Table of Contents
- The Day of Departure
- Approaching the Airport
- Prowling Pearson
- Nebulous Nighttime Navigation
- Luggage Lateness
- The Train Trip to Town
- Catty Catastrophe
- The Road Ahead
After three weeks in Canada, it is now time for me to head back home once more. I may or may not return here one day, but even if I don't, I feel like I've gotten a lot accomplished during my stay, especially considering that I had a full-time job all the while.
But now, it's time to go back. For one, I am quite missing my two cats by now. Also, after three weeks at a hotel, I am looking forward to actually being able to cook for myself again. As such, I am in quite a positive mood when I wake up on...
The Day of Departure
22-Oct-2021
I start out this final day with one last breakfast from the incredulous and awe-inspiring bistro, which today amounts to Over-Easy Eggs with toast and bacon (yes, actual bacon again this time) and fruit (for once, they didn't accidentally give me potatoes instead). The large cups are still out, so my tea comes in a medium cup once again.
After that, I finish what little packing I didn't already finish yesterday, and once again leave behind an empty room. The hotel checkout fortunately does not provide any nasty surprises, with all my bills having been covered by the company...
...and so I am on the road with all my luggage once again. However, before I head for the airport in the afternoon, I still have a day's worth of work to do, so for now I only need to make my way to the company wearing all this. That's not the longest I've lugged my full gear around.
The work day, too, proceeds without any complications, yet also without any valuable insights or learnings. The highlight happens at lunchtime, when I naturally make my way to the Café Green Tea one last time, not only to treat myself to one last bowl of Kitsune Udon, but also to say goodbye to the owner - in Japanese, of course.
A few hours thereafter, the time of my departure is at hand. And so, I pack up the last few bits of my equipment here, leaving behind another empty desk, as well as a little goodbye message for everyone to see.
With all that done, I now set my sights towards...
Approaching the Airport
Ride Duration: 45min
Approximate Distance: 34km
Average Speed: 45km/h
It's just me this time, so I've considered taking public transport to the airport. However, since that would take about an hour and a half at least and the alternative is getting a company-sponsored Über-ride, I end up choosing that latter option. Sadly, however, the Über app still doesn't accept either my PayPal account or any of my credit cards, so in the end Craig ends up ordering the Über for me.
The route back to the airport is pretty much the same as the one that Wolfgang, Tobias and I took to get to the hotel at night when we arrived together three weeks ago...
...though since this time around it's during the day, I actually get to see the area that the ride takes me through. The prominent skyscrapers near the beginning mark the point when I cross Yonge Street, the one and only, for the final time, and after that, maybe the most noteworthy thing is the amount of traffic we encounter on this way too big highwayscape.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
You see, while the highways I already encountered during my stay here were already kinda big, this one one-ups them all by putting an expressway in the middle of the highway. All in all, this "highway belt" is approximately 100m wide! That's as wide as a whole block of houses with backyards!
And yet, even with all that, there's still a traffic jam that we get into! And I'm gonna hazard a bet and say that most of the cars here only carry the driver.
Anyway, eventually, we arrive at the Toronto Pearson International Airport, where the driver lets me out at a dropoff zone particularly designated for Übers.
It is now 16:30, and with my flight departing no sooner than 20:00, that means I now have some time to pass by...
Prowling Pearson
So, here I am now, at the entrance of Toronto Pearson International Airport. Several hours to early, but there's a good reason for that (besides my fear of getting stuck in traffic even worse than the one I experienced on the way, I mean).
You may or may not recall the events that transpired at the airport of Foz do Iguacu (see Book III ~ Chapter 3 ~ Crash & Burn and Book III ~ Chapter 4 ~ The Traumatizing Transatlantic Terror Trip), but I sure do, and ever since then, I have a latent fear of airports, or rather airport check-in personnel, to be exact. As such, it feels like getting in line for a flogging when I queue up at the check-in counter.
And naturally, thing do not go all that smooth over here either. For starters, the automatic check-in naturally fails, and I have to call an attendant, who then directs me to a manual check-in counter, where I can explain the situation. Fortunately, referring to my name as a religious name works as well here as it did in Cape Town (see Book III ~ Chapter 6 ~ Closing the Circle) . It gives them a little pause, but afterwards they readily hand me my boarding pass without me even having to show them my registration certificate, which I always carry around since first running into trouble with my name back in New Zealand (see Book I ~ Final Chapter ~ The Tail of the Tale). However, they do consider my trusty Backpack of Flames to be a bit on the bulky side, and so I have to lug it over to the bulky baggage belt.
After that, I set out for the security check for the Gates E, which is incredibly easy to find.
Unfortunately, they appear to be experiencing difficulties there, and so me and the other passengers get instead routed to the Gates D security check, after which we have to take the scenic, roundabout route back to the Gates E wing again.
What follows is a little bit of an odyssey with interesting ceiling lights and super-secure airlock-like double-doors...
...as well as a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong travellator, parts of which are actually in service.
All in all, that amounts in a walk of about a kilometer - give or take - which makes me quite grateful that I've only my regular backpack to lug around now. However, keep in mind that even that currently contains two laptops (my own trusty Liete as well as my work laptop), both of which are quite heavy and bulky. In fact, I am quite sure it exceeds the 7kg restriction for cabin baggage (and probably by a factor of 2 or 3 too), but fortunately no one ever checks that.
But anyway, one odyssey later I arrive at a place that I've actually been to once before (see Book III ~ Chapter 1 ~ The Bad Beginning). Since I had a 6-hour layover in Toronto Pearson International Airport on my flight from Tokyo to Foz do Iguacu, I was wondering if I'd end up in the same wing of Terminal 1 this time as I did back then. Turns out I do, because I can still clearly remember these Tilted Spheres from the last time.
From there, it's only a short walk over to Gate E74, where the Air Canada flight that will take me back to Germany is already standing at the ready. Turns out it's actually a plane of the German flag carrier airplane company Lufthansa ("Air Hansa"). Also, I think it's a nice touch how the background of the display at the gate features the Marienplatz of Munich.
One difference to my last visit, however, is the fact that literally all the drinking water fountains have been closed "for your safety". How considerate, letting me safely die of thirst. Ironically, the water bottle filling stations are still open, but since I don't be carrying my drinking bottle around with me on account of, oh, say, airport security forbidding it, that's of preciously little use to me.
So, after lugging my backpack around for another 500m or so back and forth across the terminal, I give up on getting a free drink, and instead take the chance to get myself one last bottle of Minute Maid Lemonade. However, it turns out I'm also out of luck there, because while the stores and vending machines around here do carry Minute Maid drinks (including orange, apple and cherry-cranberry), none of them carry the lemonade variant that I've come to like so much during my stay here in Canada.
And thus, after walking back and forth around the terminal for another 500m, checking all the stalls and vending machines I can find along the way, I resign and simply get some lemonade made with real fruit (as opposed to lemonade made with forged fruit).
Having walked for another 2km in the airport alone now, I am finally happy to sit down in a seat near The Park...
...and wait for the boarding to start as night falls outside. Unfortunately, I also note that the sky is closing up, so I probably won't be getting the amazing view of Lake Ontario outlined by the lights of the cities at the shore that I've been hoping for.
Boarding finally commences shortly before 20:00, and since I've booked my place near the rear of the plane again, I am one of the first economy-class passengers who get to cross the jet bridge and enter the plane.
It is only after I've finally reached my seat, stowed my luggage and sat down that I my airport anxiety slowly fades. The plane I'm riding this time is a Boeing 787-9, by the way.
With this, the most difficult part of my journey is over, and I can now look forward to a relaxing and uneventful journey dominated by...
Nebulous Nighttime Navigation
22-Oct-2021 - 23-Oct-2021
Ride Duration: 8.5h
Approximate Distance: 6,750km
Average Speed: 794km/h
The flight back to Munich follows a trajectory that is a little bit different from the one to Toronto: Whereas the flight to Toronto took me within eyeshot of Greenland, the flight route back is located significantly further to the south, and approximates the great circle route. That is actually kinda interesting, because normally the westbound routes follow the great circle route while the eastbound flights (aka this one) go out of their way to utilize the jet streams to save time and fuel. But maybe it just so happens to be that the jet streams are more or less on the latitude of the great circle route around this time of the year, and thus the flight to Toronto needed to avoid them? Someone with knowledge of aeronautics please help me out with this! As it is, my route this time takes me south of the mouth of the St. Lawrence river, and across the Gulf of Lawrence and Newfoundland before taking me out over the Atlantic. Several hours later, the plane passes over first Ireland and then England before making landfall on continental Europe above the western Netherlands, right above Den Haag. From there, we quickly enter German airspace, where we pass over a whole series of major German cities, such as Düsseldorf ("Plonker Village"), Köln ("Cologne") and Frankfurt ("Free Ford") before finally reaching Munich.
Taking off in the middle of the night, I get to see the lights of Toronto, but only for a precious few minutes before we dive up into the clouds. Starting towards the northeast, the first major road we cross is the 427 Highway, merging into the 401 highway that I took to get here within eyeshot. After that, the major parallel roads that we cross in quick succession are, in sequence, Marthin Grove Road, Kipling Ave, Islington Ave and Royal York Road, the four of which run all the way to New Toronto shining at the shore. After that, we fly over the Humber River - the course of which can only be sensed by way of the rugged roads roughly rimming the riverbanks - and pass by the distinctive X-intersection of Jane Street and Weston Road. At that point, we are now far enough north to see the 401 Highway again, and shortly thereafter cross Keele Street,l which visibly terminates in Beechborough-Greenbrook in the distance. The view down from there befittingly reveals Downsview Airport (there sure is a lot of airports aroudn Toronto, isn't it? By my count, this is the fourth that I know of now), and afterwards, the clouds swallow up the plane, roughly a minute before I would have gotten one last glimpse of Yonge Street, the one and only, and possibly even the CN Tower in the distance.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
From then, there's not really much to see outside, apart from a really neat sight of glowing clouds, illuminated by the city below. It is a fascinating sight, really, flying over glowing clouds below while the sky above is dark due to yet another, higher cloud layer.
Soon enough, dinner is served, which for me happens to consist of some cavatappi pasta with pesto cream sauce, red peppers, salad, and a brownie for dessert...
...and after that, it's lights out time, and while many other people decide to set themselves for jetlag, I choose to go for shuteye instead.
I doze through the short night more or less alright, and first wake a bit before we enter Ireland airspace. However, at that time it's still dark outside, with nothing to see, so I doze for a little longer. When next I wake up, we are almost completely across Ireland already, and a small gap in the cloud cover below allows me to get a glimpse of Dublin. The shape of the River Tolka Estuary is unmistakable.
The cloud cover stays strong all the time while we cross over St. George's Channel, Wales and England, with only brief brakes in the clouds providing so much a semblance of a view of the land below.
Afterwards, breakfast is served. It is a bit minimalist, however, consisting only of a croissant and some yogurt.
Flying over the English Channel as well as the Netherlands turns out to be kinda dull as the holes in the clouds give way to a very persistent, wool-like cover that stretches until well beyond the German border
It is only after around Frankfurt that the cloud cover finally starts to break up, and I get a good sight at the ground again. Now, I am not 100% sure, but I think this might just be the Odenwald ("Ode Forest").
Afterwards, the clouds gradually recede more and more, granting me a good view first on Baden-Württemberg and then Bavaria as my flight gradually approaches Munich. I spot some windmilsl below, and eventually we cross over the river Lech near Rain, and you know what that means?
That means I'm now actually right at the tip of the Boar Petal! In fact, I can trace see my turning point of Gempfing from up here (see Interlude ~ Project Petal Part 5 ~ The Tri-day Two-hundred Tour)! That has been my last Petal Ride to date, and it is now already over a year in the past. I really have got to continue those one day.
Clear though the weather has been for most of Germany, as soon as the final descent toward Munich begins, things regrettably start getting... uhhh... suspenseful again.
Fortunately, the landing turns out to be mostly cloud-free, apart from a few nebulous nimbuses near the middle. Curiously, it turns out we are landing from the east this time too, which means that both takeoffs and both landings both in Toronto and in Munich have been from and towards the east on this particular trip. We first pass by some forests near Altfrauenhofen ("Old Women's Farms"), and soon pass by a score of small villages and hamlets such as Buchöd ("Book Dull"), Waltersberg ("Walter's Mountain") or Krumbach ("Crooked Brook"). Afterwards, the clouds kick in, and by the time we emerge from them again, we are already within eyeshot of the Mittlere Isar ("Middle Isar") channel, soon passing it's T-junction with the Sempt-Fluutkanal ("Sempt Flood Channel"). Following that, there's the quarry ponds of Rohrdorfer ("Pipe Village") sand, gravel and concrete works, and after that, it's not long until we touch down on German ground.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
Once the plane finished taxiing to the terminal, the typical tedious throng of the disembarkation shuffle commences. I for my part am happy to stay seated for a little longer until the corridors become walkable again. Given that I'm sitting at the rear of the plane, that sure does takes a while.
However, sooner or later it clears out enough for me to depart the plane myself via the typical ozone-colored jet bridge.
With that, I am out of the air, but not yet out of the airport. The next part should yet again get a bit exciting as I get to experience some...
Luggage Lateness
23-Oct-2021
Getting through immigration here is relatively straightforward, even if there is a bit of a delay on account of the automatic passport control being unmanned. After that, however, it doesn't take long for me to navigate these familiar halls and eventually arrive back at the Boconero again - the restaurant where Wolfgang, Tobias and I ate before our departure three weeks ago - thus closing the circle.
Walking towards the luggage claim, I also notice that here, too, the Water2go is gone. I really hope this whole Green Shnolz business is over soon so we can get back to conveniences and amenities.
And then comes the attritional part: Waiting for the luggage. As you recall, my trusty Backpack of Flames was checked as bulky baggage this time around, so I assume it will come out on the bulky baggage belt... but I'm not sure. Naturally, the bulky baggage belt and the main baggage belt for my flight are quite some distance apart, so I end up running back and forth between the two for quite a bit. I gradually grow more tense as more and more luggage appears on both belts, none of it including mine, and immediately fear that my luggage may have gotten lost... again. I watch many people depart, and see even big dog cages complete with big dogs being first unloaded from the bulky baggage belt and then picked up by their owners. After half an hour of waiting, I am almost at the point where I give up on my luggage, but then, thankfully, I notice my Backpack of Flames come out on the bulky baggage belt after all. Words cannot express my relief. Having lost my luggage yet again would have made such a great addition to my building airport-phobia.
Having finally retrieved my luggage, I make my way through the Gümrük Asamalariniz (税関段階) without any issues...
...on the other side of which a masked man waiting to pick me up. Well, technically, many masked men are waiting to pick up many people, but one has come specifically for me and me alone.
Naturally, that's my father, and after a heartfelt hug we proceed to walk outside, past the Bratwurst-Plane...
...and down towards the S-Bahn station, which is the only logical starting point for...
The Train Trip To Town
Ride Duration: 30min
Approximate Distance: 31km
Average Speed: 62km/h
Whereas previously my father always picked me up by car, this time around we take the S-Bahn back to Moosach.
Inside the train, there's not terribly many people, and everyone is still wearing masks. I am starting to wonder if the Green Shnolz is actually a mask symbiont.
Unsurprisingly, the way back to Moosach by S-Bahn is the same as the one to the airport from there, only naturally the other way around, so...os ,dnuora yaw rehto eht yllarutan ylno ,ereht morf tropria eht ot eno eth sa emas eht si Nhab-S yb Hcasoom ot kcab yaw eht ,Ylgnisirprusnu.
Wheres the trains were still mostly green when I departed for Canada, I now return to an autumn arboretum. Some trees have already lost their leaves, many bear various shades of orange, yellow and red, and a few are even still green. The fields are naturally still mostly fallow, though some bear bright yellow grain about which I wonder whether it is yet to be brought in, or has simply been abandoned. Either way, these are the first fields I see up close again ever since my departure for Canada.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
And after arriving back in Moosach, it is only a short hop back home. However, my father already warns me that what I will find there is a...
Catty Catastrophe
Apparently, Jamie and Toledo have not exactly been good kids while I was gone. Oh sure, at first they behaved, and they sure are glad to see me again...
However, apparently they have gone kinda berserk in these last few days prior to my return, and have not only shredded several bags of chips and cardboard boxes that were lying around and distributed their contents and parts around the Fox Loft remarkably evenly, but they also managed to get into the magnetic wall cupboard with the cat food and... uhh... help themselves. Also, they raided my sewing supplies, so there's also tiny threads tangled through the apartment.
As such, Gerlinde - the friend of the family who has been taking care of my cats in my absence - had to get creative with where to store the cad food. Putting the pouches and bowls into the oven is already pretty clever, but the most daring hide award definitely goes to the dried fodder in the dishwasher.
Smile though that briefly makes me, overall, this is still a debacle. I've just returned from a 15-hour-long trip, and would love nothing more to just kick back and relax for the rest of the day. Instead, I now not only need to make an emergency cat food run to the supermarket to stock up the raided supplies, but also spend about two hours afterwards cleaning up this whole mess. The only thing that gives me pause is that they didn't tear down the hanging above my bed, because that is something which they always used to do. Instead, they also managed to break off the super-glued window cat guard in the bedroom which I am not going to replace a fifth time.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
Oh yeah, and just in case you think that still looks too clean for you,
keep in mind that I only took this after already spending 15 minutes or so
cleaning up the worst of the worst. Cats sure are a source of never-ending
joy, aren't they? However, I still love them, but I think I won't leave
them alone for three weeks again. Which brings us to...
The Road Ahead
As I mentioned before, I really do want to find time for another petal
ride this year. Also, the winds of change are blowing in many more
aspects. For one, at the time of me writing this, I have already booked
the next flight which will take me to yet another new country in the
summer. But before that, I should get to explore a little more around my
own home country. So you can look forward to the next chapter of the
Travelling Fox Blog!
