It Comes In Threes

Wednesday November 9th, 2022

So here we are, it’s been two and a half years since our last big adventure… or any adventure for that matter - thank you COVID pandemic. Feels like a lifetime has passed and also that no time has passed because sitting here on the plane, on our way to Paphos, Cyprus and there are no masks, no restrictions and lots of people everywhere. In many ways it feels like the last 2.5 years never happened. And we’re here for it! MooReece has been itching to get out of the glove compartment for some time.

That said, it was both an adventure and a comedy of errors getting here… maybe it was rust from not having travelled in so long or maybe the Universe was conspiring against us - either way, I’m happy to report, things do come in threes and now we are well on our way to sunshine, beaches and visiting some very old things.

This trip was booked in fairly short order as we didn’t know how the state of travel would be with COVID in the Fall and I knew the Les Mills Live event in Paphos, Cyprus was mid November so with only about a month to plan, it’s been a bit hectic to get organized. Given Cyprus is more than a puddle jump away, and Greece has been on the bucket list forever, the stars aligned and over the next 2.5 weeks, we’ll be exploring Cyprus, Crete and a large portion of mainland Greece. Our travel partner this time around is Scott - no worries, you’ll get to know him.

As mentioned earlier, we are currently on EasyJet flight something or other on our way from London Gatwick to Paphos Cyprus. Our fun however started just over a week ago when I realized my fridge was no longer cold. After having someone come in to look at it, I got the wonderful news that it is not fixable. Grrrrreeat. 5 years old. Just awesome. So now I need a new fridge but can’t get one before we go and we have the warmest early November in history and I can’t even keep things outside, because it’s NOT COLD ENOUGH. Sigh… Then Scott gets a splinter of wood in his….EYE! Yep, you read that. EYE! Spent two days in and out of emerges and eye doctor offices trying to get it out. This is 2 days before we leave. Panic city! Happy to report, all debris was eventually safely and successfully removed…

Finally morning of departure. Mom, Matante and I are going to drive me to Scott’s (Muskokas) and then Scott and I will leave from there, park and fly from Toronto. Cool. Flight’s not until 9:45pm, noooo problem - lots of time. All packed and ready to go by noon and we’re off. Quick pit stop in Parry Sound to use the loo and grab a coffee and on the way back to the car, Mom is standing outside with a very concerned and upset look on her face. 

Mother: “Where is your bag?”

Amy: “Ummmm what do you mean, where is my bag? What bag?”

With an increasingly anxious tone Mother: “Your bag! Your orange pack! Where is it, it’s not in the back!!!”

Amy (now a bit concerned, but thinking she’s trying to pull a prank): “I don’t understand… what do you mean, it’s not in the back…”

Mother: “It’s NOT there, go see!!”

So I stride past her and look in the back and holy (every swear word in the book)... my pack (with ALL OF MY CLOTHES FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP) is NOT THERE. Matante then remembers “...you left it in the garage…” Yep, that’s right folks. It’s not 2:15pm, we are 2 hours from home and we all just realized that I left my luggage in my garage. Told you I was rusty…  I know what I did. I put the bag down to put on my shoes and then got in the car, completely forgetting I had put it down. And Mom is like “you know what… I had a feeling in French River that something was off… but didn’t say anything because I thought you’d tell me I’m being paranoid”.  Are you kidding? I’m the most superstitious person ever when it comes to travel. I would have pulled over immediately to check! Just to be safe. Especially because I had a weird spidey sense too… so maybe I should have just asked Matante to look over the back seat to see if anything was missing… Sigh.

What now? We can’t go all the way back, we’ll never make it. That’s 4 hours. Call Kyle! By some miracle he was at home and was able to go grab my bag out of my garage and drive towards us and we went back, hoping to meet about half way. Then get Scott to come and pick me up in Parry Sound to save even more time. Don’t panic. It will all be fine. Oooohhhhmmmmm. And it was. We met Kyle at the end of the divided highway, booked it back to Parry Sound and Scott, Moo and I were en route to Toronto by 4:15pm. LOTS of TIME! It comes in threes…fridge, eye splinters and forgotten luggage. Got all the bad mojo out of the way before we get on the plane.

Scott introduced me to Park N Fly valet where they park your car, pick it up for you when you get back and will even get some servicing or detailing done for you whilst you are away. They are going to change his oil and it’s only a little bit more than normal Park N Fly. Uhhh yes please! As for the airport, not sure why everyone’s been complaining, we were in and through security in all of 5 minutes and now almost 3 hours to kill in the terminal.  I would have had time to go all the way back to Sudbury to get my bag afterall! HAHA. You can always breathe a bit easier once you’re through security and now just have to wait, the hard part is over. Find a bar, have a drink, eat some food and lets get this show on the road. First stop - London Gatwick!