Tuesday 30th May 2017

Today went past in a blur.
In many ways I was glad it did.  Endings are always hard and today I left Winnipeg to start my journey home.
I’d got most of my packing done last night so it really was just a case of packing the electronics.  But given that I’ve just spent the best part of the last 2 weeks packing everything each morning to move to a new target / hotel, it wasn’t the stress that I thought it might be.
I’m loving my Manfritto rucksack.  Everything has its place and I’m finding it super easy to pack everything as a result.  It’s also been useful for when I need a certain piece of kit in a hurry.  Although it was an expensive purchase it was definitely worth every penny.  I kept finding myself thinking I’d forgotten something as I packed my vlogging camera and gorillapod, opting to film with the iPhone for convenience instead.
Check out was at 11am, and I left my room leisurely around 10:30am.  Kim had said she would take me to the airport but a work shift had come up.  To be honest, given the hotel had a shuttle, I’d much rather she worked.  Plus, goodbyes are hard.
I asked for a hotel shuttle around 1pm, and went to the attached Denny’s.  Whilst I’d booked food with Westjet for my flight from Calgary, I seem to remember it not consisting of much, so I had one slap up final meal.  I had a HUGE bowl of tacos and then a slamburger.  I nearly didn’t finish it as I felt so bloated, but I figured it would keep me going for the long journey back.
I left Denny’s around Midday and went to the hotel lobby to wait.  I had downloaded some offline Spotify albums for the journey so I was quite content to sit there and just listen to music and go over some editorial notes.
I’ve got a few ideas on how to tackle some of the points (primarily the start and the ball) but I wasn’t really trying to find solutions just yet, more just have the problems tick over in the back of my mind.  I’ll wait until I’m home and over jetlag before I dive in.
I have decided that my plan is to tackle each issue individually rather than go from start to end addressing the points along the way.  I’ll need to do that at the end anyway to address some of the editorial comments and corrections.  I’m happy at this stage just to have a strategy.  Come the end of this week I’ll have more in the way of a plan of attack.
I wasn’t sitting in the lobby for long as the shuttle driver said they were going to pick someone up.  It didn’t make much difference to me whether I was sitting waiting at the hotel or the airport, so I happily went along.
I used electronic check-in properly for the first time today.  The Westjet app, gave me my tickets to add to my Apple Wallet and I have to say it felt a bit of a revelation using my smartphone as my ticket.  Of course, once I was through security, I panicked about my phone losing battery so once at the gate I found somewhere to recharge.
The flight to Calgary was delayed and I did have worries that my journey out would be repeated and I’d be delayed by a day.  Actually, I wouldn’t mind that too much as it would have been nice to spend more than 1 hour 20 minutes in Calgary.
I do wonder why airlines give such short layovers though.  Flights get delayed and that length of layover doesn’t take much for someone to completely miss their connecting flight,
Thankfully the plane was only 10 minutes late arriving and we were quick to board.
The flight to Calgary was only 2 hours so I didn’t bother with getting internet access or getting my laptop out to work on the short story I need to do.   I figured there would be also be a plug socket on my next flight and I could do the work there.  Instead I listened to music and thought about the editorial points I’d read.
The flight landed on time (thank goodness) but that still gave me little time to get to the other terminal.  However, Calgary has these new little electric bus shuttles that look like a space age version of the ones that drive around airport beeping like Daleks and carrying the old and invalid.
But still, by the time I arrived at the gate, stopping only for a pee and to get some drink for the flight (I remember feeling a little dehydrated on the way out), they were already well into boarding.
I thought I’d booked a window seat but it appears not.  I reckon this is fallout from the rescheduled outgoing flight.  Worse still, there was no plug socket, meaning I couldn’t use my laptop for the duration.
But somehow, without having time to get sad about the end of Chasepalooza or returning home, I’d flown to Calgary and was now on my flight to London.
Chasepalooza is over and I’m on my way home!
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels.  Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.

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