Brrrrrr, from Whitehorse

Good morning to all of you! Thank you for your comments and messages. I love hearing from you!

So.......let me just say this.......THIS is THE way to travel, my friends! Wow! When we left the airport hotel yesterday morning in Toronto, I expected the shuttle to be taking us to one of the Terminals at the Toronto airport.......and then I was planning on heading to Starbucks, so I could begin my journey with a Chai latte (my favorite!). No........the shuttle made an unexpected turn, and we headed to a separate terminal where all the private planes/jets are parked. Wow. We were taken into a special terminal that was just for our group and our private plane was waiting on the tarmac. No lineups, no security, no hassles. Bags were loaded and we were on our way, on time.

The plane is awesome. The crew is incredible. They had to undergo many intensive interviews to be selected for this exclusive assignment. They are special! We began the journey with champagne and orange juice (and I was looking for a latte??????? Geez......).

Have any of you seen the movie "The Legend of the Travelling Pants" (starring the young gal who plays "Ugly Betty")???? Well, my journey is all about The Story of the Skinny Jeans. After 6 months of intensive work and discipline at the gym, I got into my skinny jeans last week. And, not only did I get into them, I could pull up the zipper, sit down, and......breathe! I wore them on the plane yesterday. Quite comfortable! My goal: to be wearing these same jeans, with the same level of comfort, as we finish our tour flying from Iceland back to Toronto!!!! That's the goal. Watch for the picture.

I took some great pictures yesterday as we flew into Whitehorse. It was a beautiful, sunny (crisp) day and I got some good shots. I'm not in a position right now to upload the pictures but will do that soon.

The flight was comfortable. I was met at the airport by my very dear friend Blaine Rapp! We worked together for the City of Fort Saskatchewan 20+ years ago! So nice to see him (you'll see the pictures later). He and his wife joined me for a drink. Then, along came Cathy Morton-Bielz, who also lives here and with whom we also worked in Fort Saskatchewan. How cool was that? Thank you all for spending the time with me. It was great to catch up. Cathy's husband Andy also joined us. What fun!

Then, it was off to join my tour group for dinner. We had a fantastic meal. There was a music quartet playing during dinner. The menu included a Tequila Tomato soup with Bannock; a choice of cedar plank salmon (yes......that's what I had!) or Bison Beef Wellington (which was far too heavy to put into my stomach at that time of night......"body-wise" it was already 10:30 p.m. for me). The salmon was great. For dessert, vanilla ice cream with a green tea syrup. Yum!

Then, it was off to bed. I met some great people on the flight. Most of you know that I plan on chatting/interviewing all of them because I believe everyone has a story. You'll hear about these people along the way. My room-mate arrived at 12:45 a.m.; she had the travel day from hell yesterday (she lives in Lloydminster, Alberta). She wasn't too pleased when we all had a wake-up call at 6:30 a.m. ......(which, for me, is 9:30 a.m. and I was wide awake well before that anyway).

It's a glorious day. It will be crisp and cold here today, so......Japan here we come! I'm sooooooo excited! Thanks for following along. More to come. We have breakfast shortly and our flight leaves at 11 a.m. Ahhhhh, what a life!

Bye for now,

Happy Pat

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