The Journey Home

Cadets this past Monday went by like standard routine; the only differences were that I had to return all the resources I borrowed & tell the unit where I was heading off too. The cadets wished me well on my way back to Canada & my upcoming summer employment. The officers held a small after party to celebrate my time spent at the unit & mourn my departure. Or was it the other way around?

By the time I got back to my empty room, it was late in the night & I decided to stay awake rather than nap. With the help of my roommate Ben, we carried my suitcases to his car at 4:45am & drove towards the airport. The Christchurch Airport is in the middle of a mass expansion project, meaning I had to be dropped off several metres away from the International terminal. With my suitcases stacked on a metal cart, I thanked my roommate for the lift & bid him farewell until the next time we met.

Lucky for me, there were no queues at the Air New Zealand check in counters & I was able to get everything done in 5 minutes. Once free of my heavy suitcases, I reluctantly paid the $25NZD departure fee & made my way through security. With two hours to spare, I napped on a chair for several minutes before I was awoken by loud Chinese tourists.

The flight to Sydney was uneventful & I spent most of the time watching the critically acclaimed action film The Dark Knight. My plane touched down in Sydney 3 hours later & I was dropped off in the same area where I waited for my flight to Christchurch after visiting my brother in Australia. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate that $3200AUS cognac set in the Duty Free store.

It was here where I met up with my brother & we both hopped onto the 14 hour flight to Vancouver. Yes, 14 hours! Nothing serious happened when we were waiting except for the occasional crying baby. Despite being in my twenties, I have yet to fly in a Boeing 747 or an Airbus 380 – the largest passenger jets in the world. It’s tough to sit through a 14 hour flight, especially when you’re flying second class (PC name is economy class). Despite the entertainment system, the flight slowly progressed to its end, and the quality of food wasn’t that bad but not as good as before. Next time, I’m flying first class (PC name is business class).

Landing in Vancouver ended my 51-week absence from Canadian soil & after disembarking from the aircraft, I had an extreme craving for Tim Horton’s donuts. Unfortunately, my brother & I didn’t get the chance to seek out a Timmy’s because of the long customs lines, baggage transfers, & the fact we missed our direct flight to Ottawa. Luckily, we were transferred to the next flight two hours later. However, the chosen plane had to be grounded for mechanical failure, and the replacement was smaller meaning staff had to divert several passengers to even later flights! Wow, air travel is so great, isn’t it? I’m kind of glad that the Ottawa flight was downsized because it limited the amount of crying babies.

Personally, there has to be a section on a passenger aircraft dedicated to parents with infants & little children. Earplugs can only do so much. And the second class seats need to be bigger – airlines are making a big mistake favouring quantity over quality.

I was ecstatic when I walked into the new modern Ottawa Terminal that had not long ago finished an expansion project. There was no trace left of the old run down terminal of the 1980s & 1990s. I was also glad because my return journey was finished. Flying halfway across the planet in a span of 28 hours & crossing 8 time zones can be hard on the head in the form of jet lag.

After picking up our baggage, my brother & I were picked up by our joyful parents who treated us to a welcome back dinner (alcohol included) before we collapsed onto our beds for much needed rest. My bed is a lot higher off the ground than I thought it was.

Well, this is it for a while. My BLOG is not finished or over, but in a state of limbo. I’ll definitely be paying Middle Earth another visit in the near future (predicting March 2010). In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "I'll be back!"

As long as the Internet & Google exist, this BLOG will be present in cyberspace. Even though I won’t be posting anything new for a while, that doesn’t mean you have to stop visiting. There’s 76 posts to reread & enjoy!

So, until next time, cheers!