Sunrise, Sunset

We had a very early start the day we flew home from Canada. Our alarm went off at 4:30 am, and after a full evening of packing the night before, it felt as if we had hardly been to sleep. Fortunately we had no neighbours nearby to worry about disturbing. With everything loaded in the car, after a quick breakfast, we set off in the dark an hour later, along the island track. In fact it was dark most of the drive to the airport, the sun just rising as we drove into the car park to return our hire car. By this time it was around 8 o’clock and the wind was starting to pick up. We had been warned that there was a storm coming. Quite a few people had said they hoped that we would get out before it came.

Returning the car was straightforward and the hire car rep kindly ignored the fact that we had scratched the boot by lifting Racheal’s wheelchair in and out. It was a short walk into the terminal building where we were able to check in straight away. Once we had got rid of our heavy luggage, we went straight through to security. Again, it was a smooth process, despite the amount of equipment and medicines, food and liquid we had for Racheal. We had time for another breakfast and a little more souvenir shopping in the airport while we waited to board the plane.

The Air Canada staff were attentive and looked after Racheal and her wheelchair very well. We were taken to board the plane first. Racheal was transferred to an aisle chair and wheeled the length of a plane to our seats which for some reason had been allocated at the back. Air Canada have an app which allows passengers to track their luggage. A barcode on the luggage tag is scanned as items are loaded onto the plane, and this information is immediately visible on the app. This meant that we could see that Racheal‘s wheelchair had not been left behind, which is one of the concerns when flying. The other main concern is that the wheelchair might get damaged in transit, but we had no problem on either flight. I do put my own sign on Racheal‘s chair asking people to be careful with it, but I don’t know whether this really makes any difference.

We had a little bit of time to settle before everybody else started to board the plane. Summer sat by the window, Racheal in the middle, and I sat by the aisle. The storm brewing outside made for an interesting takeoff but once we were in the air it was mostly a pleasant flight (except for the food). Summer enjoyed the view of the sunset and later fireworks from above. However, as we approached London we were again hit by some turbulence causing one of the flight attendants to fall over and passengers to grip their arm rests! We had to circle a few times before being cleared to land and it was something of a relief to be safely on the ground.

We landed just before 9pm, but it was another two hours before we checked into the Premier Inn for the night. First, we had to wait for the assistance team to bring the aisle chair and transfer Racheal to her wheelchair. Then we had the long walk through Heathrow Airport stopping at one of the Changing Places Toilets to get Racheal changed, which meant going the opposite way to the way we needed to go to get passport control and to collect our luggage. Once we got out into the main terminal, we then had to queue for the lifts to get to the underground, to take the Elizabeth line to terminal four and again find the lift up to the arrivals area before walking for about 15 minutes to the hotel. We were very hot and sticky and tired by the time we finally got to our room. Of course it doesn’t end there, no falling straight into bed for us. Racheal needed feeding, medicines, a wash etc. And she was excited by the travelling and wasn’t in a hurry to go to sleep! There were medicines to prepare for the next day and packing to rearrange so that we were ready for our train journey home. It was well after midnight by the time we were all in bed.

A mention for Premier Inn. On the whole we find their accessible rooms to be spacious enough for our needs, and for those who need an additional carer, they will provide an extra room for free. So they’re a good option, especially for an one night stop over. This one had the added advantage of an interconnecting door between the accessible room and the carers room.

The next day we were up again ready for another day of travelling, but not until after a hearty breakfast. We set off for the underground once again, with a few people offering to help us with our luggage. Being independent souls, we turned down the offers and managed with our big backpacks on our backs, our small backpacks on our fronts, one pushing Racheal’s wheelchair and the other wheeling two suitcases. At least we had been able to cut down and get rid of one suitcase while we were in Canada. As ever, Racheal enjoyed the journey on the underground, the train and of course in the car when Summer’s dad collected us from the station.

Nice to be home for a couple of weeks, but we will soon be off on our next adventure!!