Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 To Canada

SUBSCRIBING ON THE RIGHT IS working again… ?? >>>>>>>>>>

To be safe, PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my websites: http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

******

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

David was up, like I was, at 3 am and was at my door at 3:55 as promised. Getting across Tulua to the bus station is a breeze at that time of the morning. He waited with me until 4:25 when I went to present my ticket and get the best wholly uncomfortable seat on the bus.

The trip to the airport took 70 minutes only and it seemed to go by very quickly. I breezed through immigration and security and settled down for a coffee and a sandwich. Airports are real melting pots as I try to pick out different accents and try to guess where people are from. Everybody I asked today was not at all from where I thought but I sure met a lot of interesting people.

Copa is a wonderful airline and at 8:45am we left and were in Panama City in another 70 minute trip. There, a 4-hour layover was boring. While they have a big, beautiful airport, the shops are all the same and the merchandise either expensive or just tacky. Not having a camera to use made it pretty boring. I indulged myself with a really good hamburger from Carl's Junior.

There was a big crowd at gate 139 to catch the Air Canada flight to Toronto. The flight was to leave at 2pm. Around 1pm the rude ticket agents herded everyone outside the area to line up for yet another security inspection! They made old people stand in line for 20 minutes before they even started the inspection and then they forced everyone to discard any drink or liquid they had just purchased in the supposedly secure side of the airport.

There were 3 couples in danger of being split up due to overbooking which should be outlawed.

We were not happy campers and Air Canada certainly made no friends today. Everything was now delayed and boarding was slow. We were almost an hour late leaving. They made up 1/2 hour in the air in a semi-bumpy turbulent ride all the way. The seatbelt sign was lit almost all the time. Then for a 5-hour flight they served no food at all, unless you wanted to pay. They brought drinks twice. My last flight with Air Canada was not bad and I thought they got a bad rap. Today they earned every bit of their bad reputation.

Arrival in Toronto was delayed because our gate was occupied and, as always, it seems we have to zig-zag walk the length of the terminal to get to Border Security. Everyone there was very nice and I gotthrough quickly.

Then I found myself at the Arrivals section alone, looking for my ride, and no way to contact them. I got onto the airport wi-fi and sent a Messenger text but got no response and I could not call. I circled inside and outside several times and the cool air, near 0C, felt so good. I was inside and was about to text my other sister in High River to contact my sister here when I looked upand saw Yvette. Oh, what a relief!

After an hour's drive from Toronto airport to Vineland we arrived at their lovely home. Daylight saving time, so I lost an hour.

I wasso anxious to see my new lens and try it out. I love it even though it doesn't appear to be quite as sharp as advertised, although all the shots are in low-light conditions.

I slept like a log in their very comfortable bed. It feels great to be in Canada.

I took a couple of more shots in the morning prior to writing this Blog, still in low-light.

I spoke to David this Thursday morning and he is having some serious health issues and will be going to Emergency soon. Prayers would be helpful.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

******

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

Start