The long journey home

Just for the diary! Five days ago I left the St Petersburg hotel at 2.15 am. St Petersburg is GMT +2  - in other words ten hours behind Victoria. In order to save having to spend a night near Gatwick I had chosen to get a 5.15 am flight out of St P. Also in order to get a discounted air fare I was going via Toronto and Air Canada Rouge. It turned out to be a 30 hour journey. The 5.15 flight was to Riga in Latvia via Air Baltic then to London Gatwick. There was a 2 1/2 hr wait at St P then about 1 1/2 hrs in Riga - time for free Wi Fi and catch up on emails. The girl behind the snack bar looked like Elizabeth Salander - half her hair shaved but I did not see a tatoo.  A bit of Trivia - Air Baltic is the first airline to buy the Bombardier CS 300 which is coming into service soon. Then three hours at Gatwick - had to go through passport control and security because I had not pre-printed a boarding pass in St P.  At Toronto managed to speak to grandchildren on FaceTime (free Wi Fi at airport). I was glad just to have carry on luggage as I did get an earlier flight out of Toronto and even in Vancouver slightly earlier after another 2 1/2 hour wait. Anyhow was welcomed enthusiastically by Lucy, and by Penny at Victoria arriving home at 11 pm Victoria time. Had managed on and off naps on flights so not too sleep deprived. Now five days later sleeping patterns getting nearer to normal although it is said that you need one day for every hour of time change. Going east tends to be better.