about 9:30 pm.