STILL being in a Portugal state of mind, I was wide awake at 3 am, so... the day started at 3 am.

The shuttle to the airport was not departing until 5 am so I read a bit, dawdled a bit. Then it was time to head back to Pearson. I wanted to be there well before my flight since last year's security line in the early morning was REALLY long. This year, though, was a different story. I was able to go through the Express line and the worker brought me right up to the front of the line. Once through I had the opportunity to try the Air Canada Café, which was quite a nice experience. They had freshly-baked cinnamon rolls available, freshly squeezed orange juice and a very nice capp machine. What more is there to say?

The café was very close to gate D3 so when I headed over, it was pretty well time to0 board. The flight was full, they were asking passengers to check their carry-on baggage if possible, and mentioned it would take a bit of extra time to load the plane. Oh-oh. This might mean that my bike would be delayed for a day or two. But, that was not to be. After what seemed like a quick flight since I was absolutely engrossed in my Jeffrey Archer novel, we were on final for runway 03 and once the regular baggage had been unloaded... there was my bike box. Once again, it was in almost pristine condition, so a thanks to the LIS handlers, YYZ handlers and YTS handlers for doing an excellent job. My bike had made it home safely.

In this part of the world spring is just barely in the midst of springing. Though the grass was green, the trees were barely budding. This meant I hadn't missed my favourite time of the year - that early, vivid spring green of new leaves and grass. I had enjoyed some additional spring/summer in Spain and Portugal, and was about to enjoy spring a whole lot more.