So, as you would have noticed from the last blog post, I went to Indianapolis yet again this past weekend (note that due to the location of the Kiwanis International Office in Indanapolis, IN, I have been there more than any other American location).
The trip started out on a splendid note. I had a wonderful sushi-filled evening with mall walking and talking before getting a ride to the airport. When I had checked in earlier on Thursday I had redeemed my eUpgrade credits for an upgrade to Executive class for my flight from Edmonton to Toronto, not thinking that I'd actually get that upgrade, but, perhaps because I flew on Friday the 13th (just after midnight), I did get upgraded and sat in the front row of the entire plane! This was my first time truly flying in Executive class and it was quite enjoyable. The seats are larger and have lots of space, there is a spot to put small loose items, they served us juice or water as people boarded the plane and then we were off! Warm gooey cookies and delicious vanilla gelato was our evening snack, and I watched the movie New Year's Eve (it was on the caliber of the movie Valentine's Day from last year). About an hour and a half before we landed they served us breakfast which consisted of hot rolls (cinnamon or wheat), yogurt, and a huge fruit plate (and we got hot towels before breakfast!) along with our choice of either pancakes or an omlette (I chose the omlette which came with creamcheese, potatoes, chicken sausage and a red pepper relish). Suffice to say that while I didn't take advantage of the unlimited alcohol (as I don't drink, I had water and gingerale, and orange juice at various times), I really enjoyed the service, the washroom for the executive cabin, the ACTUAL dishes and cutlery, and the extra legroom.
Once we arrived in Toronto, however my next flight was cancelled and airport staff kept telling me to go from one counter to the next to talk with folks and I finally got my ticket for my flight (which didn't depart for 8 hours) and then I dosed in chairs. Not ideal, but given the reason (pilots not showing up to work as an illegal job action thing), I was mighty glad that I got a plane to take me to Indianapolis that day at all!
GATC itself was pretty great. We were at the Embassy Suites again, and I got to spend time with the awesome administrators, help with training and meet up with all the new and excited governors. Our 'fun' activity was at the Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre and we saw The Music Man. I rather enjoyed the performance, and was, once again, entertained by Daniel's appetite at dinner. While the food wasn't amazing, my ice cream sundae at intermission totally pleased me.
CLE training also went well — I enjoyed facilitating with Rob, though I was not impressed by the lateness of various CKIers to arrive (or to arrive back after our break). This was followed by a leisurely lunch at McAllister's Deli (yum!) and eventually a trip to the airport where we spent time with CKIers as we awaited flights (ours was on time leaving). Our plane had to circle for quite a while before we arrived in Chicago (weather). Our final flight was late departing the airport (though the screens said it was on schedule up until the time that we actually boarded) due to lightning closing the airport for a bit. Nonetheless, we arrived at the Edmonton International Airport in reasonable time (we must have made up time in the air) and were less than an hour late in arriving. I had an enjoyable ride home and ended up in bed around 2am and slept in leisurely (my body needed it, after around 5 hours of sleep a night on two nights of the weekend, with the third night's sleep only having been in doses at the airport or on the plane.
Tonight I head to a gala for the Canadian Literature Centre (CLC) at the Art Gallery. It will be my 3rd year attending and it's the first time I was contemplating not going due to price (but they had a student rate for the first time ever and I took advantage of that). So I'm looking forward to that!