winterbadger | arrived!

Well, here I am in Halifax! It's going to be about half an hour before they have my rental car ready, and there's a handy Internet cafe where the terminals are free if you buy something, so I'm having a Molson and leaving a note to say hi!

Thanks again to

redactrice for getting up at the crack of dawn to drive me to the airport. I benefitted from being Canada-bound, because the only non-domestic check-in lines for people with baggage were the express business-class lines :-).

The flight was quick and pleasant. I napped a bit, took a few pictures of the cloud cover over the midAtlatnic (total) and woke from a doze to see the south/west end of NS coming up ahead. Got a good look at the countryside south of Halifax as we came in; it looks very pretty. The Embraer we came on is very nice to fly in, and the pilot did a couple of exciting half-rolls as we manoeuvered to the airport.

Security was not at all bad at Dulles; for the first time I didn't get held up and wanded. But I must be a bit suspicious (being a big, scary-looking guy ;-) travelling alone) because the young woman at the Canadian Customs desk had some penetrating questions, more than just friendly chit-chat. Baggage claim was easy, though, and here I am.

The flight wasn't as long as I expected because NS is an hour ahead of Virginia! It's 1.30 here now. Got the car squared away, got some CN$ out of an ATM, and here I am.

Well, enough typing. I'm going to check the news, then go read my book: "Captain Alatriste" by Arturo Perez-Reverte. It's EXCELLENT--well written, evocative, intriguing. A well written novel about 17th century Spain. I guessed the first little surprise (the identity of the travellers the protagonist is hired to off). I'm glad I brought a couple of books, though, as I'm already halfway through this one!