Fri 29/9 - Hello, Goodbye

Our Canadian adventure started today. But so far we've only got as far as the Premier Inn on Bath Road near Heathrow. Tomorrow we fly out to Vancouver but the early check-in time of 0800 meant it made sense to stay overnight rather than risk problems getting here and suffer the unwanted very early start.

So a taxi to Cheltenham Spa earlier on and a train ride later we're at Paddington. But before we can say hello it's time to say goodbye as the Heathrow Express is already standing at the platform and waiting. Heading back on the train in the direction we have just come from I'm wondering if getting to Heathrow via Reading might have been a better option? Ho hum ..

Unfortunately after leaving the Heathrow Express, I confidently lead us to the Central Bus Station to get the Hoppa bus to the hotel. But I discover the Hoppa buses go from Terminal 2! So we had to retrace our steps. That delayed us and we missed the bus we had booked. But there were problems with traffic delays anyway and when an H6 Hoppa eventually does arrive (45 mins later) we are waved onboard without having to pay again. Finally at the hotel 6 hours after we left home, we've been able to relax a bit, have some dinner and get prepared for tomorrow (luggage labels on cases, currency sorted etc.).

Tomorrow will be a l-o-n-g day. We get the Hoppa bus from the hotel at 0740 and check-in. We fly out at 1000 but because we are 8 hours ahead of Vancouver here in the UK, we arrive at 1135 local time. I can see we'll be flagging and wanting to go to sleep quite early in the day. Maybe we need to snooze on the flight on the way over to combat this? I'm not sure because I don't travel enough to get used to changing time zones and how best to deal with the upheaval of it.