Trains, Planes and Automobiles!

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A very cold and snowy hello from Canada!
Firstly i have to tell you that i wrote this a few days ago but couldn't publish it for some reason so it may seem a few days out! The final entry will come on Monday.

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Its been one hell of a trip from New Jersey but i am finally here!
As many of you may have noticed the bad weather seems to be following me round the world!
In Thailand i hit Monsoon season, It snowed in Southern Australia, was cold the whole two weeks in Sydney and they "hadn't had fog like it for years" in LA! It rained for 4 days straight in New Jersey so i wondered, as it was already snowing there, what on earth could happen in Canada?

Going back a few days, George and i were supposed to go into NYC for the day however the rain was so bad we decided against it. We were only really heading in to take pictures anyway and we felt the weather would have hindered our artistic ability! Instead we had lunch, talked went shopping (where i piked up a rippe of a ski jacket for $45 from Wallmart!!) and generally spent the time discussing life, food, traveling and everything in between! It was time i treasured and i am really pleased i got spend quality time with George.
On Wednesday night i moved from Ruth and George's to my Uncle Paul's place.
Paul lives on his own and a bit of a technophobe, so i got various thing set up for him including a microwave, a blender, his new mobile voice message service and a computer!
He was reluctant to let me leave! We had a great time together over those few days and even managed to squeeze in a trip to the local theatre to see play called "Southern Comforts". Ruth had a couple of tickets and she couldnt make it so Paul and i enjoyed the two actor play ourselves. It was very funny and i recommend it to all.
On Saturday morning we left Pauls place at 4.30am and he drove me to Summit train station to catch the 5.45am train to New York. We JUST made the train and in 30 minutes i had arrived at Penn Station NYC in time to catch the 7.15 train to Niagra Falls. The journey should take around 9 hours and take me to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, however on arrival at Penn, we were told that due to bad weather the train had been delayed 3 hours. Those words that keep following me......Bad Weather!
What on earth could they not be able to handle weather wise in Canada??
Well from what i hear from family and friends back in England, the Ice Storm in upstate New York was all over the BBC news? People getting trapped in their own homes, hundreds of thousands of homes without electricity, a storm that brought the whole of the state of New york to a complete stand still. This of course included our train which was, quite conveniently, traveling through up state New York! After sleeping for 3 hours on the floor at Penn, i proceeded to sleep another hour or so on the train, till i realized we had stopped moving. We had stopped in the middle of nowhere and were told that we may be there a while due to the storm cutting off all power including the power to the rail road signals. We stayed there for a couple of hours and people began talking to each other about what was going on, where they were headed, what time they might arrive, whether they would miss connecting flights and generally getting to know each other. I met two Auzzies (they get everywhere don't they?!) and a few Canadians and in between small slow journeys and a few more stops we all decided to hit the food cart for beer! It Transpired that we weren't going anywhere fast and the likelihood was that we were on this train till morning. The wind had picked up and it was dark outside, and we all decided to bed down for the night. Word then came that after Albany it would be safe enough to gather the usual speed and continue on all the way to Canada. By this time the train was 8 hours behind schedule and by about midnight we were finally about to cross the boarder into Canada. The first stop on the boarder was Niagara falls and at this point the staff on the train must handover ownership of the train to custom officials who board, work their way through each passenger and finally had the train back over, allowing me to alight. This takes up to an hour and i was really exhausted and frustrated by this point. At times like this the last thing you need was a bunch of customs officials aggressively questioning you as if you have just committed murder!
So imagine my delight when 6 hot female armed custom officials boarded the train! as they walked past us to start from the other end of the carriage i turned to my new friend with a cheeky grin on my face and said "welcome to Canada!!"
I finally reached my hotel at 1.30am and CRASHED OUT!
When i woke the next day i opened my curtains and the view took my breath away. My room looked right over the falls! it was amazing!
So i wrapped up in 4 layers of clothes and ventured out to the edge to take some pictures.
The temperature was well below freezing and with snow still on the ground from the day before and the wind still horribly strong from the storm.......it was like a constant ice jet stream of wind and water!
As you can imagine the spray from the falls goes way up into the air and with the wind being as strong as it was you got rather wet and very very cold! Just changing the lens on my camera was a painful experience with gloves on!
I lasted about an hour and a half before surrendering to mother nature and retreating to the hotel hot tub!
The following day i was due to fly from Toronto airport to Halifax which is further east.
The flight was at 7.25am and i was unaware of the distance between Niagara and Toronto. When booking the trip it was suggested i flew from Toronto which is an hour and a half from Niagara, however i was unaware that there was no transport that early in the morning! i tried for almost two hours to call Air Canada to move my flight back a few hours but i could never get through and spent over an hour on the net trying to find an alternative. The Hotel said i could get a cab but that would have set me back over $100!
They couldn't come up with another solution. So i wondered outside for some air as i was starting to worry now. i had traveled all the way round the world on my own without too much of a problem, yet i get to Canada and transport is suddenly limited!
I started chatting to the security guard there and asked him if he happened to have any clever idas...he then mentioned the Niagara Shuttle to Toronto! How did the Hotel manager not know about this?! So i ran back in and told the manager to get them on the phone and $71 later i had arranged for them to collect me at 4.20am the following morning.
Stupid people irritate me. If you manage the Sherriton Fallsview hotel, one of the biggest and best in Niagara you should KNOW about this daily service!!! It took all my strength not to take my frustration out on him!
That part of the journey sorted, i was only half way to where i needed to be, which was Fredericton, New Brunswick. Halifax is situated in Nova Scotia, about a 3 hour drive from Fredericton. I intended to hire a car and drive the rest of the trip however it turns out that due to picking the car up and dropping it off in two different provinces, i would be charged an extra 100GBP!
so with that option now out the window i had found ONE bus company that could get me there..................in 6.5 hours!
I arrived at Halifax airport at 10am and the bus didnt leave till 1.30pm so once again i found myself sleeping on the floor!
I got the bus and we began the journey across eastern Canada.
I made two changes along the way so 3 buses and 6.5 hours later i arrived in the small town of Fredericton New Brunswick. I was DONE with buses, planes and trains and was soooooooo happy to arrive at my friend Jody's place for dinner and a well deserved glass of wine!

I met Jody a little over a year ago on a business building conference in Florida. We were working the same business model and i met her through my great friend and business mentor Rivers Corbett. Jody's sister Jen is married to Rivers brother Rob and we all instantly became life long friends, I had always promised to come and visit them all and it was a great feeling to finally rock up!

i spent three days with Jody and it has been wonderful. Jody has two children of her own and also child minds many more during the week, so the place has been like a day camp for kids all day!
Jody's daughters Hanna, 7, and Hailey, 4 are fab and have taken to calling my Aunt Lucy!
The other 5 kids that spend the day here range from 9 months to 4 yrs old and although they are a handful, are a real pleasure to be around. I have taken to the role of English Nanny way too easily and although Jody thinks i must have walked into a nightmare.....i am in fact really loving being around the chidren...even the nappy changing!
Jody's boyfriend Stefan is a French Canadian in the Royal Canadian Mountain Police and is such a good cook, and general man/woman about the house i have taken to calling him Mrs Doubtfire!

Rob and their 4 kids came over for dinner and it was so great to see them again.
Their kids are beautiful and i will be heading over to theirs for some quality time with them all this Friday night.
Jody, Stefan and i went out for dinner and then drove through the Native reserve to oggle at the overly extravagant Christmas lights adorning every inch of their houses!
Being natives they dont pay for electricity here and boy do they take advantage of that!
These houses are worse than any house you have seen in any American Christmas movie, so extravagant are some, that you would struggle to believe there is actually a house under there. There were others however that had done just enough, that with the 6 inches of snow coating everything with a disney land fairytale feel, actually looked wonderfully welcoming.
Tomorrow i go to Rivers place till Sunday and have a few things planned with his family and Rob's family.
The snow here is just beautiful and right now the weather is everything i hoped for......its how i saw myself ending the trip of a life time, and with my friends for a life time.
xxx

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Comments

[Charlotte]

Wow! :-) x x x
Hey lu lu.......wow.....what an amazing time you have had and you have seen and done so much, I bet it has been the best experience in the world and one you will not forget. I have loved reading every minute of your blogs, as I am sure everyone has and it really feels like I have been there with you throughout it all. Enjoy your last few days and I bet you can't wait to come home! Love you lots and lots, la la x x x x x x x x