Day 139 - 11 Nov '23 - Summerland to Vancouver. We were awoken suddenly at 2:30am by the wind outside. It was blowing quite a bit, and when we got up, the outdoor mats had been flipped over, and the trees that had been losing their leaves had dropped an awful lot more.
It was drizzling by the time we left, and as we climbed higher into the pass, the drizzle turned to snow. And snow, when it lands on ground that isn't cold, turns to slush.
And slush is NOT nice to drive on.
"This isn't going to be much fun for the next few hours, is it?" Dan asked, as the car slipped and slid on the road.
We passed a car and a van in the median ditch, covered in snow; they'd clearly been there all night. We also saw another car on the other side of the highway, at the side of the road, facing the wrong way!
"Ooh, that would have been scary!" I said, as I noticed the driver in the front seat.
Never before have I been so happy to be travelling at 38kph behind a truck, as we were today. Especially when said truck was a snowplough.
We had to go through two passes on our way to Vancouver; the first was bad enough, the second was much less pleasant, as there was a long, steep downhill.
"It's a very fine line of braking but not braking too hard," Dan said as he negotiated another corner, and I gripped the seat as we passed a truck.
Fortunately, each time we descended, the snow would change back to rain, and we just had to deal with our usual aquaplaning.
We did have some extra 'excitement' though, as the slow leak the back left tyre had been having since we picked the car up, suddenly became less of a slow leak and more of an urgent concern.
"The tyre pressure is now 14psi!" I noticed in disbelief, as it had been 26psi when we left this morning.
"Yeah, that's not good," Dan agreed.
We pulled into a petrol station and pumped up the tyre, but after just 20 minutes it had dropped from 41psi to 20psi.
"We need to get that fixed," Dan said. "Can you find the nearest tyre repair shop?"
Another 20 minutes later, and the technician at a nearby garage gave us the bad news - not only was there a nail (which we could see, and hear the air hissing out past it), but he couldn't legally repair the tyre as the tread was not road legal. Also, he didn't have any tyres our size in stock to replace it, or the other back tyre, which was just as bad.
He kindly pumped it back up again and directed us to a nearby tyre shop, but they didn't have anything the required size either.
Cue phone call to Budget, where I got stuck in an endless loop of messages between three different customer service people.
"Aaarrgghhh, this is ridiculous!"
Cue visit to Budget at the airport where we first collected the car. Best option, we get a new car for the remaining five days of our trip. Worst option, we have to empty the boot and swap out the spare for the puncture. Of course, when I say "we", we all know I really mean "Dan". (By the way, I do know how to change a tyre...).
"We're getting a new car," Dan said when he came back, "but we've got to go and fill the petrol tank in this one first, so we don't get charged really high rates."
And thus, we were on a race against time to get to the nearest petrol station and back, before the air leaked out the tyre. Now we could let the insurance deal with it (and the cracked windscreen we've had for a while).
We quickly cleared the car out and tidied as best we could without a vacuum cleaner, then drove away in our new car. The funny thing is that in three days, when we return to Abbotsford after our stay in Vancouver, we have to swap the car for another one for our last day. This is because it was cheaper and easier to rent a new car for our final day, than it was to extend the existing rental.
It's a long weekend here for Remembrance Day, and we were treated to fireworks going off until late at night.
"That's something new," I said to Dan. "I've never experienced fireworks on Remembrance Day before, it's always been a very solemn affair, with parades and wreaths and church services!"
"I suppose it makes sense though," Dan replied, "as there was a big party when the war ended the first time, so why not celebrate it every year like this?"
I guess he's got a point...
Day 140 - 12 Nov '23 - Vancouver. What a fantastic day we have had! Bargains and chocolate galore!! Fair warning, excessive amount of exclamation marks ahead!!!
After a great sleep and a lazy start, we drove to the mall in Metrotown, the first mall we went to when arrived in Vancouver. We were heading to Granville Island Market, specifically to buy some maple syrup candied salmon nuggets!
We got the SkyTrain into town, and while waiting for the bus connection to the market, Alex spotted a Ghirardelli cart, with people handing out free chocolates!
"Can we get one? Can we get one?" came the voices of two excited children
"Sure!" I replied.
We still had time before the bus arrived, so when the kids came back, WE went and got a free chocolate square too!
"Can we get another one?"
"No, that would be rude."
When we were on the bus, Abi spotted a second Ghirardelli cart on the other side of the road!
"Oh man! We could have gone there and got MORE!" she said.
"Can we go when we get back?" Alex asked.
"They won't be there," both Dan and I said, "but if they are, then sure!"
At the market, we once again admired lots of stalls with a huge range of products, on our way to the salmon nuggets.
"How is it?" Dan asked, as I'd been waiting to buy this for the last four-and-a-half months.
"It's alright," I replied down heartedly.
The name sounded yummy, and they looked really tasty; bite-sized morsels of salmon roasted with maple syrup. But while they tasted delicious, they were a bit hard and dry, like they'd been baked a week too long.
We then bought a punnet of fresh blackberries, and ate them outside in the same place we had our sandwiches last time. This time was quite a bit colder!
We got the bus back to the SkyTrain, and lo and behold, the Ghirardelli reps were still there! Not only that, but they were handing out TWO chocolates each!!
"This is AWESOME!" we all said, as we all walked away with four chocolates each (apart from Alex, who had been given FIVE!).
Back at the mall, Alex, Dan, and I had some ManchuWok honey and garlic chicken with noodles for lunch, while Abi had Burger King chips. The ManchuWok was a meal Dan had been waiting to eat again since we had it here the first time around.
"It's just as good as last time," he said with glee.
And also just like last time, there was waaaaay too much to eat for lunch, so all three of us saved half our meal for dinner.
I had a $10 voucher to use at a cheap clothing store, from when I bought a pair of shorts, but returned them the next day due to an unnoticed hole.
Bargain number one of the day: I used the $10 voucher to go towards some gloves, and they had a special on of "buy one, get one for $1"! Two pairs of gloves for just $4CAD!!
After the mall, we went to Lemonade Gluten Free Bakery again, and got bargain number two of the day, as the parking meter had 38 minutes still on it!
The queue for the shop was out the door, and the range was a bit limited when we got inside, but we still all managed to find something we wanted.
We then drove to a nearby designer outlet village, which reminded me of a place called Streets in England. It was all decorated for Christmas, and with it getting dark at 4:30pm, and being cold, it really did feel magical! CAN NOT WAIT for it to get even more Christmassy!
We went an ASICS outlet store to get Abi and I some new trainers, where we got bargain number three. Abi's trainers were down from $90 to $75, and bargain number four, my trainers were $170 down to $110 and had an additional 40% off to make the price $65! SCORE!
After that we walked across the way to a Lindt shop, where a lady in the store was handing out free Lindt balls! They had a special offer of 75 Lindt balls for just $32CAD, and then the guy at the checkout said we were short by two balls (which we weren't), so the kids ran to get an extra ball each. (I'm not sure if I should classify that as free chocolate number five or bargain number five).
We went to one more shop to find some trousers for me, but instead got bargain number five (or six, depending on how you counted the last one). Abi got some waterproof trail shoes for just $40, and Alex's waterproof hiking boots were marked $90 but cost just $65!
Like I said, bargains and chocolates galore!!
In the car on the way back to the house, I decided to try out the Bang&Olufsen speakers, with a bass-line mix of Galvanise by the Chemical Brothers, Evenflow by Pearl Jam, Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac, Born Slippy by Underworld, Money For Nothing by Dire Straits, and rounded out by most of Killing In The Name by Rage Against the Machine. (I said most as I stopped the track before the best bit).
As we all know, you don't buy a car based on the stereo system, but HOLY CRAP the songs sounded good! Would have loved to have heard all of the last song, but there's no way we're teaching the kids that yet, ha ha ha ha!
Back at the house, we ate our leftover Chinese for dinner, then were serenaded with SIX HOURS of fireworks, despite the rain. Unfortunately, the accommodation we were in had dreadful condensation on the inside of their double glazing, so we couldn't see a thing.
Day 141 - 13 Nov '23 - Vancouver to Abbotsford. Both Dan and I had a pretty average sleep, but with an 11am checkout and only an hour to drive, it didn't matter too much.
We packed up our gear and moved to our last accommodation before we leave North America. This new place had some interesting rules (no loud feet after 8pm, only use the washing machine between 10am and 3pm), but they did have a 1pm check-in, and are letting us stay until 1pm on check-out day at no extra charge, so we can't complain too much.
After a short walk in the neighbourhood, we went to the supermarket for the last time.
"I'm so sorry," Dan said to the checkout operator, as he handed over all our coins. "We're leaving for the UK and there's no coin machine here."
The operator smiled, while clearly cursing us with her eyes, as she counted out $13 in coins of various denominations. I tried to help, but when you don't know the value of the coins, there wasn't really any point.
Last full day tomorrow, with no plans other than laundry and to eat as much of our food as possible!
Day 142 - 14 Nov '23 - Abbotsford. Have you ever slept on a wooden floor? How about a carpeted one? The mattress we slept on last night was slightly softer than that, an incredibly dense memory foam with little give. So long as we stayed in one place it wasn't too bad, but shifting position meant we had to wait until the divots softened and reformed before it was comfortable again. We were toasty warm though, under an incredibly thick and large mink blanket.
Our first port of call was Budget, to return the car and get a new one for our last day. It only took half an hour, and we were on our way again, in exactly the same car! A bit of an annoyance, but got us out the house at least.
"It's easier for them," Dan explained, "as they don't have to valet the car twice."
After buying some toiletries, we headed back to the house to have some lunch and do some laundry (in our allotted time), then went out for a walk in the afternoon.
It was pretty crisp at just 6°C, but it was still nice to walk in the streets and play in a playground before the sun went down.
The rest of our last evening here was spent watching TV and eating dinner. Apart from Alex, who decided he would rather be rude and argumentative and disrespectful, and then chose to leave the table, dinner uneaten.
Which meant he also missed out on finishing the icecream.
"There's only three clean bowls anyway," Dan told me as he got them out the cupboard. "Looks like it was meant to be!"
Day 143 - 15 Nov '23 - Canada to United Kingdom! Our concrete floor of a mattress provided us with another fabulously shit sleep - just what you want the night before flying. (We also lose nine hours of our day on the trip, which I'm sure will help immensely when it comes time to drive in London).
The Airbnb host had graciously allowed us to stay an extra three hours at the house for free, which gave us lots of time to pack our rucksacks without feeling rushed.
Dan and I have added some socks and a pair of shoes each, Dan had a new merino jumper, and I had an additional tshirt, so we didn't do too badly.
Our children, on the other hand, had managed to accumulate a whole lot of 'stuff', including a collection of laces, puzzle books, shoes, cups, crayons, stickers, tshirts, hats, balls, and lots and lots of motel pens!
"When we get to Europe, you can't take any of this stuff," Dan and I told them.
"What??? What not?"
"Because you can't carry them while you're walking around!"
The rucksack duffel bags were loaded with some of the extra things as well as Abi's booster seat. I'd been hoping to be able to leave it in Canada, but the UK limits are different again, and she still needs it for a while.
"But really it's a good thing," Dan told her, "as you'll be able to see out the window easier!"
It was unfortunately raining as we left the house, so that ruled out a playground to spend our remaining three hours before check-in. We found a shopping mall to wander around, and by the time we left, the rain had stopped.
"Let's find a playground or a park," I suggested, "as any time moving outside is what we want, since we'll be stuck sitting down for ages."
Dan dropped us off at one end of a nearby lake and drove to the playground at the other side, while the kids and I walked around. He had a headache, so I'd told him to enjoy the peace and quiet in the car.
It was eventually time to go to the airport and hand the keys back to the rental car. We then spent an enjoyable two hours playing charades, drawing games, and downloading books for our kindles.
Time to start the next leg of our world tour!
Our first flight was just an hour and fifteen minutes to Calgary, where we had just one hour before our flight departed for Heathrow.
It was a quick walk through the airport, and by the time we got to the gate, they were already boarding the plane. Being one of the last to board a plane has its benefits though, as everyone around our seats was already sitting, and we had plenty of time and space to get ourselves sorted.
Our flight was due to depart at 9pm, but that didn't happen. Instead, we spent an hour in the de-icing bay!
We took off just after 10pm, and at 11pm (Calgary time) we were given our dinner. There's nothing quite like flying to screw up your eating patterns.
Day 144 - 16 Nov '23 - Heathrow to Petersfield. After we had some food, the cabin lights dimmed, to encourage us all to sleep.
I then spent the next three hours 'encouraging' Alex and Abi to sleep, by perpetually switching off their screens and telling them to go to sleep.
The obligatory screaming child in the seat in front of us woke Alex up after about 20 minutes of sleep, and Abi finally fell asleep just as they were serving us breakfast (which consisted of an egg and cheese split muffin).
This of course meant both kids were fractious and less-than-nice to be around for the rest of the day. Just what we needed when we, too, were overtired.
After collecting our bags, we then went to get our rental car. What should have been a nice, easy process, turned out to be a two-and-a-half hour drama.
"I'm sorry," the guy behind the counter said, "the voucher you have bought doesn't include the mandatory local charges."
"Oh, that's okay, we have third party insurance that covers those, as well as collision damage, up to £50,000."
"No, it doesn't, as you bought it in Canada, and to get that price, it needed to have been bought by a Canadian or American credit card, and your card is from New Zealand."
"What??? Well, what is the cost of the mandatory charges you say we need to pay?"
"That would be an additional £33 a day."
"WHAT?! That's more than the cost of the car!"
"I recommend you call the company to see what they can do."
Dan was shaking with anger by this stage, so I hopped on the phone...and then promptly handed it back to Dan as they wouldn't speak to me without his permission.
Meanwhile, I went and spoke to the guy behind the counter again, to see what their price would be to rent a car direct from them.
"The best offer is £3000 for 26 days."
"But our rental is 56 days! There's no way we can afford that!"
"That's because you're now a 'walk-in' and aren't getting the best prices anymore."
"That's ridiculous! That's double the price we paid for the full 56 days!"
"You could look online, as the prices are often cheaper."
Dan came back and said the person on the phone couldn't remove the additional charge, and we had two options: cancel and get a full refund if we rebook direct with them, or cancel and lose three days' rental if we rebook with someone else.
While Dan phoned the company again, I looked online and found a cheaper deal than the one offered at the desk, still with Hertz, and the EXACT SAME car we had already booked. Dan cancelled the existing booking and asked for a refund, and we finally got on the road.
It was now 4:20pm and dark, it had started raining, and we were back to driving on the left side of the road - a perfect situation to be in when super tired.
We were staying with our friends Richard and Su in a little village called West Meon. They weren't going to be home until 7:30pm as their kids were at football practice, so we drove to nearby Petersfield and grabbed some McDonald's for dinner.
As we were sitting there eating, practically holding our eyelids open, Dan spotted a motor-inn just across the road.
"Shall we just stay here tonight?" he asked.
"Yep," came the reply from all three of us.
We were just too tired to be any company, and we couldn't inflict our kids on them in the state we were in. Abi had been in tears earlier when Alex put his elbow on her rucksack.
After sending Su a message to apologise for not being there tonight after all, we checked in to our room, and were all asleep at 8:30pm.
Day 145 - 17 Nov '23 - Petersfield to West Meon. Abi woke up at 2am with a nose bleed, which disturbed our sleep for a bit. I couldnt get back to sleep for an hour, and Dan took three hours.
"Oh my god!" Dan suddenly yelled, "we have to get up - it's 10:15am!"
We had just slept for about 12 hours!
A quick shower, and then Dan gave me the best news ever - check out was 12pm. The shower could slow down, along with my heart rate!
We'd missed the breakfast time slot, so drove into town to find a good old English pub. It was lovely to be walking through the narrow streets and old buildings, and the traditional English breakfast was inhaled in short order.
We headed to West Meon mid-afternoon, and met Su in time to go for a walk together around the village before collecting their younger son from school. Then later, we went for another walk to the local shop for gluten free pasta for dinner, while Su picked up their elder son.
It's been a long wait for me to get back to the UK, and I was loving it - I can't wait for it to get colder and darker, and for all the Christmas lights to come out!
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