LANDED.

Disclaimer: Super detailed post for my own memory's sake.

We are finally here in Prague, Czech Republic! What a crazy trip getting here.

First of all, I finally fit everything into my amazing new 55L backpack after a couple of Tetris moments.  This bag is unreal and I was RUTHLESS at packing for 30 days! Crazy minimal.  Not having our equipment toolbag really killed it for me though and my bag was pretty much busting at the seams. Thankfully, Lisa is gonna take some of my crap back to Toronto with her.

Early this afternoon (technically yesterday but I haven't slept so it doesn't count as new day in my head), we all met up at Pearson and were given a pretty awesome plaque, and Team Canada Olympic hat and mittens.  Swag. The British Airways folks were pretty great.  They took our picture on the conveyor belt (SO not normally allowed?!) and gave us a shoutout on the plane.

I got to sit between the two most adorable ladies - Beryl from England on one side and Jeannette from Scotland on the other. BEST PLANE GRANDMAS with excellent stories about cruises, scones, retiring, and British slang, and they took care of me!

The flight itself was pretty brutal - demonstration of sardines using humans, thanks. The fact that you can't even stand up if the person in front of you is reclined is alarming.  Forget about even crossing your legs. The plus side was a mint choice of booze, over which I bonded with Beryl, who taught me all the British ways of ordering whiskey.  Whiskey Dry = Rye & Ginger. Also watched 2 Gunz and Pain & Gain...too much Mark Wahlberg.  Took an hour long nap

Landed at Heathrow for an 8 hour layover and just vegged.  Our whole team just took over and napped everywhere.  Halfway through a nap I overheard someone talking about going to downtown London.  I sat up and decided to join them.  Once we got to customs, they gave us a bit of a hard time about the time constraint into the downtown core, which planted the seed of doubt in my mind.  The pace at which we walked to the train station confirmed that my body was in no state to do an Amazing Race tour.  Luckily the tunnel back to Terminal 3 was adjacent to the station and I turned around. SO MUCH SADFACE, but gotta think about the bigger picture.

Went back to the rest of the team, grabbed some food and then took another nap.  By the time I woke up, it was time to board the bus to the plane! Love outside stairways to the plane...makes me feel so fancy.

When we finally arrived in Prague a couple of hours later, our transports were pretty hilarious and we had to do some finagling to get everyone's luggage and person into a ride.  Loaded our stuff into our rooms and headed down for dinner.

Dinner was delicious.  Aside from the ridiculous amount of second hand smoke (how is smoking allowed in the poorly ventilated basement cellar restaurant of a hotel?), the restaurant is pretty cool.  Exposed brick, woodwork, etc.  We all got a plate of delicious pork tenderloin stuffed with sundried tomatoes on a bed of mashed potatoes.

After a quick team meeting, we are finally settling in and I'm sure sleep won't be an issue. I had my leg taped by Mara to reduce the swelling overnight - I hope it works, but only time will tell.  I have a feeling that I won't be able to play tomorrow though, but we'll see.

Gotta stay positive.

I'm super tired right now and will add photos tomorrow... too lazy and exhausted to upload and edit.