It seems like it’s been only a short while since our last big trip. So short indeed that my To Do list is still labelled “On Return:”
But time marches on – and with our son now less than a year away from entering high school, it’s time to strike while the iron is hot and the homework is low.
Thus we begin the second of three large-ish trips. The first took us from Antarctica to Zimbabwe over the course of 3 months, the second will be a Surf-to-Sand expedition that will take us from French Polynesia across the South Pacific to the Atacama desert.
The final act will be a three-month sojourn from Sydney along southern and western Australia through Southeast Asia to Japan, where we will visit Tokyo, Kyoto and Hokkaido. We haven’t come up with a snappy nickname for that one yet. There hasn’t been time.
On the subject of To Do lists, I had not quite finished mine when we reached departure day. But it’s closer than last time – when I was sending e-mails about tax returns while waiting to board the zodiac to Antarctica – so we will count that as a win.
I’d like to say that we are packing less this time, but our baggage still weighs in at a whopping 312 pounds. We’ve even gained a bag since last time, though that should help ensure that we don’t have to pay overage fees on overweight luggage.
And how do you travel to fewer climates for shorter periods and require more luggage?
In a word – snorkelling.
We would like to do a lot of it this trip, and rental options are both irritating and expensive in French Polynesia. So we have elected to schlepp our own gear all the way from Canada. Brilliant or foolish? Time will tell.
Speaking of time, this has been a very awkward flight to schedule around. It leaves at 8:05 am, which would mean waking up at an ungodly hour if we tried to make the journey in a single shot.
Tempting as that is, we elected instead to stay at the Four Points by Sheraton Toronto Airport the night before. This will let us wake up at the not-so-ungodly hour of 4:30 am.
I loaded the luggage into our ‘backpack’ (a 2016 Honda HRV):
But I took the Taycan, as it needed to go in for service.
I left later than I had hoped, making it to Porsche Centre North Toronto right as rush hour was setting in. Thankfully, the drop off went smoothly and I was sitting in my complimentary Uber less than 10 minutes after driving into the bay.
I had hoped to go directly to the Sheraton, but unfortunately the universe had other plans:
Have I mentioned lately how much I loathe the travel vortex?
Unfortunately, we’re not able to check-in online for our flight. This comes after we’ve already had to deal with a lengthy issue wherein our codeshare bookings were not properly linked between Air Canada and United and we couldn’t select seats. So we weren’t feeling particularly confident in the airline’s ability to sort this out on their own.
As a result, I elected to travel to Toronto Pearson Terminal 1 to see if I could figure out what the problem might be – whether it’s as simple as an in-person document review, or if it was the kind of problem that would require us to wake up at 2 am to get to the desk extra-early.
Fortunately, the agent minding the line was extremely helpful and quickly deduced that the issue lay with our lack of a return ticket. (Or rather, we had a return ticket but it in the form of a second one-way ticket.)
But as it was only me sans famille I still couldn’t actually check in. But it’s not so severe a problem as to require us to get there extra early tomorrow. Still looking good for our 4:30 am wake-up.
I then called the Sheraton Four Points shuttle and got an automated message that explained the shuttle departs from the hotel on the hour and half hour, except when it doesn’t.
The other option was to walk but – as the sidewalks were limited and the drivers distracted – I opted not to chance it.
I was fairly close to the half-hour so I decided to chance it and head down to the hotel shuttle section of the Departures area. A handful of similar buses came and went – including one for a different Sheraton Four Points – but the Airport Rd. Sheraton Four Points shuttle arrived within 15 minutes.
About 10 minutes driving and we were there. No line-up to check-in, and I was able to arrange interconnecting rooms without incurring extra charges. I mentioned our early departure, and the front desk staff kindly pointed out that we could get a cold breakfast if we wanted and that early-morning shuttles would run twice as often – every 15 minutes.
There’s also a pantry for those feeling snackish or otherwise in need of essentials:
With that, I headed upstairs to check out our rooms – which are perfectly serviceable:
One minor issue, which was that someone had left a garbage bag in the hallway outside our room. I mentioned it to the front desk on my way to the restaurant and then went to the restaurant, Moments:
Photo Credit: Marriott.com – likely with some help from editing magic, as it does not look this nice in person
Here I had an equally cromulent order of fish and chips:
I’m currently reading the Magicians series by Lev Grossman in which the protagonist visits an airport hotel bar and notes that no one is there because they want to be there, they’re there because of circumstances – and that pretty much sums it up.
But service was good, food was hot, and prices were reasonable. The bagged breakfast was also extensive:
The staff had also collected the hallway garbage while I was at dinner.
Meanwhile, my wife had picked up the kids from school, taken them back home to change and finish packing, and then departed on a sojourn of their own. They made good time, and it was shortly after 7 pm when they arrived.
I was ready for their arrival – downstairs with a baggage cart in hand. My wife took the kids upstairs to get ready for bed while I loaded the luggage onto a baggage cart. It took two trips to get the bags up, and then I drove over to the Park ‘n’ Fly Valet lot where I dropped off the HRV.
Pro tip: You can save a significant amount of money with Park ‘n’ Fly by booking in advance. It cost us $400 total to leave the car there for 6 weeks, compared to the ‘rack rate’ of $995.96 plus tax.
The Park ‘n’ Fly shuttle was waiting and ready to go. Technically they don’t stop at any of the hotels, but the driver said he could get me close. That was good enough for me – the Four Points wasn’t far, but it’s not the most pleasant stretch of road to walk. He managed to drop me at the nearest intersection, perhaps 200 metres from the front door.
We were in and settled by 7:30 pm. And with a 4:30 am wake-up, that meant it was time for bed – to sleep, and perchance to dream that we might actually be able to check-in for tomorrow’s flight to Papeete, Tahiti.
Continue reading Surf to Sand – French Polynesia to the Atacama – Day 2.