This weekend we headed to Ottawa for its Winterlude festival, a celebration of all things cold and icy, designed to get you outside. The highlight of which is skating 7.8 km down the frozen Rideau Canal.

We left Toronto at 9pm, arriving at Billy Bishop Airport with plenty of time to spare. We relaxed in the lounge, enjoying the complimentary food and drink.

The flight to Ottawa before ours was delayed by over two hours and instead of leaving before us was now going to leave after us. Delayed travellers eyed those in the lounge, wondering if the earlier flight (ours) was going to be full.

The flight was full, perhaps filled with people from the other flight. It was a short flight, about 40 minutes, but we were still treated to complimentary nibbles and drinks. I love Porter.

We landed a little after 10, walked off the plane and then out of the airport. Bizarrely, we were allowed to have our ice skates in our carry-on baggage. I’d checked online before we left if this was the case as we like to travel light and collecting checked baggage is a pain.

The website said we could take the skates as carry-on but I confirmed when we got to the airport. Sure enough, you can take ice skates onto the plane with you. Nail clippers? No. Ice skates? Yes.

Soon after getting out of the airport, Glen and I had a fight because he was going one way and I went another. Thankfully there were enough seats on the bus that we didn’t have to sit next to each other. We eventually got over it.

We arrived at the Novotel around eleven and messages Tim and Vaughan to see if they were still awake (they stayed in the same hotel). The four of us then had a nightcap (and Glen and I had a charcuterie and cheese board as a late supper) in the hotel bar/restaurant.

We all headed off a bit after midnight to sleep, excited about Saturday’s skating on the Rideau. We had a king size bed in our room so that made getting to sleep a little easier.

There was also a lot of static in the room and I delighted in shocking Glen, particularly as he reached for the light switch. Zaaaap!