Travel Day!!! After an early rise and check out, we arrived at the nearest subway stop just prior to opening. The trip out was smooth, as we got the last drips of worth from our Lisboa Cards. Lisbon Airport went smoothly after negotiating security clearance and several customs stops for passport checks.
TAP Airlines was great… I gave up my seat to a lady wanting to sit with her daughter. I sat with a lady from PEI (as Janie slept in the aisle seat beside me) who was also a teacher that had been traveling with husband and friends for a month. We shared stories and pondered nightmares regarding return to the snow laden Maritimes. The flight passed quickly and were in London in a snap!
We connected in Heathrow easily (arrival and departure were both in Terminal 2) and left on time to Toronto. The Air Canada flight had been slightly overbooked, so there was a short lived scramble to ensure that we got assigned seats. No worries though… we made our way aboard. Our Moncton travelers noted their flight from Pearson had been cancelled, so I pondered potential adjustments for a cancellation of the Halifax flight as well. The flight felt particularly long… pushing 8 hours in duration. I managed brief naps, but for the most part was awake the bulk of the flight.
Unlike the Moncton flight, we just faced a delay with our Air Canada flight to Halifax, which got pushed ahead a couple of hours. While there we ran into several school groups from the Strait also making their way home. Tired looking chaperones and students, but all in good cheer! We landed in Halifax in a driving rain and arrived home at 4:30 AM in Antigonish in moderate snow fall. All in all, no worse for wear and having felt like we’d done justice to our 8 days in Spain / Portugal . Cheers…