I am a little belated in writing this post as I’ve been both tired and lazy.
Anyway, on the Friday prior to Thanksgiving in arrived at the Saskatoon airport and spent a while searching for a parking spot. With the exception of short-term and handicapped spots there were practically no parking spots and to make things more annoying there were several almost spots because large trucks were parked in a spot and a quarter or so. I saw about five cars looking for spots. Eventually, I did find a spot but it was a very frustrating experience. Luckily, I was rather early. The woman at the baggage drop-off said they have an overflow lot but they only open it once all the spots in the regular lot were filled. Security was busy by Saskatoon standards which meant there a bit of a line; I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a line there before! When I arrived in Toronto it was insanely busy with people being picked up. I was surprised at how much busier it seemed before Thanksgiving than before Christmas.
I was home for a few days and didn’t do anything terribly notable but it is was nice to have a break and the weather was generally pretty good and I did some shopping and went on a few walks with my mom.
A sidewalk without an entrance located near my parents’ house.
I then went to Toronto. As I had planned ahead it cost me all of $2.83 on Megabus to get there! I would really like to be on one of their double decker buses but once again I was on a regular Coach Canada bus but I guess I really shouldn’t be complaining considering how little it cost me.
Me on the edge of the CN Tower.
When I arrived in Toronto I was able to check into my hotel early which was nice. Later that afternoon, I did Edge Walk which is something I wanted to do for some time now. I was there a bit early and got in an earlier group as they weren’t fully booked. I was amazed at how many staff they have. They checked the harnesses and such like a million times and we had to pass breathalyzer tests; apparently, some people actually fail those. They have had about 60,000 people come and only 30-something of them have chickened-out but apparently it is isn’t that uncommon for people to spend the nearly $200 and then just not show up. The elevator was rather slow as it was pretty windy. I think the wind added to the experience up there! We were lucky enough to get a break in the rain and the weather was very warm. The view was fantastic and it was so nice not to have windows in the way!
My flight to Winnipeg was routine though I didn’t get a seat assigned until the gate (a first for me) but it was a good seat and they ended up leaving with a few empty seats. When I was waiting in Winnipeg for the flight to Saskatoon, the gate agent announced that they were oversold by two seats and were looking for volunteers to spend the night; for spending the night, they gave an $800 travel voucher, a hotel room, meal vouchers, and confirmed seat on the flight the next morning. I took the offer right away but it took her a while to get a second volunteer. I don’t see why others didn’t jump at the offer it seemed more than fair to me, especially since I was back early enough the next morning to get to work on time the next morning! Why does it matter where you sleep? When I was waiting for my flight to Toronto when I left I Saskatoon, there was an announcement for a volunteer on the flight to Winnipeg to put on a later flight. It seems like Saskatoon-Winnipeg is a good route for these opportunities. I’ve never heard any of these offers on Air Canada before this and I’d only ever heard one on Delta once years ago (which people snapped up instantly). The guy at the front desk at the hotel said they had five people there because of overbooking that night and that was still pretty early.
The view from my free hotel room at the Winnipeg airport.
Amanda NOT in Abu Dhabi 