And so our travels have begun!!!! Cheesy grin It was harder to say goodbye to Mom than I imagined it would be. After Dad died, both of our bodies' crashed and where I came down with a ton of crippling bronchitis, Mom was struck down with 'flu and also ended up in bed. So, everything I was going to achieve in those few days was not achieved and Graeme was left to do all the final planning by himself...iow....this trip is a genuine case of me tagging along by the hairy end of my nose....I have little idea of what the itinerary holds and I am simply along for the ride.

Goodbye to my children at OR Tambo was also yucky since this trip home was almost entirely missed by their mother due to nursing my dad and then myself. So, after a quick bite to eat with them we were on our way through airport security.

The flight to Heathrow was as they go....semi-sleepless and uncomfortable. Crossed a time-line that didn't shock us too much. Then boarded for Toronto...only to have breakfast again - Air Canada is not the best airline with which to fly...and that is all I have to say. Brief stop-over in Toronto and then we were crossing another timeline to Vancouver....and had breakfast yet again!!!!! My brain simply clutched out and refused to co-operate....thus I managed to get a little sleep. Caught the skytrain to the waterfront and caught the seabus across the harbour to stay with friends of friends in Northern Vancouver.

Had a really pleasant evening out and ate Canadian salmon for supper and went home to die on a glorious bed. However, my biological clock was not convinced and insisted on waking me out of habit :) So, I had a really early shower and was ready to make my way back to the airport before the sparrows had started to wake.

And so we found ourselves back at the airport to fly to Calgary. The airport experience was something to behold!!!! But we moved through quickly enough and boarded our flight to cross yet another timeline!!! Arrived in Calgary and went to hire our Yaris and drove out in a beeeeg Ford SUV...driving on the wrong side of the road and nervously navigating our way to our first couch serving destination.

Anna and Quinn have been most welcoming and have given us many anecdotes to ponder upon with regard to our trip across the Rockies. So, we start tomorrow proper with our first leg to the Yoho National Park after visiting Heritage Park Village here in Calgary.