March 2020. We all remember it well when our world changed forever.
We had two big trips planned in 2020 … a transatlantic cruise in April and Australia in June. Needless to say both trips were cancelled but we were able to recover almost all of our monies except for credits with WestJet and Virgin Australia Airlines.
Because we were able to get our second vaccine shots much sooner than expected, we thought we should reward ourselves with a trip. We did have two criteria … we did not want to leave Canada and we wanted to fly from Kitchener. We gave it some thought and settled on Alberta.
We missed out on using our WestJet credit but Karen did find a deal with Flair Airlines ($640.84 CAD for both of us – $115.32 fare, $356.00 add-ons, $118.48 fees and $51.04 taxes). They are a new carrier flying out of the Region of Waterloo International Airport. We had a choice of flying into Calgary or Edmonton and we choose Edmonton for a couple of reasons. The rental car and hotel accommodations were cheaper and we wanted to avoid the crowds that likely would be in Calgary because of the Stampede.
Our flight was not until 3:25pm so it was really nice having the morning to relax and finish up the packing. I went over and picked up Karen and Maui and brought them to my house. Maui is going to have his own vacation with Nana and Maddie. The drive to the airport took about 25 minutes because of the traffic on Victoria Street. We said our goodbyes to Nana and headed inside.
The check-in process was smooth and quick. We had to wait about 10 minutes before security opened up. This is where there needs to be some improvement. The checked baggage drop off and security line are in the small area and not very organized. I do not think they were ready for the volume of people. It probably only took us about ten minutes to get through everything before we found ourselves a somewhat secluded spot to wait.
There are only two terminals at the airport and the other flight that was leaving was a WestJet flight to Calgary. As the afternoon progressed, the terminal got busier and busier and maintaining a six foot distance between people became impossible.
Finally at around 3:45pm (delayed), we hear the announcement that we are ready to board. The cool thing about flying from YKF, is that you have to walk onto the tarmac to board the plane. I got seated in 7F and Karen was across the aisle from me in 7A. The first thing that I got out of my bag was the Lysol wipes and I got to sanitizing everything. When we were picking our seats, it seemed that there were only going to be around twenty people. We learned that there were actually ninety-four people on this flight. There was only one person behind and in front of each of us.
The flight was approximately four hours and went by pretty quick. I have to say that it was uncomfortable having to wear a mask for that period of time. I have a deep respect for those that have to wear one for their work. We landed in Edmonton around 6:30pm to a beautiful 30°C. We picked up our bags and headed over to Budget (booked through Costco, $708.95 CAD, Intermediate SUV, 2478 kilometres driven) to pick up our brand new 2021 RAV4 which only had 2700KMs.
It was about a half an hour drive to the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Edmonton/West. We somehow managed to accumulate enough Hilton Honors points that this stay was free. Karen headed over to the Olive Garden to pick up dinner which we enjoyed back at the hotel.
Today was our first flight in nineteen months. It was weird but familiar. Please forgive the blogging skills, they are rusty.
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