Thank you, Iceland volcano

My friend Shirley gave me the biggest gift today ... she informed me that she will be coming to France with me. When I told her a last month that I was going she said: "Why didn't you tell me sooner? You should not be alone on this kind of trip". And I thought (after kicking myself) "she's right, I should have told her".

She has a lot on the go this summer, but when my trip went up in smoke I let her know that if she could see her way to coming with me I would really appreciate it. Today she told me that we're on.

This changes everything. It will be now a blast, because we have the same way of looking at the world. For instance, we do not do line-ups (when we went to Expo 86 in Vancouver we saw all the obscure pavillions because the big ones had line-ups. Schedules are merely guidelines, and subject to change without notice. Most importantly, things that are troublesome and scary when you are alone are merely inconvenient or quite funny when you are with a friend.

So, thank you volcano and thank you Shirl.

Lessons learned

I learned a lot from the experience of planning a three-phase trip that involved planes, trains, and automobiles, had a duration of ten days, and was aborted by a natural disaster.

First, in the immortal words of Robbie Burns in To a mouse: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley", which is why I try to minimize timetables to the extent possible.

Second, the trip was overly complicated because I despise Air Canada. If I had used Air Canada I could have eliminated one leg of the trip and a plane change. I chose BA because I could fly direct from London to Toronto going home, but going to Europe on BA involves changing planes in London. Hence the London to Lyon. It was the same for Air France, but in reverse. I can fly direct from Toronto to Paris, but coming home from London involves changing planes in Paris. We all know that adding a change of planes to a trip often results in luggage going in a different direction from its traveller.

Air Canada, on the other hand, has direct flights to and from both London and Paris. So, when I re-do the trip, I will either hold my nose and fly Air Canada or do one-way trips on other airlines, whichever makes more financial sense.

Third, almost half of the trip would have been spent getting from one place to another. If this was a road trip I would have a totally different take on that. For me, a road trip is about the journey rather than the destination. On this type of trip, however, the destination is the important thing, and the less time I spend getting there the better I like it.

So, here is what I am going to change for the September attempt:

- Eliminate the London portion. Do that next year.
- Use Air Canada or Air France, whichever is a better deal.
- Spend four or five days in Paris rather than two and a half.
- Shorten trip to eight days.

Once again from the top

I was going to try to get out and back before the end of May, but that is not in the cards. Not only is it difficult to get a flight, but the Iceland volcano is still causing intermittent closures of European airspace. Waiting in European airports with a hordes of disgruntled travellers, and competing for seats on airplanes, is not my idea of a good time.

So, September it is ... gives me time to rethink the itinerary and do the hotel search again.

Not that I will be staying put until then. I have my annual pilgrimage to Montreal sometime in July or August (I usually go on the first weekend of my friend Julia's vacation). No word yet on when that will be.

I will also be going to Vancouver in June to visit my brother. I had better get going on that one ... June is just around the corner.