Toronto was all about catching up with friends. Reunions long time in the making. After our red eye flight which was only about 4 hours with minimal sleep, we arrived in Toronto, bleary eyed but looking forward to seeing friends.

We caught the express train from the airport to Union train station where we met up with Nancy. I originally met Nancy back in 1996 while travelling in Western Australia. I was on my first backpacking trip up north and we ended up in the same cabin at Exmouth. We had some great times together there including a crazy mouse that liked Nancy's backpack a little too much, a dive trip and shared backpacker budget meals plus much more. When she travelled to Sydney she stayed with mum and also met Grandpa so this friendship is a long one. I caught up with her at Niagra Falls back in 2002 and mum and I also caught up with her in Toronto in 2006.

Unfortunately because we had our bags and there is no where to store them we were limited to what we could do. Found somewhere to have breakfast and just caught up with what has been happening these past 10 years. Mum then stayed with the bags while Nancy and I visited an outdoor store.

All too quickly it was time to say goodbye and we jumped on a train headed out to Abbeys. Now here is where the confusion started. Abbey had told me which train to catch and to get off at the last stop. So as we jumped on the train, I used Nancy's phone to call Abbey and tell her we were on the way and we would get off at Aldershot. However, while on the train I started re-reading our numerous messages and saw the station Burlington mentioined so thought that is where she wanted us to get off (2nd last station). So totally, confused, I borrowed someone's phone to call her and it went straight to message bank once again (unknown to me, her daugher had decided to drop the phone this morning and break it).

So mum and I got off at Burlington and followed everyone else. Luckily the stations have wi-fi so was able to message Abbey. She was a couple of minutes late but then messaged to say she was there. Now this station is under construction and poorly signed posted. It ended up taking a good 30mins for us to finally find each other but at least we could still laugh about it when we finally did connect and give each other a big hug.

Abbey and I know each other from camp, dating back to 2006. We haven't seen each other since I finished camp in 2011. Since then, Abbey has married Simon (also from camp) and they have had a beautiful daughter Hope, who happens to suffer from Cystic Fibrosis. After seeing pictures and hearing stories of this beautiful girl for the past 3 years I finally got to meet her and she is such a delight. I'm so glad I got to spend this time with this beautiful family and wonderful friends and also mum got to meet them too.

On Friday we just did a lot of chatting, trying to stay awake although we both did doze off on occasion. It was an early night and had the best sleep in ages. Yesterday was a day of relax and laundry (very exciting after 3 weeks of travel). Mum curled up on the couch with her book, Nolan (beautiful puppy) not too far from her side and Abbey and I caught some sun rays outside, and chatted some more from everything about camp, life, death, family, the hands that are dealt to us and the list goes on. Time really does disappear when you are with true friends.

Then they were nice enough to cook mum's favourite meal - bangers and mash for dinner!! The time went way too quickly. It was also a big lesson for mum and I in the day of a life of a young girl with CF. Hope is a trouper and I guess she knows no difference but what Abbey and Simon do as parents....I don't even have words. This is one special family and I'm glad we got to be part of it for a small while. All is will say, if you have never had the chat about being an organ donar with your family please have the chat now and make sure everyone know's your wishes because one day Hope will need one (and I'm sure a little girl or boy in Australia will too) and you could be their hope and future!!!

So today, Abbey drove us to the airport but we stopped for brunch and cauught up with another old friend Julie and her partner Jody. You may wonder why my blog is called funmaster...well Julie is the reason. Back in the day at camp, I was responsible for staff activities in the evening (this was back before wi-fi and a way to try and keep staff on camp and not out at the pub) and Julie labelled me with the nickname "Funmaster". So when I started my first online blog heading to South America, the name Tanya was taken and all I could think of was 'funmaster'. So thanks Julie. Another great catch up.

All too soon, Abbey drove us to the airport and it was time for goodbyes. I'm just glad for sunglasses and waterproof mascara!!! Since we were quite early, when checking in we asked if we could get on an earlier flight. We decided the 2.45pm was cutting it too close but he put us on standby for 3.45pm (original flight at 4.50pm). This was the longest it took us to get through security (being extra careful with laptops) and they also did pre-screening for American immigration. We got through and headed to the gate for the earlier flight.

Our name was called up and when I went up she said she currently only had one seat but she would fix it and call me back. About 15mins later she called me back and the look she gave me I thought it was bad news. She said she had good news, but bad news. Managed two seats but one was first class and I should speak to my 'travelling companion' and decide. No worries I said. Went back to mum and said "Do you want to travel business?" Mum couldn't believe it. She had been worried about flying standby as we wouldn't be seated together.

All good, Mum got to board first, I got to board last and as I was boarding I saw our originaly flight was delayed too 6.10pm so it all worked out well!! On to NYC