2681 mile long day

I was an early start this morning. We needed to finish packing the last few things, turn off power sockets, empty bins and prepare for leaving the house. By 9am we were on a train to Glasgow Paisley, from there a taxi to Glasgow Airport. I wasn't impressed by the breakfast there compared to other airports we've been in this year. By 2pm we were on our plane for the first leg of our journey; Glasgow to Reykjavik.

I like Keflavik Airport, it's small and homely. We stopped in at our favourite cafe for food before our flight. By the time we boarded our flight from Keflavik to Halifax Nova Scotia we'd been travelling for about 11 hours.

We arrived in Halifax, exhausted. Local time was at touchdown was about 8:30pm, 12:30am UK time. We then had a dilemma at customs, there were big signs asking if you were bringing food in, people were throwing stuff away. We'd brought various things such as porridge bars and nibbles in case I wasn't able to eat things en route. We'd also already filled in the customs form saying we hadn't, thinking they meant raw natural foods. The nice lady at customs was very helpful, told us to keep our stuff but be warned that the police might confiscate it, thankfully they didn't.

By the time we'd cleared customs and collected our bags, we were late in picking up our hire car. When we got out into the parking lot we found we'd been given a convertible with what appeared to be very limited boot space. A trip back inside and that was all they had left in our price range. It meant we'd have to replan things later in our journey but that's okay.

Thankfully due to the time of night, the roads were reasonably quiet. We set off, G driving an unfamiliar car, in the dark, on the wrong side of the road in a country that appears to not believe in maps or road signs. Thankfully we'd printed off directions to the hotel and once into Halifax the grid street system made things easy. I'd remembered to take out Canadian Dollars at the Airport so we could pay the Bridge Tolls.

I was amazed as we walked into the entrance foyer of the Lord Nelson Hotel. It was so grand! I knew we'd got a deal on a suite but I hadn't expected how nice the room would be, having its own separate living area. The bed was a welcome sight at 11pm (3am UK time) when we'd been traveling for the best part of 19 hours!