Day 1 - Heathrow to Toronto

The day is finally here! I’ve completed my PhD, and my Wife has left her job. We’ve sold the house, cars, and given most of our possessions to charity. The only things weighing us down now are our packs!

We begin our journey in the North of England, travelling for 3 hours down the motorways toward London, and our destination, Heathrow Airport. Arriving at Heathrow with little difficulty, we say our Goodbyes and head toward Departures. We separate our packs and check the larger, luggage portion, and use the day packs for ‘carry-on’ – containing all the usuals: tablet, phone, headphone splitter…

After a pleasant coffee in the spotless terminal, our gate is finally called and we head through security – a zone of angst and stress, even though no one has anything to hide. Luckily, and for a change, I was not pulled out of line and man-handled – I went smoothly through the barriers without a second glance. Finally. As we move through the terminal toward our boarding area, we notice how quiet and empty the airport seems. Indeed, our plane, once loaded, could not have been at even one third of capacity. This meant we had a nice, empty seat between us – giving that little bit of extra room for the 7-and-a-half hour flight to Toronto.

The flight was, for the most part, smooth. However, for around 10 minutes, we hit significant turbulence, bouncing up and down in our seats like a carnival ride. My wife, who is not a fan of flying, was not amused. In the end, of course, we landed safe and sound and were greeted jubilantly by my Parents, who had not seen my Wife for a year-and-a-half. We had a 26-hour stopover, which meant we could have a nice catch-up with my Parents, and my Brother and his Girlfriend. Of course we had the obligatory Tim Horton’s fix, and before we knew it – we were back at the airport.

Finally – as we board our 10-and-a-half hour flight to Rio, it hits us. We’re on our adventure.