OK, we made it to Halifax.
The flights weren’t that bad, but The Day After wasn’t great.
First, let me plug WestJet. Woo-hoo! Although the seats seem a little narrower than on Air Canada, the service is so much better. Plus, having the TVs in each headrest facing you is *so* much better when travelling with a toddler. Further, our gate checked stroller was at the door to the airplane well before we were each time we deplaned (compare to AC where we’ve had to wait until the whole flight crew has left before we’ve had the stroller given to us).
Aidan travelled well. The first leg was to Edmonton, just a bit over an hour from YVR, and not enough time for anything to happen. We had around 2 hours in the Edmonton airport (which desperately needs a reno) and then boarded the over-night flight to Halifax. Aidan went to sleep about a half hour after we left Edmonton (right according to plan, but without the children’s Gravol we tried to give him). He slept for a little over two hours (not according to plan), waking up just before we crossed over Quebec City (yes, the GPS worked great in the plane). By my reckoning, that meant that he woke around 7:30 AM the day we left, slept for an almost 2 hour nap that afternoon, and then was awake until about 10pm. Another 2 hour nap (the one on the plane) and he was awake until noon-ish Halifax time after we arrived (8am Vancouver time). He had *another* 2 hour nap, and then was awake until 8ish Halifax time. *ANOTHER* two hour nap, and then he was ready to go again. We finally got him down around midnight Halifax time. Summing it all up, over 36 hours he had 4 two hour naps. We were a little ragged, especially since we really didn’t get any sleep on the plane, and Gwen had a 2 or 3 hour nap the morning we arrived.
As we bounced into Edmonton, we were coming up behind some thunderstorms. It must have still been raining, because there were some brilliant rainbows evident as we were landing.
The flight was pretty uneventful, but I saw the most spectacular lightning storm I’ve ever seen somewhere over north-eastern Alberta or northern Saskatchewan (couldn’t get to the GPS). Orange lightning flashed several times per second for a good twenty minutes or more in a huge storm that was probably a hundred kilometres away from us. It was pretty dark, so the whole storm was quite visible. I’ve never seen lightning so intense and frequent, and I can’t imagine what kind of racket it must have been making. Not so much rolling thunder as a fully artillery barrage, I imagine. Fortunately we were far enough away from the storm that it wasn’t affecting the flight.
It was a bit of a blur, but we arrived in Halifax without incident. The fog was so thick when we landed that we could barely see the plane at the next gate over. The boy was really well behaved on the plane. The luggage was out so fast that it seemed like it was there before we were.
The day was spent trying to get our bodies adjusted without melting in the stifling heat and humidity. Oy, we’ve become real West Coasters.
Today was much better. We got up around 10am, and the boy slept through until noon! Gwen’s sister Mary came over for a visit, and Grampa John came home (he had been at sea when we arrived). Between these visitors, and being outside running around in the park-like backyard that my parents have, the boy was in Nirvana. The boy went quite willingly to bed around 8pm, and has only had one brief waking spell, so hopefully we’ve rounded the corner.
More later…
