Normally the night before a flight I can barely sleep. I slept pretty well last night yet still woke up before my alarm did it for me, waking shortly before 6 am. I just got up. If I'd lingered I'd have gotten all tired and paranoid to miss the plane. I also wanted to do the Metro (the final train of this tour) ride before the system got too big in case the Metro workers denied my entry with such a large box.

I had adjusted the use of the wheel gadget to be under the centre of the box, and held in place with the centre nylon strap. Though not perfect, it worked way better than when I tried wheeling around in Madrid. Thus, system perfected! This meant it was eay to roll to the hotel's elevator, easy to roll to the entrance of the Metro, though I had to carry the box down the stairs. It was easy to roll through the large entrance gate to the Metro, easy to roll through the concourse, ride the elevators to the track then roll onto the train. Really easy. Plus, it was early enough that there were very few people on the train so I wasn't bulldozing my way through.

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Kelly IniguezTell us more about the wheels on your bike box. That sounds ever so practical.
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1 year ago

Brent IrvineOk, once I'm home I'll add a page with some photos and details about it.
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1 year ago

Brent IrvineTo Kelly IniguezI just added a few photos of my gadget at the end of the blog.
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1 year ago

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The nine stops to the airport went quickly, then two elevators up had me to the fourth floor where Air Canada would be checking me in starting at 850 am. It was currently 720 am. But I was here. I'd made it. There was no reason to have been nervous, but hey, that's just me.

Now I'm just finding tasks, like blogging, to fill the time until I can head up to the ANA Lounge for breakfast. More later.

Once again, I see how the airports are getting much busier. Though I easily got into the lounge, timing was everything. By the time I came out an hour or so later, there was a really long line to get in. There was a longish line to get through EU Customs as well but with electronic scanners it went really quickly.

Whilst waiting for the plane I saw some Air Canada pilots come out from the one arriving and when I went over to speak with them, I found that one of them had, indeed, come through the air cadet system, and we had a number of common friends. Small world.

The flight home was pleasant where I read and dozed and ate fine foods. I even had a tiny bit of Rioja with my dinner. Chatting with the fellow serving me, I found that he and his wife are also touring cyclists, though on a smaller scale.

Everything at Toronto Pearson YYZ went quickly but only after we had finally got to the terminal. Our initial terminal walkway was not working so we sat for about 40 minutes while they tried to fix it. We had also dawdled and done some loops in the air, I think while they tried to fix it. In the end the pilot had to shut down, have is pushed back, restart the engines and roll to another gate. Then things zipped along. Having done the ArriveCan form online in advance i could go through the Express lane and it was moving along very quickly. The shuttle came along shortly after and whisked me to the hotel. The end after a long few days.