Getting to Fredericton

We had forgotten all the work that goes into packing up a house but were quickly reminded in the lead up to our move to Canada. In the end all went fairly smoothly and we departed Sydney on the 18th of December.

We travelled with Air Tahiti Nui in business class (about half the Qantas price) and had a three day stopover in Tahiti which was a great way to start a new chapter in our lives.


After leaving Tahiti we arrived in Los Angeles for a 24hr stop and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Marina Del Ray (we have stayed with the Holiday Inn chain for many years and find them reasonably priced, very clean, have a guest laundry and the Express chain always have breakfast included in the price) which is close to the airport and also a short walk from the Venice Beach area.

An early start saw us back at the airport and on our way to New York. Our arrival in New York was not matched with the arrival of our four bags which somehow managed to find their way to Atlanta. Several hours with the lost baggage office failed to produce results and we retired to the Crowne Plaza (also part of the Holiday Inn chain) at the airport with only our carry on luggage and a failing sense of humour.

A return visit the next morning to lost baggage also failed to produce any results but we were assured that every attempt would be made to find our bags. Given that it was the weekend before Xmas and it seemed that every American in New York was on a flight that day we accepted out fate and boarded our aircraft for Montreal without our bags and in the knowledge that northern US and southern Canada were suffering some of the worst winter weather in 40 years.

After a four hour delay we arrived in Montreal to be welcomed by minus 28c temperatures and not surprisingly to find that our flight to Fredericton had been cancelled. It is not until you have your flight cancelled that you find out that this means you do not count anymore, you do not get put on the next flight because it is full anyway and very quickly you are relegated from business class to standby, which combined with the loss of your bags can potentially lead to a minor sense of humour failure.

We were informed that accommodation would be provided for the night and hopefully would get a flight out the next day (23 Dec), but to get the voucher for the night we had to stand in a line for 5 hours (such was the disruptiuon the weather had caused). This line was an interesting social event where everyone was accepting of the situation, fellow travellers bought chocolates and ice creams and passed them around and you made new friends and contacts. Eventually at around 10pm we had our accommodation voucher and proceeded out of the terminal to wait for the courtesy bus, it was at this time that we learnt what cold really means - it means that you instantly turn blue, you find it difficult to breathe and the warmest clothes we produce in Australia are about as good as a tee shirt.

We arrived at our hotel at around 11pm and discover that all catering and services are closed for the night and so buy a bottle of red and a frozen meal from a vending machine (the room has a microwave) and have a romantic meal sitting on the side of a bed watching the weather channel telling you that tomorrow will be worse than today - is that possible?

Ever the optimists, we wake, shower and put on the same clothes for the third day in a row and proceed back to the airport to standby. The first flight to Fredericton has one standby seat available but we opt to wait for a flight we both can go on (being separated from your lost luggage is one thing but), and eventually get here around 6pm.

We are met by our friend and agent Jacqueline who has booked us a hotel room for the night with the intention of moving into our house the following day (xmas eve). Realising that everything will be closed for several days following, forces us out in the snow for some late night shopping at wal-mart for undies, socks, water / snow proof boots and other minor essentials for those who have been without luggage for four days.

Xmas eve sees us opening a bank account, grocery shopping, buying a local mobile phone, picking up six of the twelve boxes we have posted over to ourselves and making our way out of town to our new home in Beaver Dam.

The house is fantastic and comes with snow plough which is now an essential with a metre of snow in the drive. More good news, a call from New York tells us that our lost bags have been found and will find us within several days. Even better news is that Bev's dad who has not been well has started to improve and her immediate return to Australia is now on hold.
Merry Xmas to all.