We spend the first portion of the day doing our final packing and sorting before we load Dan and Lisa's (Mark's brother and sister-in-law) van to head to the Calgary International Airport.
Raeleen and I, knowing that we were going to be spending our last days in Canada in Calgary, had a small list of things we wanted to do and places we wanted to see, and/or eat at.
One of these places, we had decided months earlier, was going to be Badass Jack's Subs and Wraps.
When we lived in Calgary at the start of our marriage, this was one of the places we would frequent.
We had found out, about 2 months earlier, that the restaurant was no longer at the location we used to go to, and had no idea where it had moved to, or if it had shutdown altogether.
On the day of the big move we had to go a bank before we headed to the airport, so we picked the one closest to our location, and low-and-behold there was a Badass Jack's right across the street!
We were ecstatic to say the least!
That may sound like a small thing, but that meant a lot to us, and I think it shows that God even cares for the little details in our lives.
We ate there with my dad and mom and Linda-Mae (Raeleen's best friend), said our goodbyes, then headed to the airport.
A month earlier I had called Rogers Wireless to give 1 month's notice for the termination of our contracts. We were notified that the early cancellation penalty fee would be $700, a hard pill to swallow. It had to be done though, so I was persistent with the Rogers representative that we wanted to terminate anyways and just pay the fee.
The rep was insistent that we not terminate, and that we find someone else to take over the contract to save us the money.
Usually at that point I would get very frustrated because I can't stand being nagged, but this time was different.
I actually felt like God was telling me to listen to this lady. She offered me $100 off of our final bill if I would even consider finding someone else, and even if I couldn't I would still get that money.
Win-Win to me, so, trusting God I hung up the phone and posted an ad on Kijiji, then went to bed.
I woke up the next morning with an email from someone who wanted to take both of our contracts, and was willing to wait the month before they would be able to acquire them.
We exchanged some information, then he just had to wait a month.
Fast forward to the day of our flight, I contact him and contact Rogers to get the plans switched over.
The other guy had to do his part, which took him awhile, so they JUST got the plans flipped over when we got beyond security at the airport.
I then immediately logged onto the airport's WiFi and never even went offline so-to-speak with the internet.
We were going to have to go through Customs when we arrived in Glasgow, so we just went straight to our gate.
We flew Air Transat, and it was fantastic! They have newly re-modeled planes with all the bells and whistles, and the customer service was exemplary!
The flight was supposed to be 8 hours and 10 minutes long, but it ended up only being roughly 7 1/2 hours, and it felt like it the time went quickly because they had kid's movies and TV shows, and the same for adults. The seats even had USB chargers for your phones/tablets.
They fed us a couple of meals and a couple of snacks, and even gave everyone a complementary glass of either white or red wine.
When we arrived at Glasgow International Airport we had to get in line to go through Customs.
Since we were moving there all 4 of us used our allowance of carry-ons, and personal items, but it ended up being me carrying all of them. Halo and Ryder were absolutely fantastic for the whole flight up till the last 5 minutes.
Ryder fell asleep just as we were landing, so we let everyone off the plane first to let him sleep for a bit, then we woke him up and grabbed all of our stuff and exited the plane.
That's where things got sticky. When we woke him up he become VERY emotional, and then Halo, being overtired as well, decided to follow suit.
Raeleen ended up carrying Ryder all the way through the terminal, and I ended up carrying all of the personal items and carry-ons (save for a small thing that Halo carried).
The line (or cue as the Brits call it) was quite long and moved slowly, so I would put everything down on the floor, and shuffle all of the items little-by-little along the floor. When we finally got through Customs and into the baggage area, Carlo was there waiting for us. By this time both Ryder AND Halo were crying and miserable, and they were initially scared of him to boot.
I had let Carlo know well ahead of time how much luggage we were going to be bringing, and he said he had a vehicle big enough for it, no problem.
He showed up in a Mercedes sedan (about the size of a Toyota Camry) and was in shock.
He had underestimated how much space the luggage would take.
We spent probably about a half-an-hour figuring about a way to Tetris all of the luggage into every nook and cranny of the car, all the while Ryder is hysterical and Halo is crying.
His Mercedes was now effectively a clown car. And we were all awkwardly positioned in the car like pretzels to accommodate the luggage. Carlo's about my build and height, and he took up the space that we had our luggage in when we still had our car.
We got all of the doors closed, and it was still going to be legal, so we really didn't care. WE HAD ARRIVED!
As soon as the car started moving both kids went into little kiddy comas. Aaaaaah, that was nice.
We then spent the next 45 minute drive to Edinburgh getting acquainted with Carlo.
Based off of our interactions with him via email he seemed like an amazing guy, but he is even better in person.
He took us to our new apartment: 1/3 (they say 1 stroke 3) West Pilton Rise and we dropped off all the luggage. Then Halo put the kids down for a nap and Carlo and I went out to get groceries, start a bank account and get our cell phones going.
Let me tell you, Carlo is fantastic! Months back he didn't know us from a hole in the ground, and yet he went way over and beyond to help us in any way that he could.
Now he's driving me all over Edinburgh to help me get our new lives started here.
His kindness has completely blown us away!
By the time I went to sleep yesterday I had been up for 28 hours straight, and was completely exhausted AND overwhelmed with all the new things I was encountering already in this new land and culture.
We woke up this morning (June 13) completely rested and having no jet-lag!
We took the kids on a little walk to the park and did a couple of errands, then Carlo picked us up again and drove us to downtown Edinburgh to a place that we could purchase bus passes and explore.
He dropped us off there, we bought the passes and began to walk around.
WOW this city is breathtaking! We walked past a lot of shops and took a stroll through the park in front of Edinburgh Castle and could barely contain our ecstasy.
We then jumped onto a double-decker bus and went to the top level. The kids were so excited!
We got home just in time for the Pastor of Life Church Edinburgh (Adrian) to text me and let me know he was on his way to our place to meet us.
He was amazing as well! A wonderful human-being to talk to, very humble and personable, and very authentic. We had a great talk, and he was fantastic with our kids.
Great first impression Edinburgh!
This is just the beginning...
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