The Mills Family

Edmonton and the Biggest Mall Ever...

darrylandsarah — Wed, 5 May 2010 10:56:00 GMT

DAY 2: Wednesday 14^th April 2010 - EDMONTON (Darryl)

Well we all slept heavily and I woke about 7am, down to breakfast around 9am-sh and we feasted on all the free food to fill up for the day (bagels, English muffins and Grape jelly was a hit). We intended on visiting West Ed Mall today, but after trying to arrange a bus and finding we needed exact change (still finding the coins pretty odd – no 50 cent, but 25cents, the 5cent is larger and the 10cent tiny!) we also realized we would be better off sorting out some other critical things first. So we spent most of the day in the nearby City Centre Mall which was about 4 floors and we didn’t get around it all (and thats the small one!). It was still chilly outside today with the sun straining through the light clouds, but I found it too hot inside the mall and had to strip off my jersey and jacket to cool off.

The boys were taken with these large gas fires with what looked like ice cubes piled around the flames.

The Dollarama shop was a hit, and it was interesting to wander around the food hall to compare prices and check out the different types of kai on offer. Taco Bell looks great and cheap too, and the Stromboli at some Italian place looks too good to pass up (later). We settled for muffins, coffee and slushies.

I spent some time around 3 phone/internet shops (Bell, Fido, Telus) sorting out our communications and found that they don’t do pre-paid cell phone sim cards (for Sarahs phone) so we may have to just buy a cell phone instead, and found an internet key for mobile broadband on the laptop for $75.

Lachie and I went out again before dinner to pickup a nice bottle of Canadian wine (Chenin Blanc from the Okanagan district) to go with our Salmon and vegetables for dinner. The wine shop owner was impressed with NZ wines, and reckons they send most of the Canadian winemakers there for training!

Our impressions of Edmonton so far:

The colours of most buildings are quite drab (mainly brown)and industrial looking, and the paths etc are very dusty although well swept. I wonder if this is a product of heavy snow and constant application of grit to the roads? In saying that it seems quite busy and I am enjoying strolling around finding different things down each road, as most shops are evenly spread out. Lachie and I visited the underground light rail and found it to be a haven for a few homeless people, we have also been approached by a few down & out folk on the street asking for money.

I am enjoying the temperature, as its nice getting into jeans, jackets, jerseys again – but the temp is around -2 to +5 degrees and I just can’t comprehend what it would be like in winter at -30!!!

Most people seem quite friendly, and the accent is more American than I was expecting. I am finding that I have to put more effort into speaking more clearly and slowing it down (ie lose the Kiwi twang and my mumble!), so some of the locals can understand.

DAY 3: Thursday 15^th April 2010 - EDMONTON

After breakfast, Callum and I nipped down to the Bell shop in City centre mall and sorted out our internet mobile USB stick, and a pre-paid SIM card for Sarah’s cellphone. Still having a bit of trouble with my accent (didn’t realize it was that different?) but one of the shop assistants knew 'Flight of the Conchords' well - so she understood.

After we tested both of those it was on the bus and off to West Edmonton Mall. The ride there gave us some insight into life in the local suburbs. Houses varied between rough little boxes and more luxurious large stately homes. Still dry, brown , drab & dusty – but the evergreen Fir trees provide a bit of colour.

The mall was really interesting. I don’t usually enjoy shopping malls as they are typically just more of the same old shops. Not here, there was:

- Avenues of pubs, restaurants and lots of neon (including a Hooters bar),

- Galaxy Land with roller coasters, rides, games, etc and we had a cartoon caricature done of the boys.

- Waterfalls, fountains, bronze statues – including a lifesize? Whale,

- A massive water fun park, with a wave machine, water slides, bungy, deck chairs & a beach!

- A Pirate ship, with waterways, submarine rides, performing seals etc

- The Wild West Gun shop was a hit with the boys, as well as having lots of real weaponry (Glocks, 44 magnums, revolvers, machine guns, etc ) they had a target range where you could fire off a few rounds (10 shots for $33).

We hit it off with a storekeeper in Supply Sergeant (ex-army clothing and supplies) and we gave the other Aussie assistant a hard time! Callum spent his money on a Top Gun style bomber jacket, and Kelsey got an army tee shirt.

We also stocked up on some more Edmonton tee shirts and a fleece top for Lachie.

Lunch today was mainly Tacos and Burritos, and Sarah and I shared our first Stromboli, while Kelsey held out for a burger and fries.

Its taking a while getting used to the longer days here, (it gets dark after 9pm)and it caught us out today. We were so busy finding our way around this place that we hadn’t noticed the time getting away on us. We were all getting pretty weary and finally got back on the bus after 8pm. The ride back was more of an eye opener for the kids, as an old fart yelled at Lachie to give up his seat, and a drunken bum hassled the driver for most of the trip back.

I cooked up a basic feed of sausages, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes and bread while Sarah caught up on the clothes washing and the kids wrote in their journals. Packing our bags up ready for an early start tomorrow, it’s another late night but so far all is well.

We Made It!

darrylandsarah — Tue, 4 May 2010 16:53:00 GMT

Tuesday 13th April 2010 (NZ Time) – AUCKLAND / SYDNEY / VANCOUVER / EDMONTON (Darryl)

From the plane:

We stayed the night at Maria’s house, although Sarah & I only had 1.5hrs sleep before the shuttle arrived at 2am to pick us up – as we didn’t finish the final packing and cleanup of the house til late.

The first incident happened at Auckland Airport when Lachie almost got gobbled up by the escalator! At first I thought he was just kidding around when he was wiggling on the floor, but soon realized his arm had got caught by the rubber escalator hand grip where it feeds into the floor, so grabbed him and pulled like hell until he popped free. The escalator cut out and his only injury was some bruising, a few tears, and a broken watch strap, but as we were a bit jaded with the early start it was surreal and like something out of a movie!

Lift off was at about 7:15am to clear skies and a sunny but windy day (on a Boeing 767). The flight to Sydney was a bit bumpy for a while, and just as I started to feel queasy – Kelsey decided to test out the barf bags, and blew chunks a few times. We only really had about 40 minutes in Sydney airport, so made the most of that time with several quick laps around the shops to get the circulation going before the 14 hour stretch coming up. Touchdown in Australia was around 9ish Aussie time, and we departed for Canada at about 10:30.

The larger Boeing 777 with Air Canada was a bit more comfy and a smooth takeoff, but still a few bumps in this road too! Currently cruising at 35000 feet, 590mph ground speed and the temp outside is -43 degrees F. It is 5:20pm (Aussie time),now dark outside and we are roughly halfway to Vancouver. With 3932 miles travelled so far, and only 4001 to go, we should arrive in Canada around 7am local time.

Later:

Well we made it. What a marathon journey, but we are finally in Canada!

Its hard to believe as it has taken so much planning and agonizing over costs and routes etc, and with the tiredness from all the travel it seems quite surreal.

Anyway, the flight to Vancouver went fairly well – with time passed by watching movies ( I saw Sherlock Holmes and Avatar) reading my book (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), work on the laptop, sorting out the kids (mopping up after them and setting them up for a sleep etc). Me, Kelsey and Lachie shared a row with Sarah and Callum behind. The boys all slept well at times, however I only managed about half an hour with the odd spot of nodding off in the whole 13.5 hours – as the flight seemed to hit all the bumps when I tried (Lachie woke me up to tell me to put my seatbelt on – thanks mate!)

I loved all the food though, so that also filled in the gaps.

We landed at Vancouver around 7:15ish, and after a grilling by border control, collecting our luggage, check in and security for the next flight etc - we had an hour or so before the Edmonton connection so made the most of it and had a snooze on bench seats in the departure lounge. Waking around 10:30 and feeling quite groggy we boarded and were taxiing ready to lift off before 11am (this time on a smaller Airbus Industrie) but there was some minor drama with a faulty auxillary power unit….so we must have gotten away around 11:15.

The view of the Rocky Mountains from the air was fantastic, and the snow only appeared to be on the tops but the ranges extended forever with some big rivers and lakes in between. This flight was the most bumpy and Kelsey blew chunks again, but it was over pretty quickly landing in Edmonton Airport after 1pm.

The airport here was the newest and nicest of the lot so far, but being a fair way out of town it cost us $58 to get to the Hotel! The change in scenery around Edmonton is stark in comparison with the Rockies, as suddenly the land is flat and brown and dusty. Apparently we just missed the snow, with evidence of broken ice floating down the Saskatchewan River and patches of snow here and there.

The Alberta Place Suite Hotel is pretty good for the price, with a separate bedroom for us and continental breakfast included. Its also very central to the CBD so great for taking a walk around town.

A nice long hot shower, shave and change of clothes was just bliss. We decided to take a walk and look for a restaurant to have dinner and celebrate our arrival, but they took a lot of finding. Initially we thought the air temperature was quite tolerable, and actually nicely brisk and refreshing – but later on the temp dropped and we started to really feel the cold, so needed to find somewhere fast! We stumbled upon a Boston Pizza place which was just perfect, and after some tiny burgers, and individual pizzas Mine was spicy Perogy (had to ask what perogys were!), red wine and hot chocolate everything was looking so rosy that Sarah nodded off a few times!

I realized that tipping for service was the right thing to do so had to come clean and just ask the waitress what was expected, and made my first ever tip (usually 10 to 15%, so I paid $10 on a $67 bill).

We were all still feeling the effects of the epic journey so we needed some sleep desperately, so off back to the Hotel.

On the way back we stopped at Sobeys supermarket and stocked up on some provisions for meals in the Hotel room. Interesting looking around and comparing what different foods are here.

Anyway, back to the Hotel and we all passed out before our beds hit the pillow around 9:30!

Photos: 13th April 2010

darrylandsarah — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:07:00 GMT

Flights to Canada