Back on the home planet.

 

And that’s a reference to the “Frankenfurter”  comment from last week that I totally did not get until about three in the morning on Friday.  

There was no need to set the alarm of course,  even though we needed to up by four.  So when I was lying there an hour earlier,  the coin finally dropped and I almost said aloud, “ooooohhh”.   I think T.C. was sleeping.  Blurting that out loud wouldn’t have been wise.

The knowledge is “in there”  kids,  it’s just that it’s sometimes behind a “firewall”.  That’s my excuse.

 

I’m not going to relay too much about the trip,  it was relatively uneventful.   Had a job getting the two huge suitcases into the trunk of the cab,  even though it was a Merc.  We managed. 

We’d prefer to travel considerably lighter,  but there had been many,  many shopping excursions over the previous year or so,  and there was no way any of it was getting left behind.

 

 

 

We did have a little time to kill at Schiphol,  which can be a bit dangerous.  No mention of any purchases in keeping with the Christmas “need to know”.   You don’t need to know.

 

There were a couple of these visits.   I waited outside.  I always wait outside.  I can go “leash free” thankfully.

 

 

And here’s just a couple contrasts between Schiphol and Toronto.

 

 

Cool huh?

 

Then you get to Toronto.

 

Wow.  The creativity in the design details is just underwhelming. 

 

Really?  I don’t see anyone working.  

 

Oh,  and that moving sidewalk?   It wasn’t working the last time we went through Toronto, hence the photo.  That would have been in August of 2011.   Guess they’re waiting on a part.

 

But remember,  the motto for Toronto International is,  “We’re not happy,  until you’re not happy”.   Credit to my sister-in-law Ljuba for that one.  Thanks.  It’s the first thing that pops into my head after I’ve come off the Jet way. 

Oh,  but in fairness,  the Jet way was actually heated.  That was a nice touch.  I was totally surprised.

 

 

It took us just about an hour to get through customs.  And I don’t mean the part where you have to “declare”  or whatever,  I’m just talking about the line to get to that point.   Of the 12 “ticket booths”  that were supposedly looking after those who had Toronto as their final destination, (poor unfortunate bastards) only six were open.  It’s just a mystery.   I mean, doesn’t someone do scheduling?  Or do customs agents just randomly show up for work??   The thing is,  once you’re through,  you tend to forget just how crappy the service is,  but I still just might contact my MP.  

I’m going to leave that topic alone for the moment,  since I can feel my blood pressure starting to mount.

 

We did have a bit of a job getting the luggage into the back of the Jetta,  but we made it happen.  It was just a matter of which bag went in first.  (Well,  there might have been some grunting involved.)

 

I did NOT offer to drive and chose to chill out in the back.  Usually we rent a car and I have to stay alert enough to get us home.  I didn’t mind it in the back seat one bit.

 

 

I think I might have exaggerated the mileage on that car.  It only has 334,000+ kms on the odometer.  I’ve driven it around town a couple times over the last day or so ,  and I have to say,  it still drives very nicely in spite of its age.  Helps to have a good mechanic too I suppose.

 

There had been some talk of lasagne as the meal of choice upon our arrival,  but the blog is a mighty tool of influence it seems,  and we had our traditional pizza instead. 

Made our choices ‘on the line’.

 

I think we lasted until about 8:30 p.m. or so,  and that’s been right around the time that we’ve been going to bed every night up to this point.  It usually takes us the better part of the week to finally get adjusted to the six hour time difference. 

 

What day is it?   Monday?   Right.  More “stuff” to do.  Our dentist appointment is already set up for Wednesday,  but I got a note from “Finance Dude”  to give him a call this morning.  We need to have “speaks” with him. 

 

Hope you have a fine Monday.

 

Thanks for stopping in.

 

.