Reflecting on the way home

March 17 – Somewhere over Northern Ontario

Our flight home was on time but since we left Mexico in the late evening, we arrived in Calgary at 2:30am. Our flight to Ottawa wasn’t until 10:25am, so we had 2 options – either stay in the airport, propped up on seats for over 6 hours, or check into the Delta hotel for a very short night, which was not the fiscally responsible choice, but the “I’m a spoiled old fart” one. Comfort won out and having wandered the airport to find the mythical inside walkover to the hotel, we braved the cold, snowy night air and walked across to the parkade, only to discover the walkway was one floor up. Calgary is known for its hospitality and its White Hat Ambassador program, but the volunteers all seem to be in their comfy beds at 3am, so we had to find our way around the airport without assistance. At any rate, we checked into possibly the smallest room they had for a very small sleep. I didn’t take me long to fall asleep but I was awakened around 4am by some ladies talking rather loudly in the hallway. I guess nobody knows about that room tucked away as it is.Speaking of rooms and sleeping, our luxurious suite in Los Cabos has the shortest beds I’ve seen since I visited the Museum of the Home in Quebec City where one can find the small beds of our ancestors who probably averaged a height of 5’2 and may have slept sitting up. This might still be the custom today in certain luxury rooms in Mexico as our bed was so short that my feet were constantly hanging over the edge as I slept. Between the loud crashing sound of the waves and the whine of the air conditioner unit (that was operated by some ghostly remote sensor as it kept turning itself on without my intervention – perhaps the slight movement of the wings of a moth was triggering it?), I can’t say I have come home rested from a lot of sleep. In fact, I was quite envious of Griffin who seemed to be able to nap on a lounger, covered in warm beach towels, having been rocked into such a state of bliss by his loving mother. However, Leon does have photo evidence that I too fall asleep on a pool lounger on certain occasions (and in airplanes). No, it wasn’t from too many cocktails, I was honestly tired from work, the early morning departure the day before and the long flights to Mexico from Ottawa. Of course, let’s put that into perspective – flying to Australia from Canada is long; flying to Mexico via Calgary is merely inconvenient.