Day 1

Waking up this morning was tough. Very tough. Possibly not helped by the few goodbye drinks last night, but probably more due to the fact we'd gone out for diner leaving the apartment half packed up and still needing cleaning. We had an hour before the land lady came round to inspect and there was a lot to do! For a start all the rubbish (or trash/garbage in the local language!) we'd managed to accumulate over the last few days needed to go out. Half way through the clean up she came round, and laid back as ever made sure certain things were done and unfazed by the progress left us to it. By 10.45 we were out of there, leaving ourselves not just unemployed but homeless as well. We still had a few bits to do in town, but first was breakfast at Melissa's... Best breakfast in Banff I've been saying for years, and I'm still not able to finish a portion there!

Chores in town took  a while, and we eventually managed to leave about 1.30. Finally, we were on the road and at it. True we were going in the wrong direction, and Clare still claims we hadn't properly started yet as we were just heading to visit friends in Calgary but to me it was pretty final. Banff time was at an end, and just driving past it tomorrow couldn't change the fact that to me - I was no longer a local. It was a quiet, contemplative drive for both of us as we left, recalling the good times and fond memories which had brought us to this point.

The first major challenge of the drive came 90km in. The fuel light had just come on. Now to me, that's a challenge. I'd decided setting out from Banff the remaining petrol would get us to Calgary, at least to the first stop of selling my skis on the outskirts. Clare on the other hand, not yet used to my wild and reckless ways, was worried we'd run out and be stuck on the highway. So when a petrol station appeared on the opposite side of the highway, I was highly recommended to get to it and top up a token amount, to guarantee our passage into Calgary if nothing else. We took the turnoff, and after a 10km runaround, were eventually able to put a small amount of petrol in. In this great voyage of discovery, it was at this point Clare realised I meant to track our mileage and petrol consumption all the way down. I had a spreadsheet set up on my phone to record expenditures and would closely monitor our spending - not something she was expecting.

Discoveries over, and skis sold ( with heaps of spare petrol getting us to destination) we faced our next challenge: Navigation. Now, I'm pretty handy with a map, and looking and remembering directions. What I'm not so handy with is trusting someone else to map read and direct for me... And letting myself just blindly follow directions I think are wrong is certainly a challenge. But challenge successful, we arrive not 30 minutes later at Gordon and Donnas city apartment where we'll be staying for the night, with only a few U turns to correct our course and no arguments about where we were headed even when I disagreed. Clearly, a very different travel partner to what Doug discovered in Long Way Round!

A few glasses off wine and a catch up and we were of to dinner - an Asian restaurant of MacLeod Trail called Open Sesame. Clearly a popular dinner option, even on a Wednesday night we had a 30 minute wait sat at the bar, but were soon shown to our table big enough for twice the number in our party. A great dinner, despite the waitress dropping my leftovers on the floor while packing it into a doggy bag. Luckily she was generous enough to let me recook some food for free, which should be a good cheap dinner tomorrow!

Back at the apartment, we were well ready for bed and after some more wine to see us off, we settled down on an airbed - an apt sign of things to come considering this is what our bedding will be for much of the next  few Weeks.

Its been an emotional day and tomorrow we'll get to see the Banff mountains once more!