Well that was a busy 24 hours!

Writing this from our daughter's home in Osgoode, just south of Ottawa, Ontario. Arrived here at about 9:30am this morning after our four flight marathon from Regina.

Our friend Wendy drove us to Regina airport from Moose Jaw yesterday afternoon. (Thanks again Wendy!) About a 45 minute ride, and we purposely arrived at the airport a couple of hours early, because it's better to be early than late. :-)

Besides which, we find that time in airports goes by pretty quick.

Oh, but even before we went to the airport, we had been in downtown Moose Jaw and we needed to go to a Royal Bank of Canada branch (RBC). My Visa card had been compromised and they had sent a new card. Ruth tried using it the other day and messed up on the PIN and it locked up so we had to reset it. The only way to do this was at a branch, so Wendy dropped us off downtown and we were going to walk back to her place. We made it to the RBC, and the sign looked like it was being repaired. In fact, we walked right by the branch without even realizing it was there. Essentially, because it wasn't there!

Moose Jaw is famous for the murals around town.

Scenery along the way.

Mural on the bike shop.

No excuse to be out of work in Moose Jaw!

They had closed it up last Friday and moved to their new location on Monday. There was just a tiny little sign on the door. Anyhow, it looked like about a 20 minute walk, so we hiked up to the brand new branch and got the Visa card working again.

On the way back, we took a little detour and went through the park.

Lots of wood carvings in Crescent Park.

 Crescent Park.

Crescent Park.

Anyhow, off to the airport. Lots of time, but there were quite a few flights leaving all around the same time and the security lineup was a half an hour long in that small airport.

First flight was supposed to be at 6:35pm, but it was a few minutes late arriving and we didn't take off until 6:55. Not bad. Arrived in Calgary just as the sun was setting.

We were sat right beside the huge propeller.

But we were sure happy to be back in the air again!

Now this was funny. We had driven 200 kms east from the park to Moose Jaw. Now, we were going to fly west, all the way to Calgary. The flight path took us right by the park!

Not the best picture, but that's the South Saskatchewan River (Lake Diefenbaker). The park is located near the far right end of the river in the picture.

Arriving in Calgary.

We were supposed to just sit on the plane while some departed and others got on for the forward journey to Edmonton. But they got on the intercom and said that we had to de-plane because there was a crew change and that we had to take our bags with us. I didn't understand why, but whatever. You just do as you're told on a plane. And then just as we had gathered all of our stuff, they got on the intercom again and told us that we could stay! What a circus. But, all part of travel.

The flight from Calgary to Edmonton was only about a half an hour. Good thing because there was an annoying kid right behind Ruth. But again, all part of travel!

We had an hour and a half or so to wait at Edmonton airport for our next flight which was scheduled to depart at 11:55pm for Toronto. This one happened right on schedule! And finally, we were flying east again!

We did the oddball flight with all the connections because it was $70 cheaper for the two of us than taking a more direct flight. I know many of you think we're crazy (and perhaps we are), but it really didn't bother us at all. We're pretty low maintenance travelers, and if we have the time then the money is better in our pocket than Air Canada's.

Arrived in Toronto right on schedule at 5:35am. 

Found our connection lounge and waited for our 7:05am flight to Ottawa. As we were waiting, they came on the speaker and said that it's a full flight and if there were any volunteers to check their baggage for free, they would appreciate it. We have no problem with that, so I grabbed our two larger carry on bags and walked them over to the gate to get them checked. I think I was the only one that did.

And the girl said to me "By the way, this flight is oversold. Would you like to make some money?"

Heck yes, of course. I didn't say it like that, but I asked "How much are we talking about?"

Now, keep in mind that our entire trip back had been paid for with vouchers that we had been given the last time we got bumped!

"Well, we could have you on the 9:15am flight, so it would be about a two hour delay. For that, it would be $200 each."

"In cash?", I asked.

"Yes, well, they send you a cheque within two weeks. Or a voucher, it would be your choice". 

Okay, well for the cheque we were in.

But, she warned that it's not written in stone until they finish boarding.

She kept the boarding passes, and told us to go sit back down.

To be continued...

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