Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Thursday, January 1, 2009

DAY EIGHT

I believe in the old adage, “Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted” and carefully plan my early morning journey to Glasgow Airport for my return home. I pick up a copy of the Glasgow Flyer (airport bus) timetable and phone them to check the New Year’s Eve schedule. I ask the hotel desk clerk to arrange a wakeup call for 5:00 am and book a taxi for 5:10. I pack my bags the night before and try to get some sleep. Everything went well and I caught the 5:30 Glasgow Flyer from Buchanan Bus Terminal, using my £6.50 return ticket, which got me to the airport at 5:55. I had fun logging on to the free WiFi while on the bus.
At the Air Transat counter I check in my luggage, get my boarding card and go in search of breakfast. Of the several options available, at O'Briens I order a toasted bagel with cream cheese and tomato and a peppermint tea, knowing my stomach could not handle coffee that early, £3.80.
The flight is just about full and our scheduled 9:10 departure is delayed 25 minutes because the plane was late arriving from the US. I get some sleep on board and we touch down at about 11:45 am. Hubby is there to meet me as I emerge from customs and immigration. So, surprisingly, is my cousin Doug who works at Pearson – he’d read about my arrival on hubby’s Facebook.
The so-called TTC Airport Rocket is light-years behind the Glasgow Flyer in terms of convenience and comfort. There are no proper luggage racks and it’s chaos as folks jostle to get a place. The driver announces that there will be a route change as highway 427 is closed because of an accident. He shuts off the GPS and the display blinks “System Paused”. An apt welcome back to Toronto I think.