Today is the start of my next adventure with Chris in Canada and the United States of America. Waking up at Aaron's like an excited kid at Christmas - it was still only 4:00 am. I managed to get another couple of hours sleep before Aaron woke me at 6:45. It was a bit of a rush to make sure I had everything but as long as I have my passport, tickets and money. I can make do!
Aaron & Lisa gave me a lift to my mums and we said our goodbyes and I spent an hour with my Mum, Pat & Kobi before I was picked up by Abi, Chris & Abi's friend.
The motorway wasn't busy and we didn't take long to get to Heathrow terminal 5. Parked up and headed inside to drop our bags off, and have a drink before going airside. It was only 9:40 but time for our first beer! To my surprise there was no tears, everyone said their goodbyes - and Chris & I headed for security. The queue was taking ages, and just as it was about to be our turn some posh woman with an airport I.D jumped in front of us. First of all I thought it must have been for an VIP, and maybe she was escorting them though. But I didn't recognise the older women with her.
Then.... There he was, looking very old - Sir Roger Moore!!! 007. He could only just about stand. I know it's bad, but I managed to get a photo on my iPhone! (Celeb spotting!). He didn't even go though the X-ray scanner, they opened a special gate and he just walked straight through. I didn't mind him pushing in when I found out it was James Bond!
Once airside we walked around the shops for a little while and grabbed some food. There isn't a lot of shops to look in unless your a millionaire. All the shops are expensive designer shops.
The flight was called and we made our way to the Gate. Looking around everyone (90%) were over 50. It was like being on a Saga flight. Everyone was onboard and we left on time - the captain loved the sound of his own voice as he wouldn't stop talking! He must have been talking for over 10 minutes! The flight went airborne and within 30 minutes we were drinking another beer! Watched a couple of movies including Adventures and Safe House - I did fall asleep, and think I missed an important bit as I didn't understand what happened at the end. Lunch was ok, the white wine we had with it was not good. Managed to get some sleep, and before we knew it the seatbelt signs were on, and we started our descent to Toronto Airport. The landing was a little bumpy, and we dropped a coupe of times, not sure Chris liked that bit very much. Touchdown! It was very grey and had been raining.
Customs and immigration was really quick, was asked a few questions but didn't have any problems, bags came off quickly, and headed for the shuttle bus down to the city centre. Once onboard the bus with free wifi it was about a 40 minute journey to our stop. We were then able to transfer onto a minivan and that would take us the rest of the way to the hostel.
Checked in and went up to floor 8, checked out the room, it was ok - clean. Dumped our bags and headed out for a beer. We walked up Church Street and then along Bond Street (It was funny considering that we had seen the 007 agent back in Heathrow!). The first nice looking pub we saw was called the Firkin. Had a coors light, and before we knew it we had been there an hour and downed 3 beers, including 2 moose head, it was a good beer and strong! They were doing a pub crawl from the hostel and we wanted to do it. Walked back to the hotel and had a cheeky Mc Donald's. Had our free drink, which was sick - it was some kind of ice tea - really strong and had some dirty olives in it. It was free so we drank it!
We then meet everyone who was going on the pub crawl. There were loads of people form all different countries. Germans, English, Australians, Americans and Canadians! We got the trolley. Before you ask we didn't get in an Asda shopping trolley and push each other down the road - they call trams, trolleys in Canada - so this took us to the first bar. It seemed to be a uni style bar. Cheep drinks.! Chatted to loads of the different people, one girl loved her movies and worked in special effects... Chris didn't look impressed when she hadn't seen all the classics. She had a load of tattoos including one of the outline of a world. Which I quite liked! Oh and one of here tattoos was the Tardis from Doctor Who - (Keen Fan).
From here we walked to the next bar - I must have been more pissed than I thought as i walked straight into a pole on the street. Thank god it didn't hit me in the face, just my shoulder - everyone was pissing themselves and it was funny. It really didn't hurt! But I started laughing when someone said you have cut your face... Checking my face I realised it was just my spot!! it was only 11 o'clock Canadian time but 4 o'clock in the morning for us on UK time. Our last couple of drinks were spirits, and then decided that we were both struggling to stay awake said our goodbyes and decided to get a taxi to our hostel as we didn't have a clue where we were! I was out like a light! An amazing first day.!