So I decided to rely on public transport for all of my travelling needs for this trip and so far it has been fairly painless.  I took the HSR for the first time in probably 20 years and paid an shocking $2.55 to get down to the GO station on Hunter Street.  Next I took the Express bus to Union Station in Toronto ($9.60).  Sasha kindly met me at the front of Union.  I don't think she trusted me to navigate my way through Toronto on my own and make it to her apartment.  It is Summerlicious in Toronto this week which means restaurants offer a prix fix menu ($20 for a three course lunch) so Sasha treated me to a wonderful meal at a restaurant on Front St. (I think).  We then made our way to her house and dropped my bags off before heading out for another beverage.  We averted catastrophe, at least as far as my travel plans went, after realizing that Sasha had locked herself out of her apartment.  We did manage to get in and I retrieved my suitcase and headed down to the Subway stop.

The leg on my suitcase broke on the way.  What a drag! Literally!  This piece, as I soon discovered, is a vital component designed to allow the bag to rest upright when stationary.  Now you wouldn't think that this is necessarily important but when travelling it is amazing how many times you stop....buying subway ticket, standing on subway, waiting for connecting shuttle bus, sitting on bus, answering the call of nature.  And each time you stop it is now necessary to find something to lean your bag against and then support it with a leg, hand, whatever handy body part just to keep it from toppling over (usually onto the foot of a fellow traveler).

I managed to overcome this inconvenient impediment and made it to the airport.  There was a huge lineup for check in (more start and stops with the wonky case) but luckily I had checked in online and had a boarding pass so I was waived passed the line and finally got rid of the cursed bag!  I'm looking forward to meeting up with it again in Glasgow!

Later...