DAY ONE - TRAVELLING

Well, I am sitting here in our room in the semi-darkness. It is about 9 am but I don’t know when I will post this. Shawn had told me that I need to pay $5.00 per day for internet at this hotel but it seems like there are several unsecured wireless networks but I can’t figure it out. I’ll ask Krystal later and if we can’t work something out then I’ll have to break down and pay.

Any way our trip down yesterday was very long. We left Edmonton at 3:00 pm with no problems and flew to Calgary. We landed in Calgary and walked past many stores and restaurants in search of our bags and US Customs. We only got lost once and a very nice Calgary volunteer in a white stetson pointed out where we needed to go. The kids both wanted to eat but I said wait until we get through Customs and then we’ll have about 3 hours before our next flight we can eat then. We cleared Customs with no problems and then discovered that the only places to eat now that we had passed security again were Tim Hortons and Harveys and they both had massively long lines. Both girls wanted the chicken strips combo at Harveys. I only had $20.00 Canadian and the sign said it was $6.29. We took out some paper and figured out that if we each had a combo it would come to exactly $20.00. I stood in the line for 20 minutes. When I got to the front of the line I told a guy with very limited English skills that I wanted 3 of the chicken strip combos. He said 3 or 4 piece. There was only one combo listed on the menu board so I replied the one that is $6.29. Then the conversation went like this:

Him: Don’t mind the price.
Me: What?
Him: It’s old price.
Me: What? ( I was having a hard time understanding his accent and broken English)
Him: price old.
Me: What is the price?
Him: Price different.
Me: What is the price?
Him: price different.
Me: Well you must know what the price is. What does it cost?
Him: (unconvincingly) 30 cents more.
Me: Well I only have $20.
Him: price different
Me: The price should be what is says on the board. I don’t have enough money.
Him: price different.
Me: Forget it!!!

I admit I was angry. I had waited in line a long time and was not feeling well and I was very hot. I went back to the girls who still wanted chicken strips and did not want to eat at Tim Hortons. I know I could have ordered them chicken strips anyway…I could have ordered myself something else or I probably could have used direct debit, but I was not thinking clearly. Maybe it was jet lag (I KNOW I ONLY FLEW 42 MINUTES TO CALGARY, ALLOW ME MY EXCUSES OKAY?).

Anyway Rebecca went back and stood in line for 15 minutes and ordered the chicken strips for her and Krystal. By this time I didn’t even want to eat anymore. They shared their chicken strips combos with me and Krystal went and got me an Ice Cap from Tim Hortons.

Here’s the funny part. When Rebecca came back to the table I looked at her receipt and the chicken strips combos were …$6.29 EACH.





Anyway we caught our plane to LA and arrived about 10 minutes early but then had to sit on the tarmac for 35 minutes because there was some problem and our gate wasn’t available and they had to find us another one. We got our luggage. Our large suitcase was the second last to come out and we were getting a little worried as everyone else got their luggage and left but we eventually got all our luggage and caught the shuttle to the rental car office. We had to wait a really long time at the car rental office as our clerk went outside to try and find us a car. We had reserved a convertible and the clerk next to her said she had tried to find one on her computer and couldn’t. Our clerk went outside to look. I was thinking I had reserved this months ago and they better have my car. Luckily I only thought this and didn’t say it. She came back and said she had found us a brand new one with only 3000 miles on it. Then she said because we were so patient she took an extra $20.00 off our rental. The truth is we were too tired to do anything so of course we were patient but lesson learned. I even complimented here.

Well thanks to Krystal’s awesome navigational skills, we made it to the hotel. By the time we checked in it was after midnight (1AM) in Edmonton. I put Rebecca to bed and Krystal and I took a quick walk outdoors because Krystal was hungry (it had been 8 hours since we ate). I got her a quick snack we headed to bed an hour later.

It is now Sunday morning and both girls are still asleep. I think I will let them sleep. This is our first day in Disneyland but it is open from 8 AM to midnight today. We won’t last 16 hours there so I will let them sleep awhile and we will go this afternoon and evening. The weather does not look great today anyway. It is very overcast and cloudy. We received a complimentary paper today but when I looked at the forecast it is in Fahrenheit and I have no idea what that is in Celsius so I will just wait and see.

This has been a really long post but then again I am sitting watching people sleep so typing is definitely more interesting. I will post later today if these girls ever wake up. Bye.