Star date 20140908....I made it home, after a great trip.

I decided to try to get an upgrade on the London Vancouver leg as its almost a 10 hr flight and I got it! That was something to look forward to a little wining and dining to take the edge off. I got up nice and early and grabbed me bags and walked to the train station...roller bags in tow...no one was on the streets. It was only a couple of blocks away to catch the Heathrow express.....must say....awesome way to go. No one was in my car. In no time I was at the airport. My big complaint is how far you have to walk...OMG. Seems air Canada is bragging about how they are in the new terminal 2 now holy crap its a serious long walk.... take an energy bar.  

Heathrow is a weird airport...I was having recollections...the signage kinda sucks....but I managed to find the lobby....and they do not tell you your gate...until one hour before departure....in the new terminal the lounges are in different areas...so you kind of need to know. AC has a new lounge....they are bragging about so I decided to head there. The check in girl warned me thought that there is nothing in the new terminal except one coffee shop after the lobby....I decided what the heck....found the lounge....after a long walk again, and it was pretty nice inside and deemed worthy of parking it.  

So the bartender poured me some champagne and orange juice to start. Hmmm it may be a long day lol, decided not to eat as they would be serving a bunch on the plane. the wait wasn't too long...and I wandered down and got the gate when it was already boarding. Found me seat... very different this new layout. It is kind of like a pod but not....I was in a single seat that had like big desk tops next to me on both sides. Pretty cozy though for the ride....and the service began with Champagne...ahhhhhh

What a trip...I saw stuff that I've always wanted to see.... its really hard to put into words the feeling that are invoked by these places that are so historic and important. I can say that there is something in the air at some of them....you can sense that something serious happened here, I especially felt this in the forests of Verdun.....it was almost a sense of dread....very still and quite....and yup ..... ravens not much else it seemed. I think even if I did not know what happened there I would have sensed it.  

Lets see the highlights.... first off its Europe....WOW. So much culture and history its like drinking from a firehose.  

 Dunkirk...was cool to see right out of the gate and awesome that as a Canuck the locals want to show you how great we are. Ypres..... The town is really interesting....great place to hang out and sip beers or cappuccinos. Tons of tourists one thing I noticed on this trip....the different languages....I heard them all I think. But I found it super interesting that the predominate language was German. Every where I was ..... there were a lot of German tourists. I thought that was kinda cool as being the aggressors in both conflicts perhaps they would be shy to see the sites...but no. They want to know the history and thats a great thing...as chances are those who know won't repeat.  

Belgium in general is a cool country...lot of very well kept houses and groomed ... almost manicured lawns. Everybody was super friendly I met. I could go on for hours about the beer there....mmmmm is all I got to sum it up best. Even the roads there are neat and efficient. No lane splitting or filtering here though...the only downside I found. Language was never a problem either. 

My whole plan of no plan worked pretty good as by accident I pretty much followed the WWI front line. Vimy was on me list to see and was so worth it and was natural to go to as it was along the front line I ended up following anyways.  

At Vimy, as a canuck you can stick your chest out walking around there. The memorial is appropriate....big and tall and awesome...just like the actions taken to earn the recognition Canada as a nation earned in that battle. It something to see and every Canadian should see it at some time. Got my piece of the tunnels to add to the collection.   

Verdun really shows the extreme of it all as the landscape is still marred and will always be. amazing as it is very pretty country in that area. It is great that they made the whole area into a memorial park. Seemed fitting. but when you see the memorial...and all the markers ... wow ... lot of reality check.  

The Somme area is different... it is french farm land....dotted with memorials...everywhere....I mean everywhere. Its a big area....and again...really puts it home how big the front and some of the major battle areas were and this really was big. Books don't give you that sense of awe that is for sure.  

I seem to only have one disappointment in the trip and that was Bastogne..as I did go out of my way to go there....and friggggg closed. The only problem of seat of the pants planning I guess is once in a while you get a surprise. What I do know is the Ardenne area is beautiful and well worth going back just to explore the areas. The town was great....and of course the beer was awesome so in the end .... still a great choice. Cutting across then to Normandy was an excellent decision....

Normandy is beautiful on its own and is what I imagine France to be. Windy country roads....cool villages...cafes everywhere.... etc etc. It fit the bill. The historical sites for me were just icing on the big cake I already had. It is something to explore where history happened....yet when you had enough of that...there was a cool french cafe to sit and people watch if you wanted or a cool creperie to get a buzz from. I had respect for what was done there before I went..now I have ten times more after actually seeing how difficult it must have been.  

Ten hours on a plane gives you a lot of time to ponder specially when you are sipping way too much Cognac. Why cognac on this one I was not sure but it was going down good. I tried the lamb for me meal...but I think it was a goat....even with me normal cutlery the goat won. At one point I think I was making sparks on the plate I was going at it so hard...it was more of a challenge after a while as I didn't seem to be too hungry anyways so was not a big deal.  

I managed to watch 3 movies somehow and if you haven't seen The Other Woman yet....do... I was laughing out loud on the plane...got a few stares... I just pointed to the cognac glass and gave the universal oops. My strategy was to stay up no sleep as we are chasing the sun going east....makes no sense to sleep on the plane. That way when I get home...will be tired and sleep like a log. Well soon enough we were on final....the flight went fast I managed to entertain meself pretty well and didn't piss off the other folks on the plane in the process. I did play with my seat a lot....it was a bit baffling how it worked...but got comfy for most of me flight and did laps for a while too. Raided the buffet and have a pile of dark chocolate bars in me bag heh heh. The big surprise was upon landing I was pinged that they cancelled me flight home ... ughhhh. Here we go.  

Customs was a breeze....and they had already booked me on the next flight...and I got me upgrade the downside was that I had to kill 4 more hours.....and I think the time zones were catchin up to me fast....as I was fading fast. I could barely keep me eyes open. So I found a chair in the lounge...and parked it. It took everything in me to stay awake...I think it was the cognac. So the time to get on the plane finally arrived and they had a 767...so I got a pod for the 1 hour flight. LOL. I forced myself to play Jewelz on me phone the entire flight....no sleeping. Got into edmonton....and my bags made it WAHOOOOOOO a successful trip. I just had to take it easy on the drive home as I was really tired. But soon enough my garage door was opening. 

I had to be at work the next morning for a day..then surgery the next (the knees).....should be an interesting week. As I didn't know how I would feel and to not confuse Zoe I left her with Krista for a couple more days. So I came home to a quiet place...but was good to be home.....great trip with a lot of memories...slept like a log.  

Thanks for sticking it out and hope I didn't bore ya to death.  

ohhh and if you are having a hard time deciding between a BMW K1600GT and R1200RT...get the RT...for sure.  

Until next time.....

ps I've added some videos from the previous days to this as I have good high speed now to do it...