DAY
8 – Friday January 20, 2017:
Today was all about getting packed up and getting
ourselves checked out of our hotel so that we could go to the airport and fly
home. Somehow, it turned out to be much
less complicated than our trip to Punta Cana.
We only had to make sure we got checked out by 9:45 am, as per the tour
operator’s instructions on Day 1 of this week.
Then, we had to verify that we each had e-tickets for our flights with
the booking reference on it.
These days, an air traveler doesn’t have to have a
physical ticket to present upon arriving at the airport. You only have to have the booking reference
in order to prove that a ticket exists for you so that the boarding pass can be
printed. The boarding pass is what
allows a passenger to get on the aircraft on a particular flight on a
particular date and time. It contains
the passenger’s name (exactly matching what is on his/her passport), the airline’s
name (Air Transat), the flight number (TS655) and the date and time of the
flight.
Once we had our e-tickets in hand, we only had to
wait for our prearranged ride to the airport, which would arrive at our hotel by
10:45 am. It would pick up all the
people checking out that day and flying home.
Even though our flight would not be leaving till about 2:30 pm, the same
rules apply for all departing passengers:
you must check in within about three hours of departure – the sooner the
better. This is done for security
reasons, but it also helps the passengers to not feel so stressed out. There are lots of steps to go through before
boarding the plane and they must all be followed scrupulously. You just have to accept that this is the way
things are done and will be done from now on.
It’s for the sake of everyone’s safety and that means the rules are a
good thing.
The flight home, when it finally left Punta Cana,
was smooth and uneventful and we landed in Toronto at Pearson International
Airport (Terminal 3) by about 7:00 pm.
There is a one-hour difference between Punta Cana time and Toronto time
and the flight takes four and a half hours, provided there aren’t any delays.
Then, of course, when we landed we had to go through
several steps again. We had to show our
passports and our completed personal declarations stating our identification
information. Then, we had to go through border
control security, hand in our completed declarations of goods / money being
brought into Canada, pick up our baggage, and go home.
The main challenge we faced had to do with Dave’s
inability to walk far. We had arranged
for a wheelchair and pusher when we debarked from the plane, then we had to
wait for a ride (via electric car) to a wheelchair area, then take another ride
on another wheelchair to the security area, hand in our declarations of goods /
money, go the baggage area, retrieve all the baggage including Dave’s walker,
which we’d had to check in at Punta Cana, and then get the car and go home.
Another challenge was that Brent had to retrieve the
car from his workplace where it was parked close to the airport, come back in
the car and pick us up at the doors exiting Terminal 3. So, he took a taxi to his workplace to get
the car, but this only took him about fifteen or twenty minutes. Once we were all piled into the car with our
baggage, we just wanted to get out of the airport and onto the highway.
Brent was driving so he decided to take Hwy. 407
home. This was the quickest route. He was going to drop me off first at Finch
subway station at Yonge and Finch so that I could take the subway home. All I’d had to do before we left the airport
was to change into my long pants from my shorts. I didn’t put my boots on though because I didn’t
think I would be outside much if at all.
I would just board the subway, ride to Davisville station, and take the
bus right to my front door – very easy.
After that, Brent was going to take Dave to his
place in Whitby, then get onto Hwy. 412 north and then Hwy. 407 again in order
to get himself and James to Brent’s place in Janetville.
I’d say that this trip, though not perfect, was
pretty damn good from start to finish and I would do it again in a minute. Perhaps next year, Dave and I will go to
Punta Cana again by ourselves – I don’t know.
But, I do know that I’ll be going back there again sometime in the near
future. If Brent and James want to join
us a couple of years from now too, no problem.
They are more than welcome.
copyright 2017 - Anne Shier
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