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we woke up at the crack of noon and found ourselves in unfamiliar territory.
after a hectic airport day and early morning arrival, the cabbie had dropped us off, with our 2 bike boxes and all of our luggage, outside the house where we had rented a room for a couple of weeks. by the time we had woken up somebody in the house, we found our room and passed out on the mattress on the floor.
my eyes opened to pink walls, a pink dresser, and a filthy carpet.
and a twin mattress (i sleep with a guy who's 6 feet, just sayin...) on the floor.
it took me a few mins to realize where the hell i was.
oh yes, st john's. we made it to the land of beer and fish....and university student houses. nice.
at the outfitter's downtown, we stocked up on campingaz for the stove...and a couple of thermarests because, well, we would be sleeping on "the rock".
after getting our bikes together and all things packed for our early morning departure, we ventured out to find our first meal of fish n' chips and some local newfie beer.
apparently Ches' is the best in town.
and the local brewery is just outside of town in Quidi Vidi...although we were saving our brewery and tasting tour for when we got back from the trip, we did manage to guzzle an Eric's Red (which isn't a red beer at all...more to come on that) and a pint of 1892 at The Duke.
to do list
1. write letter to Air Canada in two parts:
a) commending our check-in guy Bruno for allowing us to take our bikes on board for the original amount of $50 that was repeated to me over and over again on the phone when i booked our tickets in may, not the $157 they were going to charge us when we got to the airport.
b) complaining first about the dumb ass twit who did not properly convey baggage allowance and extra fees on the phone, even though i had her repeat the rules about 4 times and second, for booking a flight in advance but still being put on the standby list, with the risk of being denied boarding, because we chose not to pay the extra $20 to pre-select our seats.
~~
in a crappy airport bar, drowning our disbelief and frustration in too expensive beer, after the flight for which we had bought tickets 2 months prior, just took off with our luggage and our bikes, but without us:
"should i start composing my letter to Air Canada already?"
random quotes from bob as we try to amuse ourselves while having to wait 4 hrs until the next flight to st john's:
"i'm utterly surprised that security was the easiest part of that process, despite the fact that we're carrying a tent and a tripod"
"as much as i'd love to have bacon because i think bacon should be offered on everything in life...can you put bacon on the mouth of my beer?"
me: are you tired or something?
bob: why?
me: your eyes are all red.
bob: i'm allergic.
me: to what?
bob: canned air.
i should challenge this brilliant chick to a "things my boyfriend says" war.
~~
at 5 am, after flying executive class, in which bob and i both tried to drink the airline out of wine and beer (hey, they owe us at least that satisfaction), we finally made it to the island of newfoundland (guess what? it's foggy)...it must be happy hour already. somewhere.
although our original rough idea (there were no plans here, only plane tickets) was part Avalon, part Bonavista Peninsula, it wasn't until we got there that we realized just how much work this hilly province really was going to be. we started out northwest, around Conception Bay, then headed south for a tour around The Irish Loop.
gruelling uphills that almost had me in tears, but with spectacular payoffs.
~
length of trip: 14 days
total biking days: 9 (+ 1 rest day)
total hours of biking time: 42 hrs 06 mins
max speed: 60 km/hr (somewhere between Bay Bulls & Witless Bay)
total days of sunshine: 1.5 (on bike trip) + 2 (post bike trip in St John's)
# of jars of p.b. consumed: 2
Rummy 5000 Nfld Ed. scores: Bob = 1230, Manny = 1140
# of salted cod that rode in the overhead compartment back home: 3
TOTAL DISTANCE: 618.77 kms
nfld trip daily log blog with photos and stories to come...
