Canada 2025
Helen
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| Lipe Part Two 2025 | Chiang Mai 2025 |
When we were in Chiang Mai deciding on our plans for 2025, a return to Canada came up. The opportunity to see family and friends was appealing and we could take care of whatever else was needed. We started looking at flights using Aeroplan miles but getting anything other then economy was impossible and even those used huge mileage amounts. I naively suggested we could find resonably priced premium or business class flights, it can’t be that hard… keeping in mind, I am not the person who usually finds the flights.
I was quickly informed that it’s not that simple. Somewhat daunted, but being my stubborn self, I said no harm in looking! Fate must have favoured me since about half an hour later I found a really good business class BKK-TPE-YVR flight with Thai and EVA Air that wasn’t stupid expensive. After we got over the surprise, we verified the flights actually existed and booked them. I will admit that I randomly brought up how easily I found this flight over the next few months 🤭. Since we booked so far in advance, the BKK-TPE segment was changed several times, so we had just under 2 hours to make our connection in TPE. Figured this was still manageable since our duffle would be checked to YVR.
We had business class tickets so we felt pretty posh going to the Royal Thai Silk check-in oasis at BKK. It’s much quieter, with seats at every check in desk and a separate access through to security and immigration. We were advised our flight from BKK-TPE was delayed once more which wasn’t a great start but we were able to wait in the lounge. Departure was delayed even further when we had to get bussed out to the plane and spent an additional 15 minutes waiting before we were allowed on. By the time we departed we had about half an hour to make our connection. It was all booked on one ticket and Paul was confident they’d either have someone meet us or they’d have to rebook us. The flight itself was fine, it was a smaller plane with no pods, but the seats were comfortable and Thai Airways service is still great. When we landed, it was another wait for a bus and then the drive to the terminal. Paul was right, there were several staff waiting to escort people to tight connections. Our host told us we had to walk quickly, which we did and made it to the gate as they were finishing general boarding.
We settled in our pods, selected our meals and had our jammies handed out quickly. We had the single pods by the windows, Paul’s was just in front of me. Across the aisle, I had Desmond, otherwise known as the “jack-in-the-box”. He kept standing up and sitting down, then standing in the aisle, walking up and down, hitting the call button and was very confused. Turns out he is from England, is 92 and was traveling back to Canada with his wife and daughter. When we were waiting to deplane, I had a chance to talk to his wife, she had been fast asleep in the seat behind him for the majority of the flight. She told me they met in Vietnam back in the 70’s, immigrated to Canada in the 80’s. He has dementia so they had made one last trip back to Vietnam to see family. I think the attendants thought I was traveling with him so had me help explain things a few times. Not the most restful flight, but overall was smooth and we made it back to YVR on time.
We quickly collected our duffle and headed off to the YVR Airport Fairmont hotel for the night. We were heading to Creston for the first few weeks and had an early morning flight to Cranbrook (YXC) so it was less hassle to stay nearby. For the past month we had been checking the prices of the hotel on Google Hotels and managed to get a really good deal by booking about a week out. I had wanted to book but Paul kept saying “patience grasshopper”, turned out he was right and being patient paid off in savings. We managed to get some sleep, had a quick breakfast at the airport before catching our last flight. Can confirm that Tim Horton’s still hasn’t improved. Paul’s parents met us at Cranbrook airport, we loaded up the luggage and Paul drove us back to Creston. We had a tour of the garden, got pizza from Jimmy’s and a nice catch up on the front deck before having an early night. We had gotten in touch with Diana, our landlord from last summer. It worked out great as the guy who moved in when we left had given notice so the apartment was available. We jumped on it and arranged to take possession for May 23.
The next few weeks were filled with spending time with Paul’s parents and helping them with whatever they needed. Paul sorted out computers, the tv’s, doing heavy yardwork, taking down larger branches, clearing out the garage and dump runs. I did cooking, cleaning, helped sort out some banking and paperwork and started weeding the garden plot. We also moved everything on the front deck and gave it a good clean on one of the non-rainy days. We fired up the BBQ for a few meals, played dominoes and had some evenings on either porch watching the birds. We also managed to see our friends Pati and John a few times which was great. We met at Bassack for Korean food one night, walked over to their place for dinner and boardgames and met for lunch. It was great to see them and hear everything that they’d been up to.
We borrowed the car for a quick overnight to Calgary so we could take possession of the apartment and drop off some stuff that we’d need. We managed to arrive and get the car into the garage just before a hailstorm hit. It was nice to see Diana and we were able to have a quick catch up. Pati and John happened to be in town so they came over and we went out for dinner. Next day it was back to Creston so that Paul and John could watch the last game of the season together and see Liverpool be presented with the EPL trophy! It was a nice way to wind up our stay. John came to see us off at the airport, Paul drove us there so that John only had to drive back as it’s a long way to go by himself. Our flight was on time and we landed in Calgary.
The apartment was the same, nicely furnished and had everything we needed. Nadir was still at the front desk, he even remembered us, which was nice. We did some grocery orders, got organized and unpacked. Our goal in Calgary was to get our gear updated. Traveling with the duffle had reminded us that carry-on only was the way to go, so we were going to need to dial in some items. We also wanted to get back to walking, get some overdue vaccines, meet with financial advisors and just generally get ourselves sorted.
We had told my Mom that we were going to come visit her but hadn’t really been specific about when. To make sure she was actually home, we called her first and pretended I had to get off the phone. Once we confirmed she was there, we walked over, called her again from outside, and told her to look out the window. She was very surprised and happy to hear that we’d be staying for the summer. We got into a routine of me walking over earlier in the morning to visit, Paul walking over a few hours later and we’d walk back together. We helped my Mom get sorted with a new Telus contract, internet and mobility for seniors which saved her a lot of money overall. We managed to get the facility manager to install the new stove she had been promised over 9 months prior and ordered her air fryer to make cooking even easier. We were there at least 3 times a week so also did some cooking to leave in the freezer for days when she was too tired to cook. We were able to be there when she wasn’t feeling well and ended up taking her to the hospital. Not how I wanted to spend my birthday, but luckily it wasn’t too serious and we were glad to be there when she needed us.
We got in touch with friends and made numerous lunch and dinner dates. Tik and Jesse were visiting from Thailand, so we got to meet with them when they were heading to BC. We saw Curtis & Tina, Dave & Brenda and Kerby (unfortunately Jody wasn’t able to make it) at the Pig & Duke. It was nice to hear about their families and what had been going on. I walked over to Kensington to have lunch with Roberta… thankfully she forgave me after I messed up and ended up missing up our first arranged day. We met Slaven & Alex and Valens for dinner, unfortunately Larissa couldn’t make it. Had another couple of late nighters with John and Mark at Pig & Duke. Once again I was bad at taking photos so I don’t have any to share but so glad we got to see everyone.
We did manage to organize something exciting for 2026. After saying we weren’t going back to Australia for a few years, we are going back in 2026 from March 6 to June 3 🤷. Saw a 40% off the rental cost promo on the socials which was too good to pass up! Got some good flights using mileage rewards and have it all booked 😁!
It rained a lot through June and July. The average rain in July is 65mm, before the month was over we’d already hit over 100mm which resulted in some flood warnings. There has been summer snow in the mountains and we’ve dropped down to 6 C a couple of nights. The cooler days have made for some nice walks, less smoke and justifed several trips to the local Vietnamese for a bowl of tasty Pho. The city was crazy busy during Stampede, it wasn’t quite the record year but it was close. We didn’t attend the festivities but were able to see the fireworks from our balcony every night which was nice.
Paul ordered a new mini computer, he’d been researching them for awhile and found a good one. I got a Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 which tracks sleep, steps and all sorts of things. We’ve learned that letting the battery get too low will have you woken up at 4 am with it making a death knell when it drops to below 5%. Paul was patient and got the newer Galaxy Watch 8 just before we left. New runners, pants and coffee filters were also added in. We had gotten new Amex credit cards which gave us each a $200 dining credit for certain restaurants in Calgary. We treated ourselves to a nice meal out at Bridgette Bar for Paul’s birthday and fancy sushi at NUPO. While both were good, probably wouldn’t go back as neither are really our style… a bit too pretentious.
We got all our appointments handled, I made several shopping trips with my Mom to get her some new clothes and a walker. Paul took a 4 day motorcycle course which he enjoyed immensely. He quickly learned that riding a rental pedal bike with a bad suspension to the course, which included a large uphill section and a lot of bumps, was not the best idea. It resulted in a badly bruised tailbone and wounded pride. Taking a 4 hour refresher course on an older dirtbike didn’t help his tailbone either but he was still really glad he did it. My Mom took us for a nice birthday lunch at Pasquales, an old favorite of hers from when she used to go with my Dad. I was able to take her out for lunch and an afternoon at Willow Park Village which is one of her favorite shopping centres. We did miss out on our traditional leaving breakfast at Galaxy Diner or Phil’s which seemed somewhat like sacrilege but made up for it with take out from Sushi Ginza for dinner on our last night instead.
We packed up the apartment on September 15 and headed back to Creston to spend the last week with Paul’s parents. We had a couple of meals out, got to see Dave, did some walking, helped in the yard and house. We got ourselves packed up and were lucky enough to have another evening with Pati & John. Our last evening we took John & Rita for dinner and the next morning we were up early for our drive to the Cranbrook Airport.
It was harder to say our goodbyes this time, our parents are aging and we know we have limited time with them. We’d booked flights back to Thailand for September 22, so we had to be in YVR on the 21st since it’s the usual 2:00 AM departure on EVA Air. We got in touch with Jen at The Siri Condominium in Chiang Mai and she let us know that our old apartment #302 was available in September. Great, booked that until early February 2026 when we will head to Lipe before our Australian adventure.
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