Home And Exhausted

 I am home and it is "cold" outside. This morning it is -9C and the temperature will remain that way all day. We will have some snow flurries this morning. Very different weather report to what I had been writing about. 

Dec. 31 was the hottest day we had in Montevideo. The high got to 36C and it was dead calm. We packed, cleaned, and rested all day. When it came time for dinner, we realized most places closed early so we had to order from one of a handful of restaurants that were open. My dream of Korean chicken became Chinese food. It wasn't the worst Chinese food I have eaten nor was it the best. 

Dinner was late as son stopped to help a lady and her son. The lady had fallen down the stairs of the apartment and cut her head open. Daughter-in-law went down with ice and water (hot outside) while they waited for an ambulance. The ambulance arrived about 30-40 minutes later to help her. There were 3 people in the ambulance. One was the designated driver and got what the other two needed. The other two were either nurses, paramedics, or a doctor and a nurse. The checked her out and took her and her son to the hospital. 

We got between 2.5 and 3.5 hours sleep on New Year's Eve. We watched some pretty spectacular fireworks from the balcony. They were like the ones I posted on Christmas Eve but way more. Son found a drone shot showing the fireworks not only along the water but throughout the city as well. We finally got to bed around 1 pm only to hear music and more fireworks the rest of the night. We were up early to do the last of the packing and cleaning and as we left the apartment, people were still letting off fireworks. 

We were at the airport early and after checking in and going through security to go into the international part of the airport, we went to the lounge. We had a light breakfast and waited for our plane. We boarded early and got settled in for our flight. It was a full plane. The trip to Panama was uneventful. We slept some, ate some, and slept some more. We landed to heat and humidity in Panama. On our walk to the lounge, I had a major sugar low and was really weak. Once in the lounge, I had several glasses of orange juice and some food. I recovered well. 

The trip from Panama to Montreal was not the nicest trip. Though less people in business class, there was a family who had a child about 6-7 months old. That child hollered and cried the whole time leaving us wrecks. The staff were stressed as the passengers were stressed. We were cranky to say the least. When we got off the plane in Montreal, daughter-in-law took off at a fast pace. Son and I barely kept up with her. We got to customs and got through quickly. We had done advance CBSA Declaration through the ArriveCan app the day before. We were out of the customs very quickly and got our luggage and left the international part of the airport in record time. 

On our walk to the hotel, daughter-in-law and I saw this moose. He is huge. 

We were in the hotel and in bed by 1 pm. I got just about 5 hours of sleep and then we were up and at it again. After a good breakfast we headed down to the main part of the airport to get our boarding passes and drop our luggage off. We did the self serve thing and it froze on us. We joined the line up to get it done manually. We felt for the staff as they had had a rough few days with flights cancelled or delayed due to the bad weather. We were extra polite to them as it wasn't their fault. 

After check in, we went for lunch at nice place. I had fish and chips to get carbs into me. It was good and filling. After eating, grandson and I walked towards the departure gate while son and daughter-in-law went to check out a new lounge. I sat at the departure gate while grandson walked. His glucose levels were high. Our flight was delayed. There were issues of the plane arriving late into Halifax and staff timed out. They had to hunt for new staff. The plane arrived an hour late. I pre boarded with daughter-in-law as I was tired and sore. 

The plane from Montreal to Halifax was cramped and it didn't help my soreness. Thank goodness the staff was excellent. Daughter-in-law and I were of the last to leave the plane and we went to meet son and grandson at baggage pick up. We then went to let the company know we needed our driver. We got the same driver who took us to the airport. It was a large vehicle and very comfortable. 

Once home, son brought me to my place. I was exhausted and ate some toast and applesauce before going to bed. I logged in almost 10 hours of sleeping last night and still feel tired today. 

I am not sure how much I will get done today. I do need to go to family's and drop off some stuff as grandson leaves tomorrow for Korea. I want to start unpacking and get a few groceries for the next couple of days. I am sure I will do a lot of resting as I recover. It is part of getting over the trip. 

Until the next time....................................................................