I've arrived!

The travelling went surprisingly well. I say surprisingly because it started off in a stressful way. I checked in online on Thursday and the seats with leg room that I had booked in November had been changed! What?! I panicked! Stress built up! On phone to West Jet. "You didn't pay for them" I was told. My itinerary and receipt had the seat number I'd booked. How could I not have paid for them?! I went through a flight booking whilst on the phone and I couldn't see how I could book a flight, the seats, and pay what I'd been asked to pay, without paying for the seats. I didn't see how it was possible to do what I was being told. Anyway, through tears I paid £200 to get the legroom seats on the long flights. I'll put in a complaint when I'm back.

Drive down to the Heathrow area was fine. I'd booked the Travel Lodge at Heston on the M4 west bound. Annoyingly, I had to drive all the way to the Chiswick roundabout to get to the hotel and of course there was masses of traffic, but I got there in the end, unpacked the car and zoomed over to Shepperton for dinner with school friend Dawn. Good to catch up and see her and her family.

I slept quite well and had a leisurely start to the day. Parked in the short term car park at the airport for Meet and Greet and then started looking for the desk for Blue Circle. Couldn't find it so went over to the terminal building. Nope, not there. Back to the car park (all the while walking around with my case, heavy rucksack, my stick and it was pouring!). Saw a really tiny sign for Meet and Greet, but it wasn't easy to find the desk. Anyway, a man with a rucksack met me eventually. What's going to be the next stressful thing I thought. Well, actually, nothing! Assistance was great. Taken in a buggy to the gate and it was so funny watching the people walking in front of the buggy completely oblivious that the buggy was behind them. I suggested the driver hoot his horn, but that's not allowed. The flight was good. Nice and roomy plane (Dreamliner), empty seat next to me, friendly staff, tasty food, couple of gins and a red wine, watched three films (Hunger Games, How to build a girl and I finished off with La La Land).

I didn't have to worry about changing flights either, because I was met off the plane and taken straight to the gate at Calgary. Very glad I had the wheelchair. Calgary is a big airport.

The next plane was very different. Really narrow, and tiny cupboards for storage. The most relaxed looking pilot ever. A young lady, who looked like she'd been surfing or something, with flowing brown hair. We flew over the Rockies for ages. Rather impressive. I took some photos so check out Instagram. The blumin' landing was a bit scary, but we arrived at Kelowna safely and thankfully my case was there waiting for me. I was sure it would have got lost. Then there's Gail to pick me up in her humongous red truck.

Gail and I have met up in the UK a fair bit over the years but this is the first time I've seen her in her home country (well, for the last 18 years). And this trip has been a while in the making and was postponed last September due to the fires.

But I'm here! In Canada, at last!

Today I was awake at 3am and up at 630am. All of us were, thanks to Maggie the dog barking at the intruder (me). It just meant we had more time to talk! After a tasty breakfast, Gail and I spent some time in the jacuzzi. OMG it was amazing. Jets pounding over my sore body, really warm water, and a view to die for.

Later we walked along the promenade, next to the lake in Peachland which was lovely. The lake is huge. I think it's 68 miles to drive around. It was a warm day and it's weird to think how cold it gets in the winter with masses of snow.

It was interesting to see what's in the 'high street'. People were friendly, and it was all very relaxing. We went for another walk around the block this evening. I enjoyed looking at the different types of houses. Some are absolutely massive, a few quite small, others in between. There are really modern houses, then there's A frame houses, traditional; a real mixture. A lot have fab balconies. Most have huge windows which is understandable bearing in mind the views. It's great to see Gail's house too. She and Paul have done a huge amount of work on it and although I'd been shown round parts of it in video, it's good to see it in the flesh. It's a really great, big home.

So it's 8.30pm now. I'm going to try to stay awake until 9-930pm. Whether I'll make it or not, we will have to see!