Halifax to St. John's: 2009 Holiday Season

Yesterday, after almost a year's absence, I finally returned to St. John's and Newfoundland for a brief Christmastime visit. Aside from the many more phone calls than would be the case in Halifax it has been quite nice to be home.

When we left yesterday we started our trip with a cab to the airport. Three things were quite memorable about the cab ride. The first was the the cab was much colder than most cabs. While I didn't find this to be a problem, it did really stand out. Secondly, both Neil and I likely fell asleep for some portion of the ride out (Neil was in the back with Rebecca and I was in the front). Apparently we both feel asleep at approximately the same time and then woke up at about the same time. Rebecca was observant enough to notice that my quick glance down as I was waking up was to check for drool. I really hoped that I hadn't drooled on the seatbelt while I was sleeping (and I hadn't).

Once we got to the airport we made our way to the Porter check-in area. Unfortunately we encountered an employee who was new to the position, and thus rather slow and cumbersome. Anyway, without too many problems we managed to check our bags, pick up two free newspapers, and be on our way.

Once we had checked in we made a brief detour to the arrivals section of the airport to visit the ATM. While in the general area Rebecca and Neil spotted a fresh cotton candy vending machine and decided to go for it. While I was a little bit skeptical about the whole thing, I was glad to see the machine in operation (and that it wasn't my money that had initiated the process).



[Embedded Video]

As you can see, the machine seems to have really done its job well. I think that we were all surprised that it was a full-sized cotton candy serving for much less than one might pay at fair/street food booth. So if you see one of these you should feel comfortable that they do have the capacity to pump out real, fresh cotton candy.

Eventually we made our way through security with few problems, though they did change the regulations again so the plan that Neil and I had regarding our computers and thin neoprene sleeves was foiled. Anyway, none of us were wanded, which is really the most important thing.

Almost as soon as we were through security we noticed that our flight was delayed, something that we were surprised that the check-in desk staff didn't mention. Furthermore, based on information available on the arrivals and departures screens, it was clear that something was amiss, there was no way that our plane could arrive and then depart in the expected time frame.

We decided that with our extra time we would head to one of the restaurants in the secure area. We ended up sitting in the VLT zone. So not only where we about to watch drunken travelers pound down $6 singles, we were also able to watch many more people pump money into VLTs. What was amazing about the experience is that most of the machines were in use for the entire period of time that we were there. Only occasionally would a machine free up, and then it would be snapped up by another customer.

While watching the VLTers we ate our rather sub-par food and sent out a few rather detail sparse emails. Eventually, after maybe an hour and a half, we decided to move our operation to a coffee establishment so that we could access a larger table.

Once settled with our beverages and donuts all three of us attempted to do some school-related work. Rebecca was doing some course prep for a course see will be teaching in the Winter, I was trying to do some overdue grading, and Neil was doing some computer based stuff (and some reading). Not surprisingly, we weren't particularly productive in this setting. After only a few exams I packed it in.

Eventually we made our way to the waiting area for our flight. Amazingly, the airline was still insisting that the plane would be leaving at originally re-scheduled time, even though it was clear that the plane we were to be catching still had not landed and was really even likely to be that close.

When the plane eventually did land we were able to board quite quickly, and after a quick trip to the de-icing station we were off. Only once the plan started moving did those of us in row 7 (Rebecca, Neil, me, and a guy named Justin) realized that we were sitting right next to the propellors. This was somewhat of an intimidating and loud position to find one's self.

Fortunately, I had a very pleasant chat with Justin, a St. Mary's University student from Newfoundland. Sitting next to him made the flight go much more quickly and pleasantly than it would have otherwise.

We eventually landed in St. John's, a few hours later than expected, we found that it was raining quite heavily and windy (not exactly my favourite December weather). Fortunately, the car wasn't too far away and we were soon on the road.

The other fortunate thing is that my mother had prepared dinner so we didn't have to wait a particularly long time to get food after we had returned.

Though I have managed to really stretch this post to several hundred words, it was generally a pretty uneventful, pleasant trip.