21st April 2012 – Flying out of Havana was, quite frankly, heartbreaking – not just because I was knackered after being out all night and only managed to get an hour and a half’s sleep, but because I knew I would miss the place and the people. Toronto was cold and grey, but I suppose I knew at least that more awesome adventures lay ahead of me, so I couldn’t be too grumpy!
The 21st and 22nd of April were both fairly non-descript. I arrived in Toronto on the 21st and took an airport bus into the city, where I walked to my youth hostel and checked in. I spent a couple of hours relaxing in my room, backing up photos from my Cuba trip, and then my godmother Frenda came to meet me for a little bit. We went to Union Station and had a chat and a McDonald’s before she had to get her train out to Burlington, which only runs once an hour and takes an hour to get there. I was still suffering from a total lack of sleep so I pretty much went back to my room and sorted things out and slept, as I had another early flight the next day.
The rude awakening at 5am on the 22nd of April was totally yuck. I stumbled around the dorm room at the hostel trying not to wake anyone, and managed to walk my ass into the city centre in time for the 6:30 bus to the airport. I checked in with no issues, and went through USA immigration with very few complaints, too – quite remarkable! The immigration officer pored through every page of my passport and asked a bunch of questions about why I was going to the US, but in the end I guess he correctly decided that I was no threat to their security or to their job market and sent me through. The plane was delayed by a mere 30 minutes, but we made up the time on the flight and arrived in Washington DC basically on time.
It was absolutely tipping it down in Washington. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. I managed, however, to get a good look at the Space Shuttle Enterprise (“Make It So!”), which was attached to the back of a NASA 747 jumbo jet out on the airfield; I wonder what they’re doing with it. Once in the terminal, I was raring to go – but then the luggage took over an hour to come off the belt, and when it did it was totally soaked. By the time I’d sorted an airport shuttle that was another half an hour, and the bus took over an hour in the rain and traffic to get to the city centre, so by the time I got to the hostel and the lovely staff had checked me in, the lack of sleep had once again caught up with me – d’oh!
I decided that, after more than three weeks of running about like a headless chicken in the pursuit of sun and fun, it was time to take an afternoon just to chill out and do necessary things – especially considering the pouring rain outside. My 19-year-old self would have been disgusted (“You’re in a new city! It’s your first day here! Get off your butt and do something!”), but in the end I unpacked all my wet clothes and did some laundry before working on blog updates and an email backlog.
Later I decided to venture out in search of food – I had spotted an Indian place round the corner from the hostel and thought I might give it a go. I went out, brolly in hand, ready to fight the battering winds. My umbrella turned inside out countless times and my shoes were wet through within minutes, but I figured it was worth it for Indian food! Sadly, when I got there, it was closed. So I walked a little further to another restaurant… and it was closed. And another, and another, and another. Everything was closed. I know it was Sunday, but really?!? It was 7:30pm, and right near the downtown area! I was obviously missing something. Soaked through from waist to foot, and fairly damp everywhere else thanks to the ineffectiveness of my umbrella, I decided to just stop at the first thing I found open… and sadly, that turned out to be a Quizno’s sub shop a few more blocks down. Sigh! I had a couple of sliders (one meatball, one bacon, beef and cheese) and a packet of barbeque flavoured sweet potato chips (verdict: nothing special) and then steeled myself for the walk back to the hostel, whereafter I changed into dry PJs and sat on my bed faffing with my laptop. Considering how little I had been bothered by a lack of it in Cuba, I certainly am taking to it again like a duck to water!
After making plans with Charlie on how/when to meet the next day (yay!), I eventually made it to bed at around 10:30/11pm, and slept like a baby. I reckon that if I get one more good night’s sleep, I’ll be right as rain.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tara.
Born in Hong Kong and raised all over the world, I've been tootling around for 33 years now. A Spanish friend of mine once said that "the smallest pot has the finest marmalade"... I have to agree with her! I'm small but I can still make 6-foot Brazilian bodybuilders cry if the need arises. And I never need to whinge about legroom on a plane!
little tara 
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