Away for Two Weeks

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Mama Cormier

…in London, England

Getting ready for a vacation overseas is always a lot of work, especially when you try to get the house at home clean for overnight guests. On Tuesday, I spent the day cleaning the kitchen, changing all the bed sheets, doing four loads of laundry, cleaning out the fridge, delivering food that won’t keep to the neighbours and of course packing.

Finally at 8:00 pm the Uber arrived to take us to the airport and at the same time Gaelan and her family pulled up to stay overnight. We said a quick hello and goodbye and then headed to Pearson. Once at the airport we checked our bags and went through security and then had to wait over two hours to board the plane.

The flight was a bit turbulent and I found it next to impossible to sleep. We landed at 11:30 am UK time and then had a very long walk through Heathrow to get to customs and our luggage. The pick up for our London Uber was very easy to find and our car arrived within five minutes.

When we finally arrived at our son’s flat it was 2:30 and we were exhausted. Jet lag is always the worst on the first day but it is worth it when I can have dinner with this little girl.

I’m Back and Excited to Share My Journey

Posted on July 22, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….I’ve finally returned from my trip of a lifetime to Italy

We stepped through our front door on Tuesday evening after being on an airplane for 9 hours, at the baggage carousel for at least an hour and then two hours in a car. We ended up driving to Hamilton first to drop off our daughter and Winnie. We stayed for a bit and had a much needed cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Then we packed up our dog, Frances and headed back to Toronto. By the time we got to bed we had been up for about 21 hours.

Luckily for me I managed to sleep through the night but my husband was up at 4:00 and Winnie was definitely on European time, getting up at 2:00 and 4:00 and then again at 7:00. Not only did she wake up but she stayed awake for an hour or two each time.

When I checked my emails I had over 1000. Needless to say that checking and replying to each one is next to impossible. I apologize in advance to my followers whose emails I had to delete. Even deleting emails takes time and I’m now down to 300. I’m hoping to read most of them.

I’ve managed to upload about half of my photos to my laptop. I’ve asked my family members to send me more shots, especially with ones of me in them. At the family wedding I didn’t have one photo of me in either of my cameras. Luckily my brother-in-law and nephew took lots and they promised to send me some.

So for the next couple of weeks I’ll definitely share some of my adventures and certainly many of my photos from Italy. For now I leave you with a small sampling of my 17 days in Venice, Florence, Bologna, Lucca, Assisi and Rome. Enjoy!

The Full Irish Breakfast

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….still suffering from jet lag but this breakfast keeps me going for a good part of the day

On Friday, when we arrived in Dublin, we got a taxi and drove to my husband’s cousin’s home near Phoenix Park. Our plane arrived at 9:30 in the morning and unfortunately we had next to no sleep on the plane because passengers near the front decided to party all night long. It was the noisiest flight that I’ve ever experienced. It was going to be a very long day.

Fortunately, our hostess, P, made us feel right at home and quietly and almost effortlessly made us a great full Irish breakfast. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this protein heavy breakfast, let me describe it for you. It consists of the following meat: black pudding, white pudding, sausage, and ham or bacon. Of course there are eggs.

This breakfast kept us going but by 2:00 in the afternoon I had to take a nap. Kevin lasted a little longer but he crawled into bed soon after. We got a few hours of sleep and then we stayed up till 11:00.

The next morning we were up at 4:40. We just couldn’t sleep any longer, even though we were still tired. I think we were a little bonkers. While P slept, we drank 2 pots of tea and ate a couple of slices of soda bread. When we figured out that there was no alarm system we went out into the garden and did a few exercises. Still restless, we decided to go for a walk through Phoenix Park.

The walk is just what we needed. We went for about 5.7 km. When we got back to the house, P made us our second full Irish breakfast. What a life! We’re still experiencing jet lag and I’m hoping after a good night’s sleep tonight I won’t be dozing off in the middle of the afternoon or at the table during meals.