Today was another travel day, into another time-zone, and the chance to double our jet-lag! With an early afternoon internal flight to Calgary, we started the day with another breakfast venue – Egg Club. The first rule about Egg Club is don’t talk about Egg Club. The second rule about Egg Club is don’t talk about Egg Club, so I can’t say more than that.
Actually it’s an online viral fast-food chain that serves the most amazing egg rolls. They take a slab of Japanese milk break, cut it down the middle around half way, then insert a slice of omelette and the requisite extras for that particular sandwich into it. We had three variations – Bacon & Cheese, Egg Club, and “Meat Lovers”. Menu is here if you want to find out more!
On the way back to the hotel to finish packing we called into the supermarket to get some water and lunch for the plane. Danny particularly enjoyed the food trolley….
Rather than return to the airport on the train (been there, done that) we booked a car. At only 75 Canadian Dollars (around £40) it was barely more than the cost of the train and subway tickets and made things a lot easier.
The transit through the airport was really simple since it was a domestic flight. Security was yet again another chance for the staff to take my bag apart, inspect and drugs wipe my camera lenses, this time with absolutely not a word of discussion – the security lady who took my bag away didn’t even give me eye contact, let alone speak to me.
The flight was just 4 hours, and it’s a good job we took food as there was none on offer! Another plane picnic, this time fresh supermarket sandwiches and sushi, which were surprisingly good and a lot better than you’d find in the UK.
The most exciting part of the journey (apart from being able to watch a couple more episodes of the Dune mini-series) was the in-flight entertainment included real views of the outside of the plane – one from the tail fin looking forwards, and one from the belly looking forwards at the front nose wheels. Danny was super-excited about this, and took photos and videos. You could watch the plane land from these views, lining up for the runway, touching down, taxiing and then the chocks being put under the wheels. And once on the ground, I got the customary messages saying exactly where the bags were on my phone.
With the hire car keys collected, and being given a free upgrade (probably because they’d run out of the cars we had booked) we went into the car park to find the vehicle. Turns out it was a vast pickup truck. Gigantic thing with a 5.8 litre V8 engine. The only issue was where to put the bags as the flatbed was open – and good job we stowed them all in the cabin (plenty of space!) since on the way to Banff we encountered a rainstorm so strong drivers were stopping at the side of the highway and our windscreen wipers couldn’t clear the volume of water hitting us at 110km/h. I carried on. It’s just a bit of water. There will be more on the car once I’ve got used to it, likely in a Clarkson style blog post.
Once at the hotel and checked in we were told the truck was too big for their underground car park (in fact they laughed at me for having it) and suggested I park it on a street overnight then they’d make space for me in the morning once other idiots with big cars had checked out. The hotel itself was far nicer than the Toronto digs, so we were happy with Audley’s choice – which was actually a second choice because their first choice decided to close for the summer (or something like that).
Once suitcases were opened we headed down to the hotel restaurant, which is more a restaurant attached to the hotel. Three of us had amazing pizzas; Jo had a vegetable wellington. We ate half, so that’s tea tomorrow night sorted! Then off to bed to try to sort out another 2 hours added to the jet lag tally.
