Today was a long travel day back home.   Overall it was a good 24 hours from the time I left the hostel in the morning to when I lay my head on my pillow back home.

I woke up at 8:00, an hour ahead of when I intended, and decided to just get ready, do a final pack, and head on my way.

The Copenhagen train station is less than a 5 minute walk from the hostel which is nice when you’re lugging a big backpack around.

Before catching the 15 minute train out to the airport, I decided to grab some breakfast.   I’ve been to two places in the station in the past couple of days – Joe & The Juice and McDonalds.

I was craving an actual breakfast sandwich so I opted for McDonalds.   Hah.   Turns out Denmark McDonalds discontinued serving breakfast in the past year.   Umm…

Okay then, well a burger for breakfast then I guess…

Mmm, Big and Tasty – on a gluten free bun.

After getting a big messy burger into ma belly, it was time to start the long journey home.

Three flights

My flight home was less than ideal and it certainly wasn’t direct.

I actually took 3 different flights to get home today.

The first flight was just over 8 hours long and took me from Copenhagen to Toronto.

Of course I was sitting in the row right in front of the screaming kids.   I seem to have that kind of luck.   I don’t know what’s worse – the screaming baby or the kid kicking the back of my seat.

Lunch was pretty decent.   I got seared chicken with carrot ginger sauce and rice.   It also came with a gluten free bun, a mini chicken salad, and a vegan bar to finish it off.

The next meal was breakfast cause that’s just how planes work.   You board at noon, they serve you, then they turn out the lights for us to sleep and then wake us up for breakfast even if it’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

Anyway, for breakfast I got a gluten free mushroom and smoked cheese frittata.   It was actually pretty decent.   It’d be nice to actually get a second meal as opposed to a light snack but I guess I’ll take what I can take.

We landed in Toronto and even though I was just transiting through the airport on my way to my next plane, customs was waiting for us to go through.

I always thought they checked you out when you landed at your final Canadian destination but apparently it’s in the first city you touch down in.

Anyway, after the long walk through the terminal and a long wait at customs, my 2 hour layover ended up being a mere half an hour.

It was time to board my second flight.

This one was about 4 hours from Toronto to Edmonton.

Because it was a shorter flight there was no meal service and I made the mistake of not grabbing anything in the airport before I boarded.

They did have paid meals available though so I pulled out my credit card and went to town.

I bought a wild rice superfood salad, a yummy gluten free blondie bar, and finished it off with the chicken fried dish.   In all it cost me $32 but apparently Aeroplan will be giving me 25% credit back on my next statement.

Oh yeah, and I spilled my can of coke all over my seat and part of my pants.   That was eventful.

I spent almost the entirety of the 5 hour flight playing their Yahtzee game on the touchscreen in front of me.   I was only going to play while I was waiting for them to take off but then I got hooked.   I had forgotten what a great game Yahtzee is.

I finally decided to turn the game off and try typing up some of this blog so I could put it out easier when I landed back home.

As I was going through the photos on my phone, the girl next to me saw the photos and asked me how I liked the frittata sandwich I had on my earlier flight.

Turns out she’s a flight attendant with Air Canada who was flying on her day off on standby.

We chatted for the last hour or so of the flight.   I mean, I had so many questions.   What was her shift like?   How were the routes decided?   Do they have secret sleeping areas for the crew?   So many questions.

The last hour of the flight into Edmonton was also some of the worst turbulence I’ve ever experienced.   Up and down, side to side.   It was bad.   So bad that I actually asked her if this was normal.   Like, it felt very abnormal.   Like, we’re gonna crash kinda abnormal.   But, no, she put me at ease and said that it was normal for this kind of turbulence coming into Edmonton.

After a somewhat short layover in Edmonton, a 20 minute delay, and two gate changes, I was off on my final flight.

I was so close, I could feel it.

The last flight was short at just an hour and a half and brought me into Vancouver just after 10pm.

I tried to nap a bit on the flight as I had been up for almost 24 hours at that point but almost as quickly as we had lifted off, we were getting ready to descend upon Vancouver.

Getting through the airport was a breeze as I had already gone through customs in Toronto and I had no checked in baggage to wait for.

Naomi, a friend from work was there to pick me up.   It was a long way out of her way late at night so I was super thankful for the ride home.   Something about taking Translink for 2 hours to get back home just didn’t sound appealing after such a long travel day.

By midnight I was back home.   My cats were happy to see me and I was happy to have finally gone traveling again.

Reflections

So, if you’ve read through my blog for this trip, you know I’ve had some highs and lows.   Honestly, that’s just what happens when you travel.

There are some amazing adventures you go on and great people you meet.   There’s mouth watering food to try and awe inspiring things to see.

There’s also the crappy moments – and I’ve had my share over the years – that at the time seem so stressful and rage inducing.   After it’s all said and done, you just laugh it off later on as you regale your traveling tales to your friends.

I do try to take everything as an education and hopefully not make the same mistakes down the road.

I also figure out more and more what kind of traveler I want to be and what works for me a little bit more after each trip.

So what did I learn on this trip?

Well, I’ll start by saying I was rusty on this trip.   Even after visiting over a hundred cities and dozens of countries, I had to relearn alot of stuff on this trip.   I mean, it had been 5 years since my last trip and the rust definitely showed.

So, what did I learn?

No keylocks!

For future trips I’m going back to combination locks.

I thought this time around I would use a key lock instead because it’s hard to see the combination numbers in the early morning hours in a dark room.

This paled in comparison to having to hire a locksmith at 7am on a Sunday to break into my locker.

Never again!

Get a selfie stick

I was very reluctant to get a selfie stick for this trip.   I mean, I just didn’t want to look all touristy, ya know.

Thing is, on previous trips I had taken a digital camera with me that took (somewhat) good selfies.

This time around, though, I was using my phone and any time I took a selfie, my head would take up 1/3 of the image.   It just didn’t look right and it’s a big reason why there are only a handful of pics of me on this trip.

Carryon vs checked bags

This was my first trip going with carryon baggage exclusively and I have mixed feelings about it.

The pros are obviously you don’t have to wait at the checkin desk, there’s no extra fee on the discount airlines, and you don’t have to wait at a luggage carousel at the end of your flight.

Oh, and there’s no possibility that the airline loses your backpack.

I hadn’t anticipated the cons though.

I’m now carrying liquids in my toiletry bag on board with me.   Each time I went through security I had to take my soap, toothpaste and other things out for inspection.

There’s also the matter of now fighting to get on the plane a bit earlier so I can find a free spot in the overhead compartment to put my bag.

Previously I would just laugh at all those suckers lining up to board the plane while I just sat back and waited to board last.

Now I’m one of those suckers.

There’s also the matter of lugging the backpack through the terminal with me.   Walking to and from the gate to the exit always seems to be a good 15-20 minutes.   That’s a long time to have a heavy backpack strapped to your shoulders.

I don’t know, I’ll figure it out before my next trip.   I’m still on the fence either way.

Be better organized

Now, I’ve come a long way from previous trips where I’d come into a city without a plan.   I had spent a good amount of time prior to leaving on this trip figuring out little things like what to see and walking tours to go on and those kind of things.

Having said that, though, I spent way too much time searching out things as I was on the go.   Things like restaurants able to accommodate gluten allergies or what trains to take, that kind of thing.

Moving forward, I’m going to tighten that up even more.   I don’t want to be an over planner but I really don’t want to be standing on a street corner on my phone trying to figure things out.

Just laugh and brush it off

As you’ve seen on this trip, and indeed on previous trips as well, shit happens.

This trip I lost my USB cable (twice) and my earplugs.   I left my bank card in an ATM, lost 100€ somewhere, and had to get a locksmith to open my locker.

Oh, and I was going to the wrong airport in Belgium – a mistake which thankfully I caught the day before.

They were all very frustrating things to happen and somewhat stressful.   At the end of the day though, you just have to recognize that these things happen.   Everything doesn’t go smoothly 100% of the time and you really just have to take a moment to laugh and brush it off.

Take time for yourself

This has always been a big one for me.

It’s hard to stop and just smell the roses sometimes.

When you arrive in a new city, you have a limited time there so your first instinct is to “go, go, go” and see and do everything you can.

This trip I took way too many walking tours.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a huge proponent on going on free walking tours when you first visit a city but not so many back to back.

I think at one point last week I had 4 walking tours in 4 days and by the end I was just zoning out of them.

I need more days like the last couple days where I really didn’t plan anything.   I need more days where I just sit in the park or go on a boat cruise.

With that in mind, I’m going to really take a look at my upcoming trip in August.   I currently have hostels booked but I may change things up.   I’m thinking of staying in a city longer rather than including so many cities.   I’m excited about planning my next trip, that’s for sure.

And on that note, I’ll end this blog.

Overall, it was a great trip.   I was super happy to be out traveling again.   I truly believe this is what I’m meant to do.   I feel at home doing it.

My next trip starts in just 75 days, just over 2 months from now.

I’ll be going to 7 different countries over a span of 6 weeks.

Hopefully you’ll come along for the ride…