Tag Archives: sheraton gateway hotel

Saturday 17th August 2019 – HAVING SPENT …

… last night in the most comfortable hotel that I have ever visited, I crowned it all off by having a really bad night’s sleep.

The night wasn’t so early either, but at about 03:45 I awoke for a trip down the corridor and then drifted in and out for sleep on several occasions, on each time stepping right back into a dream where I had left off, and that’s a very rare event.

06:00 finally saw me awake and when the alarm phone call went off at 6:15 I crawled out of bed and began to organise myself, including a shower.

By 07:30 I was downstairs and ready to go despite having had to wait for about a week for a lift. One of our fellow passengers was missing so we had to wait for her to show up before our bus could leave.

The bus took us on a long drive around the back of the airport to the charter terminal. Pouring down with rain it was too. In torrrents. A Boeing 737-400 from First Air was awaiting us and eventually we were allowed on board.

To everyone’s surprise, especially mine, the plane too off on time. I had the great misfortune to be stuck next to someone who insisted on ‘manspreading” not just his legs but his arms and we had quite a tussle until he calmed down.

Food was served, including a vegan option for me.

We refuelled at Iqaluit and the continued on our way to Kangerlussuaq. Still on time too. A fleet of coaches was waiting for us at the airport and brought us to the quayside where we boarded a fleet of zodiacs to take us to the ship.

I’d had a pleasant companion down to the harbour too – a Francophone woman from Montreal so we had a good chat in French.

And on board the ship it was very nice to meet so many people whom I recognised from before.

They placed me in the same cabin as before so I knew my way around, but we stall had the mandatory briefing and lifeboat drill. Nevertheless, it was good to find myself back on board

After tea I made a start on the photos but didn’t last long before it was bedtime. But that didn’t last long either as we were summoned on deck to see the Northern Lights – the Aurora Borealis.

And that brought back a few memories from “The Clitheroe Kid”.
“What’s another name for the Northern Lights?”
“Errr … Blackpool Illuminations”

Now I’m going to bed. It’s 01:00, quite late, so I need to make the most of the rest of the night.

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Friday 26th July 2019 – DEAD TO THE WORLD

And I was too.

The stresses and strains of the last few weeks of ship-board life were all very well but I needed a really good, deep sleep.

And I had one too. Flat out from about 23:00 until about 05:30. And that’s a long time for me these days.

As usual I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to leave my stinking pit but I still beat the third alarm call quite comfortably. And I didn’t forget my medication either, which surprised me more than anything else.

The bagels and banana that I had brought with me from The Good Ship Ve … errr … Ocean Endeavour were still in good shape so I had them for breakfast, accompanied by a decent helping of the free coffee that’s supplied by the hotel.

A good shower was next on the agenda and good it was too, even though it took me a while to work out how to operate the water control. It was a kind-of tilt-and-rotate system. The clothes that had washed last night were almost dry too so I put them on regardless. They would dry even quicker with my body heat.

This morning on line there were a couple of people with whom I wanted to chat and that took me a while, but at about 10:15 after a good relax I hit the streets – are rather, the airport.

All Air Canada flights go out from Terminal One so I had to grab the little train to travel right across the airport to the other side. Despite it being early I checked in my luggage. It was an automated procedure and much to my surprise it all went quite smoothly.

With a few hours to kill I went for a wander around the airport, where we had another delightful conversation in the Subway
Our Hero – “I’ll have a vegetarian with falafel, no cheese please”.
Sandwich Artist – “do you want cheese with that?”
and a little later –
Sandwich Artist – “is that everything? Do you want anything else”
Our Hero – “no thanks”
Sandwich Artist – “would you like salt and pepper?”

I really don’t know where they find these people.

Going through Security was surprisingly painless too, although they took a great deal of exception to my laptop. Mind you, I’m not crazy about it either but it’s the only one that I have out here. anyway, they let it through and I went off to eat my sandwich.

Despite what people say, there are power points in the airport departure lounge in Toronto and I eventually found one despite the hordes of people. However I didn’t enjoy it for long as they made a request for hand luggage to go in the hold. I hastily stuffed the laptop and my book into the old carrier bag that I keep for emergencies and headed up to the check-in with my backpack.

Eventually I persuaded the receptionist to take it, and then she asked “are you the person who asked for an aisle seat?” (I had forgotten to mention that just now).

I replied in the affirmative so she said that she had one and sent me on the plane as the first passenger, which is always nice. I took advantage of visiting the conveniences while there was no-one about.

Then I found that they had indeed changed my seat – but for a window seat. And that’s no good at all. But no point making a fuss about it.

Talking o making a fuss, we have a brat of about 2 years old on board who hates flying and lets everyone else know at the top of his voice.

Nevertheless I managed to go off to sleep somewhat for half an hour or so, thanks to the music in my headphones going full-blast, and when I awoke he had quietened down, even though the plane was rattling its way through a load of turbulence.

Winnipeg airport is bizarre. It’s not an international airport, so it seems (except a few flights to the USA) so the passengers are decanted straight into the departure lounge. And being first onto the plane, I was almost last off as the guy at the business end of the row decided that he wasn’t in any hurry.

The luggage took a while to come, and calling the hotel shuttle took even longer as no-one was answering the phone. Eventually I made contact with someone and they sent the driver to pick me up.

Here I am in the Comfort Inn just down the road. I’ve had a shower and washed my clothes and even made some coffee too. So now it’s tea-time and an aimless amble down the road finds a Lebanese restaurant that rustles up a plate of falafel and chips.

The falafel isn’t much good as it happens – in fact the food is pretty awful but I’m on foot and can’t go far so it can’t be helped. And a nice walk in the warm evening sun brings me back to the hotel.

I’ve written my blog – the first time for a while – and now I’m off to watch a film and have an early night. And hope that I fall asleep. I’ve gained an hour travelling here so I want to make the most of it.

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Thursday 25th July 2019 – JUST FOR A CHANGE …

… having had a good sleep the other night, then last night I was awake again at I dunno – was it 01:00 or 02:00? Well, whatever it was, it was flaming ridiculous.

Back to sleep again, I awoke at about 04:45 or something and lay there quietly vegetating until the alarm went off.

Breakfast was rather quiet as everyone was concentrating on packing and, having been caught out by Adventure Canada’s charter flights in the past,as well as my packed lunch I made myself a couple of bagels with jam and stuffed them in my backpack too. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Back in the cabin, I stuffed all of my winter gear and spare clothes into a bin liner, wrapped it, labelled it and taped it and dumped it in the office. I’ll be back at some time in the future and I don’t want to lug a pile of winter gear around the world with me unnecessarily.

And then I hid in my cabin and kept out of the way of the chaos. I did have to stick my head out of the door to take my luggage down and to receive my passport.

Most of the morning was spent reading a book on the failed Greely expedition to Fort Conger and I was so captivated that I didn’t want to leave the book when I was called to my zodiac. But needs must when the devil drives so I sailed ashore.

But here’s a tragedy. I think that some salt water has got into the contacts of the big lens because it won’t focus any more. If that’s the case, then it’s more than a tragedy. A crisis, I would call it.

The bus that was waiting for us took us to the airport at Kangerlussuac, passing by a friendly arctic fox on the way.

But here’s some more bad news. Our flight is running late. An hour behind time, so they say, But I’ve heard that before. It was about seven hours late last time.

So plenty of time to have a walk round and eat my packed lunch. And to buy a packet of crisps because Ben the Chef’s idea about the size of my appetite is somewhat different from mine.

Waiting around for ages,I was joined by Rosemary who walked down from her hotel, and we had a little chat. But not for long as we were summoned through security. And our flight arrived only 50 minutes late, which is always welcome news.

Once the previous passengers unloaded and the plane was cleaned, we could board and we set off to Iqaluit where we refuelled.

They served a meal on board too and much to my surprise they had something for me. The jammy bagels that I had surreptitiously prepared at breakfast were not required.

No sleep on the plane though. One of the many children on our trip, all of whom had been exceptionally well-behaved throughout the trip, chose this moment to have a temper tantrum and that went on for a couple of hours.

At Toronto, immigration was quite painless but we had to wait ages for our luggage. A 20:50 touch-down, yet we didn’t reach our hotel until about 22;30 and that was depressing.

This evening I’ve washed my undies as they needed it and I hope that they will be dry for tomorrow. And I’m going to take advantage of this super-duper hotel and have a good night’s sleep.

The Sleep Of The Dead if I can.

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Wednesday 19th September 2018 – WE FINALLY STAGGERED IN …

… to Lester P Pearson Airport quite early – as in something like 02:20 or whatever. A far cry from our intended 20:00, wasn’t it? And then the interminable file through customs, immigration and baggage collection.

I was well on my last legs right now and so I was rather glad that no-one crossed my path.As regular readers of this rubbish will recall, I don’t really become tired when I’ve had a very long day. Instead of tiredness it’s my irritability that increases and I’ve had some interesting and exciting encounters after a 36-hour working day.

At the Sheraton Gateway hotel, check-in was easy and I departed to my room. By now I’d gone beyond the threshold of tiredness and couldn’t sleep. It was 04:00 when I finally tucked myself up under the blankets and waited for dawn to come.

Sometime during the night I must have gone to sleep because the 08:00 alarm awoke me. The 08:08 and the 08:19 alarms also awoke me. I was having a bad morning.

Something like 09:30 when I hauled myself out of the stinking pit into the shower. And then we had the dramatic search for the clean clothes which I was convinced that I had put into my rucksack, but apparently not. In the end, the dirty clothes had to do.

Breakfast finished at 10:00 so I made it with 30 seconds to spare – only to be told that it wasn’t included in my booking and that I would have to pay extra. I dropped my coffee and orange juice as if I had been scalded and legged it quick.

And then had to leg it back equally quickly, for I had discovered that I had left my camera back at my pseudo-breakfast table.

I went off to Tim Horton’s instead and made contact with the rest of the world. A mere 91 messages on my social networking site awaiting my attention. I dealt with about 5 and discarded the rest.

The coffee, orange and bagels did their best to cheer me up, and so I went for a walk around to see the sights. And there I bumped into Aaron and Deanna doing the same. We had a little chat and then just like the Knights Of The Round Table, we went our separate ways.

Checking in the suitcase was reasonably straightforward. I could even fit a few more bits and pieces into it to make my rucksack more manoeuvrable. The “security” was interesting too, with a few more of these jobsworths who don’t have a clue about what they are doing, trying to make themselves look important.

Having bought bagels to eat for lunch, I was surprised to encounter a “Subway” inside the security area. I bagged a footlong vegetarian to eat, and I can save my bagels for later

Our ‘plane to Fredericton is a Bombardier Q400 R003 – a much-more modern version of the Dash-7 that we had to go from Yellowknife to Baffin Island. Clean and tidy and comfortable (although the leather on the seats was showing its age).

I forgot to note its registration number so if I can see it on the photo I can tell you all about it in due course.

The flight attendant had a weird sense of humour – “if you don’t like the on-board service, there are four emergency exits …”. That’s the kind of humour that I appreciate.

It was something of a shock to arrive in Fredericton. It had been warm and sunny in Toronto but here it was wet and windy – and cold. In fact the cold was more of a shock than anything else. It had been cold of course in the High Arctic but a different kind of cold and it didn’t feel half as bad as I was feeling right now.

Rachel and I drove back into town where she picked up some things that she had ordered from Kent Hardware. I fuelled up her car for her and then we went for a coffee at Tim Horton’s, where she told me that while I had been away, my father had died.

I think that she was expecting me to show more emotion than I did, but the fact is that I ran out of emotion about my family a very long time ago, as regular readers of this rubbish will recall.

Anyway, I shan’t bore you with my problems.

We drove back here and Rachel rustled up something quick to eat. Meantime I had a chat to Darren, Amber and Hannah. It’s been a good while.

And then I staggered off to bed. It’s been a very long day with lots of interruptions and I’m thoroughly exhausted.

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