This is the 15th and final in a series of posts covering my trip to Eastern Canada in September 2019, adapting emails originally sent to friends. I use NOW to refer to any updates since I did the trip.
Got up at 5 and took care of some of the checking out process.
Walked to Dufferin and the east along Bloor. One rude idiot decided to
spook me from a car. Had breakfast at the McDonald's On Bloor St E and
then continued on over Prince Edward Viaduct to where Bloor becomes
Danforth and walked a ways there, slightly further east than I normally
do. A former theatre got converted to a Circle K/Tim Horton's, with the
above on the marquee. Heading back, I rested at a fountain in the Greektown part of Danforth.
[NOW: The fountain was at Alexander the Great Parkette.]
Returning to Bloor, I
walked down Yonge to Yonge-Dundas Square, where I relaxed a bit at the
water jets. I walked to the former location of Backpackers on Dundas.
Even though it's now something else, I walked up the short outside
staircase to recapture par of the feel of walking to and from there. I
also revisited Toronto Coach Terminal largely to get some final shots.
I
got to BMV books on Edward St just before it opened and bought a Lex
Luthor hardcover. I walked along Yonge and Bloor to Thunder Struck,
thinking of getting a collection I saw there, but it didn't open until
12. I crossed the street to Bloor's BMV Books, where I got some Blu-ray s
and comic trades, plus a hardcover omnibus of Batman's earliest stories.
[NOW: The title of the latter was Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus. Some of the Blu-rays were seasons of Sons of Anarchy; for one season I realized too late they had put in DVDs instead.]
I
walked to College and visited The Beguiling. I managed to find the new
location of Neurotica Records, but it didn't open for over half an hour.
I made it to Queen St, where I had lunch at a Subway. Bone tired from
the trip in general and also from today's heavy purchases, I "hit a
wall" and decided it was effectively time to end the trip.
I
returned to Parkdalle Hostelerie and retrieved by luggage from where I
put it on the middle floor (my room was on the top floor but reception
is on the middle floor. It was too hard to take photos and wheel two
suitcases so I did a few stops here and there as I made my way to the
bus stop a short distance away. I got on the 29 bus (all pre-flight
transportation today Toronto Transit) and took it to Dufferin Station. I
found a place where I could show my bus transfer to enter the subway
system. I took the 2 Bloor-Danforth train to Kipling Station and from
there took a 900 bus to Pearson Airport Terminal 3, Mississauga.
[NOW: The 900 bus is called the Airport Express.]
The
only check in options seemed to be self-serve, but I managed to pay6
using the machine and then find the suitcase drop off. I briefly rested
outside but decided to go through security sooner than later as it can
get busy. The put your things through the x-ray as you scan then, so
your stuff can be briefly split with others' in between. I was randomly
selected, but only for a hand swab, my favourite kind of enhanced
screening. By this point security had gone through my backpack. One guy
thought I had packed the yellow pages. It was almost for sure my map book
he saw but I was too tired to correct him. I repacked the stuff you
have to take out (mini-notebook, cameras). I did a little exploring before finding a place to sit down and type this.
[NOW: As noted in the last sentence all of the above was written at Pearson.]
Went from where I was relaxing to my gate, which was further away
than expected and included among other things going down an escalator,
crossing a hall, and going up another. Remembering my trip over that had
one window seat that had no windows, I asked about that but the woman
couldn't understand the question and
insisted in my phrasing it in a way so as to let her answer what I
already knew, i.e. that I already had a window seat).
Grabbed a sandwich at Tim Horton's. The seat had a window but a jet took up a
lot of the view. There was a toddler behind me but only noisy at start and end of
flight. Probably didn't miss much in terms of photos due to clouds. One
flight attendant looked like Colonel Sanders. There were two drink and
snack runs but no extra water runs like the trip over. Again, no screen
showing where the plane was.
Arriving
at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond I had a nice visit with
my friend Rachel. We found a decent food court and I had a Wendy's meal.
After we passed through security, I was worried as usual about the body
scanners and|I did again get beeped, but somehow my body knew what was
really going to happen because I automatically put my hand out after
the beep. It was indeed a hand swab. At my gate now waiting for the
announcement to board for home.
[NOW: The last two paragraphs were written at Vancouver International. The rest was written at home.]
Not much left so might as well finish. The overhead bin had stuff spread
out. I considered calling for flight attendant assistant, but rather
than hold up the line, I shifted things myself. it was very dark and
rainy but I was further from any view obstruction so the lights from
Richmond below during takeoff looked pretty magical. Quick flight to
Victoria International Airport, North Saanich. The security area looked
completely different from two weeks ago so a good portion of the
construction must have been completed while I was away. My checked in
suitcase made it okay. Not many people so it was a Tofino bus to
Victoria I think. Everyone else got off at one stop and the driver let
me off across from my place, which apparently was easier for him anyway
than Embassy Inn. Outsides of elevator doors in my building apparently
painted yellow while away.
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