Welcome Home

-5 degrees celcius!!!  What a welcome home to Canada.  When we left Melbourne it was close to 30 celcius so the change was drastic on the system!  But welcome home indeed.

I love flying and love it even more when you get bumped up to Premium Economy.  Now for those out there who don't understand "Premium", it is not Business class but the seats are just as big and roomy with amazing service!  I had just become a member of the Qantas Club so I think that helped.  The flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles was 13 1/2 hours with an hour waiting on the tarmac in Melbourne because of the thunderstorm that was raging around us.  But that 13 1/2 hours absolutely flew by (no pun intended!).  Unfortunately we were back in the cattle class on our 4 1/2 hour American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Toronto and believe me that flight felt much longer than the first one!

The one thing that bothers me though...the cost of the flights to Canada were extraodinary, well over $3,000 each and we still had to pay for food on American Airlines!  Even had to pay for a blanket and pillow if you wanted one...what is with that?!

Upon arriving in Toronto I found that my suitcase had been absolutely smashed!!! the entire structure of the case was smashed and the only thing holding it together was the material.  So much for claiming on my 10 year warranty as there is no way I am going to be able to get it back home.  At least the zipper had held and all my stuff was still encased!

But after all of this the best thing is walking out of the arrival doors, you actually feel like a star coming through those doors...everyone waiting for someone.  We were basically some of the first out and it is wonderful to see smiling faces waiting for you!  I hadn't seen my sister Cindy, my nephew Chris and my neice Lea for 19 months.  Yes we had talked on the phone but it isn't the same as putting your arms around someone and really squeezing!  Mind you with all the coats and clothing they were wearing it was hard to find the body to hug!!  It was a wonderful feeling though.

We headed to my mom and dad's place, where we are spending our first 5 nights, and once again had the joy of hugging them!  I love "welcome home" hugs!  But to get there had to travel along Highway 401, well I forgot what it was like!  I have decided that we don't have traffic in Melbourne...at all. 8 lanes going east and 8 going west...stopped!  Amazing.  But we finally did make it through and I have decided that I will never again complain about traffic in Melbourne.

The first few days have been a bit of a whirlwind.  The second day we were here there was a party with all my work collegues from the past.  People who were police officers, civilians and immigrations officers that I worked with in another life.  Some of them I hadn't seen in 20 years!  What a great night put on by my dear friend Deb.  It was great catching up with so many people that I hadn't seen in ages and it was amazing that it seemed like I had never been gone at all!  We just picked up where we had left off, other than catching up on what we had all been doing during those years.  I must admit though that there were a few faces I knew but the names had escaped me.  I just blame it on the MS when in fact it is probably just old age and passing time!  But it didn't matter because eventually all those names came back to me. (photos are soon to follow)

We are only on day 4 and already I feel like we have done so much, with so much more to do.  And the weather has decided that it is going to make it hard for us to drive anywhere!  There is a huge storm on the way with rain, freezing rain and snow and it isn't technically winter yet.  I don't think Russ is too impressed, but we will get through it! 

However the weather doesn't really matter when you get the time to spend with family and friends.  I love being "Welcomed Home"!