Nobody looks good at 6.30am in an elevator

And like that, it’s all over....

Up at 6.30, showered, breakfast down in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express, before taking the 15€ hotel shuttle to the airport. What a rip-off that was – it was only a 5-minute drive. Still, peace of mind, and all that. The airport itself was easy, with the exception of the VAT refund, which we found we couldn’t claim because we hadn’t asked for the right forms when we made the purchases. It wasn’t much, to be honest, just Ottawacker Jr.’s football boots and a couple of minor things, but it is worth knowing for the next time.
 
The flight to Toronto was long and uneventful. Don’t like the “long” part, but more than happy to have “uneventful”. Managed to watch the final Indiana Jones film, plus some weird American comedy about the American Samoa football team, called Next Goal Wins.
 
Arriving at Toronto Pearson is always a nightmare – it truly is the worse airport in North America. Thankfully we flew TAP, so we missed the Air Canada/Toronto Pearson combination, which might have finished me off. Got into the city via the UP express, which is very good. Ottawacker Jr. had asked if we might go to a restaurant near the station, but when we got there, it was packed out. It was, believe it or not on November 24, the Toronto Santa Claus Parade. It all looked very cheerful, and there were lots of smiling, friendly police officers around – but I’d just been on a long flight, so all I wanted was a beer and some food. We made it to Union Chicken, and had an excellent meal (mind you, $22 for the chicken and $11 per beer… not in Portugal any more). Then we had the long wait for the train. It was, of course delayed.
 
Didn’t manage to sleep on the 5-hour journey, but the two others dozed. Taxi home, the cats looked sickeningly well fed and unfazed by our presence. Then, after we had all gone to bed, Charlie started to be a bit persistent, walking up to me and headbutting me, wanting to be petted. In the end, I got up and went down to the basement. It seemed the wisest thing to do.