Dead of night and my encounter with the 50 foot woman

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Woke up at 4AM for my flight to Halifax. My Air Canada flight left at 6:30AM and it was the 2nd earliest flight I have ever taken behind a 5AM Berlin flight. Since it was so early I didn't want to ask someone to drive me so I would be using Park N Fly near the airport. Drove to the Park N Fly location but I should have checked closer because I pulled into the Valet parking lot. It was too late to leave so I just went with in and it wasn't that expensive.

I didn't have any checked baggage and had done online check in the night before so I just went straight to security and my gate. Flight was uneventful and was just 2 hours. I did enjoy using the inflight entertainment system and watched Argo for the first time and I knew my flight was over once the movie was over.

Halifax was really foggy that morning and looked like it would be raining that day. Since I had no checked baggage I made it out of Halifax Stanfield in record time. Getting on the bus I texted with my Haligonian friend Jillian to let her know I had landed. I would meetup with Jillian at noon at my hostel. Metrox bus into town only took about 30 minutes and cost $3.25. It got me into downtown Halifax and within 15 minute walk of my hostel.

I was staying at place called Halifax House Hostel which is located on Barrington street. There are 2 hostels in Halifax and the other one got really bad reviews on hostelbookers and hostelworld. I choose my hostels based on the reviews of these two sites. I had arrived too early so I just dumped my backpack in the storage room and went around the city for awhile. I didn't have a lot of time so after a quick stop at the bank I was back at the hostel for my noon rendezvous with the 50 foot woman.

Shortly after noon Jillian and her friend Kevin arrived and after a quick hug we were off to explore Halifax. I had first met Jillian the year before in a hostel in Madrid. I will go into a bit more detail about how we met in Madrid since I never did a travel blog about it.

Jillian was one of the few Canadians I met overseas and I always found this strange because we have about the same population as Australia but I meet far more of those people overseas than anyone else. My first impressions of Jillian was that she was a very nice person with a beautiful smile and girl next door good looks. She is not actually 50 feet tall and I will explain my reference to that movie later on. Strangely enough I had met 2 Jillians in Madrid and I will tell you I was attracted to the other Jillian who was from Texas. The other Jillian or Jillian from Texas as I called her to keep them in order was travelling around the world after quitting her job. That aspect of her along with her oversized glasses was what appealed to me. I also learned that day my Gaydar was not that good as it turned out not only was Jillian from Texas a lesbian but had a girlfriend back home. Oh well these things happen and I will say both Jillians are 2 of the best people I have me travelling and I stay in contact with both of them.

So back to the trip. I was hungry at that point so we went to a Donair shop that Kevin and Jillian knew. Donairs are flatbread with meat, tomatoes, onions and a special sauce which I can only describe as spicy and sweet. I had mine with beef and it was very tasty but it was messy to eat and I needed a few napkins to keep myself clean as possible. After that we talked about where to go to first and we ultimately settled on Peggy's cove. After picking up another friend of Jillian's, Scott we were off to Peggy's cove. I will say when I picture Halifax I always though people used public transportation but as Jillian told me most people drive because the transit system isn't that good.

Peggy's cove is always crowded with tourists and I even saw some buses of Asian tourists. We wandered out to the rock formation that form Peggy's cove. The waves were crashing into the rocks and I thought the waves were big but Kevin and Scott advised me that waves get bigger after the storm so this was nothing. We took some pictures on the rocks and we did one with me far enough back that it looked like Jillian had me in the palm of her hands so she appeared to be enormous. We wandered around the light house as well but it was not open to the public so we couldn't go inside. I saw the plaque with the various light house keepers and I always feel sorry for the last person as the keeper because they were replaced by a robotic light house.

After buying some souvenirs we made our way to a small shop next to a lake and sat down on some chairs to watch nature go by. We chatted a bit as we relaxed and it was peaceful time and reminds me of the hours I spent on a rocky beach in northern Ontario. It was a good time and I will say Kevin and Scott are good guys. After that we drove back into town and Jillian was nice enough to drop me off in front of my hostel. We hugged goodbye and I went to check into the hostel.

It was around 6PM and since I was really short on sleep I took a nap and woke up later in the evening. I hadn't met any roommates at that point and I assumed they were out. I will say about this hostel they have no activities on weekends so it was bit harder to meet people. I ended up in the TV room with some people from Toronto, San Franscisco and a family that was about to go on a camping trip.

The fact there was a family with small children in the hostel kept the conversation between the rest of us on a PG basis. We kept having to interrupt each other before one of us went too far with details of one story or another that was not appropriate for children. The 2 people from Toronto, Sharyn and Miriam talked to me about life back home in the GTA and we debated Rob Ford and his drug problem. It was good to talk to people from back home and I don't think we reached a conclusion on the Rob Ford issue. I was tired from today so I went to bed shortly after that because I had a early morning drive to PEI.

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Photos

My Friend Jillian
That is her actual size

Hostel bed
Was comfortable