1120 Saturday morning and I am at the Vienna airport again with the long journey to Saskatoon, Canada to attend the Uranium 2010 conference on uranium mining. This trip I was travelling with two colleagues and we enjoyed each others' company, especially as we had a 6 hour layover in Toronto after the direct Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna.
The flight on Austrian was OK although those Boeing 767 aircraft are getting a bit long in the toot; noisy planes and the entertainment system is pretty old fashioned. When we arrived in Toronto the plane was directed to the wrong gate and so disembarkation was delayed for about 20 minutes after the doors opened so they could re-arrange the various doors and passageways to enable us to walk into Canada without getting into that part of the airport that is technically the USA!
Still we got ther and made aour way to the lounge and settled in for the long wait. Time passed OK with some nice snacks and a few drinks and free internet WiFi. We went to the Gate for the Air Canada flight to Saskatoon and were re-directed to another gate due to a plane change. Then we had to wait for catering and then a passenger felt unwell and was put off the plane; so another delay while she was helped off and her baggage recovered from the hold. The plane was an Embraer 175 and the crew of 4 was all female - both pilots and both attendants in the cabin. Apparently the original plane had popped a tyre and wilst that was being chnaged thry found that the brake system was damaged and so the plane was grounded.
The flight to Saskatoon was 3.5 hours and we chased the setting moon and the sunset all the way - and passed around some big storms wth great views of lightning in the clouds. Upon arrival at Saskatoon we found that all the bags from the others had arrived (I was carrying all my gear in my usual carry-on set up to avoid loosing anything). The airport is small and had plenty of taxis and so we were off to the hotels in no time. Arriving at the hotels it was almost exactly 24 hours since I had got up in Vienna, hence feeling a bit tired! So check in at the Delta Bessborough a real old style CP hotel and bed. The others are across the street at the Sheraton.
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