The end of an amazing trip – flying home
Getting home from Halifax was a 2-day, 3-flight, 1-hotel process on July 8th and 9th, Days 41 and 42 of the trip.
Our final stop with the RV was a gas station before returning it to Fraserway. They opened at 09:00 and we were there 15 minutes later, having no idea how long this might take, as getting on the road with it had taken 3 hours.
Having no idea what to do with the food and other stuff we had left over, I left it in a bag with a big note “FREE FOOD ETC” beside the recycling bin at our last RV park. There was about $70 worth of food including coffee and olive oil, which isn’t bad for 38 days. It turned out that Fraserway has a bin for such things, that we could have stocked up at when we started. The RV we used now has a 12-cup coffee maker that we left with it – for $30 it was a good investment 🙂
It only took 20 minutes to get signed out, and we were soon on our way to the airport with Fraserway’s shuttle, about 8 hours before our flight, which had gotten delayed twice.
There she goes…
Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ) is a comfortable size, nice and bright, and easy to navigate.
There’s at least one very “Nova Scotia” shop 🙂
Of course there’s another Silver Dart replica hanging.
We started our very long airport stay with a very good breakfast at Firkin and Flyer, the “Full & Proper English Fry Up” – excellent value at $18 ♥️
The end of the terminal we started at was hot and crazy-busy, but a bit of exploring got us this space, at the closest point to the main runway, right where the planes are touching down. So we got peace and quiet and I got lots of photos of airplanes 🙂
There’s some sort of screen on the windows that makes the photos far from perfect, but I got some aircraft that were new to me, such as PAL Airlines (formerly Provincial Airlines), a regional operator with headquarters at St. John’s, Newfoundland. C-GPQA is a 2008 de Havilland DHC-8-402 Dash 8.
C-GTHI is a 2006 Dassault Falcon 900EX owned by charter operator Skyservice Business Aviation from Dorval, Quebec.
BermudAir’s VQ-BLW is a 2012 Embraer ERJ-175.
The windows were particularly problematic with the little SX740 – it quite often wouldn’t focus at all.
That spot eventually got busy so we left the secure area and went up to the public observation lounge, which was and remained quiet. The photography was actually better there, with larger windows and no screens on them. This is Porter’s C-GKXS, a 2024 Embraer ERJ 190-400.
Before getting on our plane, we went for one more Maritimes meal – hey, they can’t all be unique and wonderful! 🙂
Away we go. Nice positioning to get me that shot 🙂
Our first flight was only 1 hour 45 minutes long, to Montreal (YUL). Haze reduced the viewing quality but I got a few shots as we departed from Halifax and descended to Montreal. The long skinny farms are interesting to a guy more familiar with “sections.”
Industry, residential, farms, and parks – this area near Montreal has it all going on.
Montreal – wow. I’d only been here once, for a student exchange in 1968.
The Montreal Olympic Stadium and the Montreal Tower, built for the 1976 Summer Olympics, are still impressive after 50 years.
I was a bit intimidated by the size of this airport but it turned out to be a non-issue, as we were getting off then an hour later getting back on the same plane at the same gate.
Yes, I can watch airplanes all day 🙂
But tractors are cool, too – especially really big ones like this.
Air Inuit was new to me – love the tail livery. C-FIAI is a 1998 de Havilland DHC-8-314 Dash 8.
We got front-row seats to watch our plane get filled with fuel and food. We flew on Porter’s C-GZQX, a 2023 Embraer ERJ 190-400.
I got a sneak peek into the Bombardier plant – this new plane looks like it’s about ready for paint.
On Porter you get a real meal on flights over 2 hours – the Grilled Chicken Bowl was very good. And beer and wine is free! Yes, I had a glass of wine with dinner 🙂
Once in a rare while, I luck into this approach into Calgary with good weather and light.
Just after midnight, 14 hours after arriving at the Halifax airport, we reached the Hyatt Place Calgary Airport. Luckily, their airport shuttle runs until midnight. The Hyatt Place is an upper-mid-range brand, and our room was very nice. That was a long day, and we both had a shower and went straight to bed.
The next morning, we had a buffet breakfast that was included in our room rate, ad it was surprisingly good. There was a special on and it was available to anyone for $11 – an exceptionally good value. The breakfast room was comfortable and never got busy.
The whole hotel had a good vibe – this is the lounge. While not a good location for exploring Calgary, we would definitely consider it as a very good option for overnights like this.
We took the hotel shuttle back to the airport, checked in with Air North, and found another quiet spot to wait. I only took a few photos – just plain tired, I think.
Away we go again. We weren’t in Calgary long enough to even see my kids.
I always enjoy photographing Calgary from the air – the city, the residential areas (especially as they expand onto farmland), the massive highways…
Seeing land that produces food being overrun like this makes my gut churn – it’s like a cancer 🙁
BC was all covered by cloud, and we stayed east of them as long as possible. Below is Ghost Lake, with the Ghost lake Dam at the lower centre.
As we descended into Whitehorse, Carcross was the first place I could see, off in the distance, but Lewis (Lewes) Lake was the first place worth photographing.
The Mount Sima ski hill, with the large and ever-expanding firebreak at its base.
It felt so good to be home…
…except for the infamous final step, which of course took forever! 🙁
And that’s the end! For the first time in years, we haven’t already started planning another trip. It’s hard to say what will happen, but our motorhome will probably get fired up soon.
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