My Weekend away ..

I was getting a little bored so I decided to go away for the weekend! 

Hmmm - where to go? What to do? There was Jess' wedding (Jessica Elliott - she of Brenda&Brad & Disney on Ice/Cinderella fame) in Toronto on January 18th and they did invite me! No more Aeroplan points - boo hoo! Oh well I checked; prices weren't too bad - number of flights weren't too bad - Joseph said "why not" and Ashely said there was still room for me at a table! So nine days before the wedding I booked …

The Itinerary

                                  Thursday Jan 16 Adelaide - Auckland - LA - Toronto 
                                  Friday Jan 17 Arrive T.O. 5.45 a.m.       

                                  Friday Jan 17 Rehearsal dinner 8.00 p.m. Mill St

                                  Saturday Jan 18 Wedding 4.00 pm  Trinity Church, Reception at Schoolhouse behind

                                  Sunday Jan 19 Breakfast @hotel, Dinner + overnight with Les & Gwen

                                  Mon Jan 20 noon Toronto- LA - Auckland 
                                  Tuesday Jan 22 Arrive Adelaide -  10.40 a.m.

Here's the good, the bad and the ugly (oh so ugly) of my (long) weekend away…

Good ( there was a lot of GOOD on this trip!):

• PILLS:  Tons of pills thanks to friends - who needs doctors when you have (good) friends!
• PREFERRED SEAT:   Extra $$s for (slightly) better seats,(slightly) further up front,(slightly) more room/tilt 
• PRIORITY BOARDING: Thanks to "preferred seat" - worth every penny!  I hate lining up!
• GAP:     Empty seat between me and isle-man Auckland-LA = yummy!
• EARLY FLIGHT:  Made earlier flight LA-TO - arrived 11.30 p.m. (see ugly). 
• MARRIOTT:  Good old Marriott; free shuttle, nice room and FREE (just enough points left)!
• CONDO:    Happy to see completed kitchen in our condo - well done Nathan - condo looked good
• MILKSHAKE:    Spiked (White Russian;Kahlua, Vodka,Van.Icecream) + Mac'nCheese (Truffle Oil)       from old neighbourhood Thompson Hotel Diner - yum, yum
• HOTEL:   Omni King Edward; lovely big room, nice bed, huge bathroom (huge bath), TV in bathroom mirror!!, free WiFii, free  tea/coffee each morning! New favourite hotel!

• 

  TV in my mirror - took me a couple of days to figure it out

• SURPRISE:   Best surprise ever, first Brenda then Jess, at the rehearsal dinner. It's been 1+ years since I saw them.  Well done Ash for keeping the secret.  



There were tears - lots of tears!

•  POPCORN:    Brenda's loot bag full of goodies saved the day (night) for 3.a.m. hunger attack (and I don't even like popcorn)
  

•  WEDDING a.m   Spent the morning with the bridal party having makeup and hair done - such a special treat

the befores ...

The (almost) afters - for Ashley Jess  & Christine

•  WEDDING p.m.  Wonderful, wonderful wedding! Jess' dress was spectacular! Brenda looked amazing! Ash surprised Jess with a children's choir! Sparkler tunnel was crazy fun! Lovely reception in  school house. Steak dinner worthy of 4-star restaurant! Speeches gut-wrenching but Ashley's  won standing ovation! … and they mentioned me coming!! Oh it was so worthwhile!

Ashley, Talia, Jess and Sanah!
Christine was missing but it's too beautiful a pic to leave out.
 Shows the back of Jess dress! 

Proud dad Brad - beautiful bride Jess!

Brenda and brother-in-law Boyd.
Her dress was emerald green and looked spectacular.

The surprise children's choir singing at the end.
Brilliant surprise Ash!

the crazy sparkler tunnel!

The left-over sparklers exploded
and the person holding them had to dump them in the snow!

That's a princess and her prince!

Aaaaaw!

• DAY AFTER:     Breakfast with wedding guests at hotel, me "helping" with cleanup of reception (if my sad efforts on one mirror = help)
• LAST NIGHT:    Dinner & overnight with Les & Gwen in their lovely new house - such a treat.
• CANADA:    First time in the US as a Canadian!! Such a breeze compared to being Australian. 
• WEATHER:   Cold (very cold) before I arrived and cold (very cold) again on day I left, but weather was perfect while I was in TO  (-10c?)
• ANZ LOUNGE LA:  $60 to spend 8 hrs in Air New Zealand Bus. Lounge and worth every penny!! Shower (because I could) + food + champagne + sleep + PRIORITY BOARDING!! (I hate lining up)

Bad (there really wasn't much bad about this trip):

• PREFERRED SEAT:  Other than my seat on LA-Auckland flight having less leg room than an ordinary seat and therefore not worthy of "preferred" classification or extra $$s - there really wasn't anything else "bad" about the trip!  Not even the bumps Auckland-LA!!  I seemed to almost enjoy them (oh such great pills!)

• NO iPHONE:  I left my iPhone home to avoid hidden costs (pills can do that) so all I had was my iPad to take photos.  It's great for reading but quite the intrusion taking photos; down the isle as the bride walks in so the official photographer can't see her!, at the reception table!, and pretty much whenever else I wanted to take a photo …

  

  … and I can't figure out how to take a selfie with it!!

Ugly (it usually gets ugly when I'm on pills):

• LATE ARRIVAL:      Arriving in TO at 11.30 pm. with no hotel wasn't great - but doable - just call Marriott Fairfield - they have a room and the lovely lady said they will send a shuttle.  Ugly started  outside at the airport after 1.5 hrs of no shuttle and me in tears, in my cotton dress with my blazer and wool tights getting colder and too scared to go inside to call incase I missed the shuttle. Pleading every time the BIG Marriott bus when past and finally he  stopped and let me inside and he called Fairfield for me.  Alas!  the Fairfield Inn didn't  have a reservation for me, never had a woman on duty that night and there was no shuttle!   So who on EARTH did I call and book with??  Oh dear those pills! 

• MISSED BREAKFAST!!:        LA-Auckland - woke up and realized I had no breakfast!  Growled at my neighbour as to why they didn't wake me (tried he said - ha!  sure you did!). So in my sleeveless cotton  dress with armpits at (his) head-height - I leaned over him and buzzed the "attendant" button about 100 times until the "attendant" (what are they called?) ran down the isle to find out what the problem (emergency?) was.  "You missed serving me breakfast and I'm starving" I cried.  I think she wanted to strangle me but she came back with my breakfast god bless her!   Oh dear those pills! 
  
  

In the end …

                               It was a crazy trip, mostly crazy that I went all that way (and suffered all those flights I 

                               hate so much) and still didn't make it to Ottawa! So I missed seeing friends there (well 

                               those that weren't at the wedding)   BUT if I had been away any longer it would have made 

                               it a completely different trip on so many levels, and while it breaks my heart to miss out on 

                               Ottawa and friends, as it turned out , it was pretty-much a perfect trip. I'm so glad I went - 

                               so grateful to be part of Jess' wedding and so grateful, that in the middle of the busiest day 

                               in their lives, Brenda, Brad, Ash and Jess took the time to make sure I was looked after.  

                               Dear me - what did I ever do to deserve such good friends!