I just returned from a week-long trip over to the UK, and I can sum up as a week of fortunate coincidences.  It was very much the opposite of my typical travel luck.

Lucky item #1:  I was able to use my aeroplan upgrade certificate on the way over to London on Saturday.  The seat was a good size with a full recline, and I comfortably took in the movies “Wild Hogs” and “The Time Machine” while arriving ahead of schedule to Heathrow.

Lucky item #2:  My brother in law Jason is backpacking in Europe and just happened to be in London for one night on the same night that I was there.  We shared a hotel room in downtown London right beside London Bridge.

Lucky item #3:  The Tour de France was starting in London on Sunday morning, and there was a ceremony over on London Bridge that we went to go see.  We were going to meet Tim Falk on the bridge (Tim’s living in the UK for a few months) and Tim happened to pick “near the band” as the spot to meet.  Turns out that they pulled the starting line out right in front of the band and started the race about 10 feet away from us.

Lucky item #4:  I was in London specifically for a management training course.  One night, we went offsite for a social activity and toured the city of Oxford and its many colleges and universities.  Jodie reminded me via email that my cousin was at Oxford, and luckily enough Meagan was watching her email box when I pinged her with a “I’m on a bus headed your way” message.  I snuck away from the group dinner for a bit and had about 30 minutes to sit down with Bruce and Meagan to chat over a pint of cider, which was a great surprise I think for all of us!

Lucky item #5:  I got an upgrade again on the way back, and spent 7.5 hours flying back in relative luxury.  I only had 2 SSWU certificates and I burned them all for this trip, but it was worth it.

Overall it was a fantastic trip.  The management training itself was something that I have been looking forward to since I joined the support department, and it delivered on my expectations.  I was able to connect to some new people and understand better how to work with some of my direct peers and colleagues.

Tim took me to the grocery store for some souvenir shopping (Katlyn wanted some mush peas) where we walked the aisles looking for the most unique items to bring home.  I came out with a bag full of things like canned lunch tongue, spotted dick, mushroom & bacon toast spread, grilled steak flavour big nuts, as well as some assorted cookies and treats.

Unfortunately I didn’t sleep well at all, and my body slipped more and more into exhaustion with each day that passed.  Apparently I can’t force my body to fall asleep early, so I was up every night til about 2am and up every morning at 7am for the start of class.  By the last day, I couldn’t eat anything with any confidence that it would stay down.