Flights booked

Slight change of plan - Zoom had sold out of the return premium class seats, so we've decided to fly into Calgary as before, but return from Edmonton instead. The extra leg room is vital as Toni has suffered in the past on Air Canada planes, so the extra few inches of leg room will be welcome. We also get an extra day in Canada as Edmonton flights to London from Zoom depart every Thursday (Calgary flights are Wednesday). As Zoom charge 2% for credit-card bookings I'm lucky to be able to "borrow" the money from my ISA and make an instant transfer to let me pay by debit card instead.

It'll be an early start - our flight leaves Gatwick at 5.55am, but I've booked the car in for a very cheap sum - £60 for the 16 days we're away. It means getting up at 1am to get to Gatwick for 3am, but at least we'll arrive in Calgary in the morning, giving us an extra day there. We'll also leave Edmonton at 8.15pm, so we'll have a full extra day there too, arriving back in Blighty in time to get snarled up in a Friday rush hour. Champion.

Now all I need to do is book accomodation and the car rental. We're sharing the car in week one with our friends Emma and Paul, but they'll then make their own way back to Calgary as they're only staying for the week. At the moment the plan is to spend a few days in Calgary, head to Banff for four days, then the wedding at Emerald Lake and then we'll spend the second week in the north dividing our time between Jasper and Edmonton with a stop off en-route between the two.

[Listening to: Everything Counts - Depeche Mode]