The last leg and the trip home

Hello from England!


Friday March 23rd

All-you-can-eat breakfast at our hotel, which was great because it came with entertainment too: a rugby team. They were older teenagers of formidable size & appetite, in various states of black-eyes and bruises.

Close to our hotel live the parents (Peter and Mary) of one of Ted's good friends (Ben), so we wanted to say hello. To our delight, not only did they insist on coming to pick us up, but they had us over for tea. They live in a cute brick home that backs onto a large field and countryside. They also keep a lovely garden and a couple of chickens, named Boss and Heather. They brought them out of the coop and showed us how tame they were. I got to pet them and even hold Heather! Loved it, haha. They very generously offered to drive us to the airport tomorrow and feed us some fish n' chips before we go!

After our visit with them, we headed to the train to meet up with another couple of Ted's friends, Russ & Rachel. Russ drove us to Old Trafford, so that I could see where Manchester United plays. This was quite the sacrifice for him as he is a rather devout Leeds fan. He and Ted were trading gibes the whole time we were in the car. :)

Russ and Rachel drove us into downtown Manchester and took us around the city. So gracious they were, in fact, that they arranged for us to see the Queen! It's true, the Queen was in Manchester and was drawing quite the crowd. By the time we figured out what was going on, there she was, driving past us with her royal wave on display. Tee hee! I saw the Queen!

Manchester has a lot of character and the buildings seem to be a mix of modern/contemporary, and traditional/historical. Really, who can ask for more than that? We walked about town, took in some street markets, buskers, performances, and of course stopped into a few coffee shops and pubs. A little later we met up with some more friends of Russ & Rachel's and headed to dinner.

The place they chose was East is East and it was an excellent Indian restaurant. Upstairs it was quite posh, more like a lounge or a bar. Downstairs was a full-sized restaurant. The menu was huge, I think there was a hundred items on it. We started with some large flat crisps and a variety of dips, naan, samosas... And then I ordered some tiger prawns in some kind of tomato cream sauce (mild of course). It was delicious and a welcome change from what we had been eating on this two-week excursion.

Russ and Rachel graciously took us back to our hotel and we settled in for the night. Tomorrow, a real English football (soccer) game!


Saturday March 24th

Breakfast at the hotel and then some extensive packing since we'd be checking our luggage that evening. Once we were done, Peter and Mary picked us up and surprised us by giving us a little tour of Horwich, Chorley, and more of the countryside. It was a beautiful day, and according to them, most unusual for this time of year.

We came back to the Reebok Stadium in Bolton to watch an English Premier League football match between the Bolton Wanderers and the Blackburn Rovers. It's quite the experience! Ted is a fan of ManU, but there were not ManU games scheduled this weekend. However, Ted enjoys a great game of football and a great game it was. It started with both teams paying homage to a player on the Bolton team who had had a heart attack a few days earlier. It was pretty exciting, although I asked Ted a zillion questions and we had to be careful what we said since we were sitting in the Bolton fan zone. Cheering, chanting, singing... It was a fun time.

After the game, we walked back to Peter and Mary's, and I visited the chickens straightaway. They were proud to present me with the 2 eggs they had laid. :) We had one more good visit over the fish & chips, and off we went to the airport. Our flight was a short one, only to London, where we would crash for the night before our long flight home in the morning.

We had booked this one night at easyHotel, which is kind of like inserting yourself into a bento box. It's very cheap, and I think it's a great option for people who only need a bed to crash in for a few hours. Ted wanted to stay in the airport all night, but I was not a fan of the idea. So, easyHotel it was. Tiny, tiny room. No windows. Tiny, tiny bathroom. No free TV. No extra towels. If you stay more than one night (and why would you?) they don't clean your room until you leave. I thought it was a great idea, for a few hours. Ted, not so much. Maybe our awesome hotels in France spoiled him. Orrrrrr maybe it was the two ants he saw on the floor. Anyways, we inspected it (especially the bed), and it was clean. Coupla ants didn't phase ME. Still, it was good to get outta there.


Sunday March 25th

Early rise this morning. Private car hire to Heathrow. Breakfast at the airport. Air Canada seemingly not on strike. Long flight. We flew over Stanley Park and Downtown Vancouver, and over SFU and I could see our place from the little airplane window. A grin stretched ear-to-ear for the whole way down. Home, sweet home!

Cheers,
E!