Mar 11
24
Julz and I are hanging in the T-dot. That’s Toronto, Ontario, Canada for those of you that aren’t up with the lingo. She’s going to be stepping on stage at the Investor Forum tomorrow – hosted by Canadian Real Estate Magazine.
We had to wake up at 4:30am to catch our 6:00am flight yesterday so it was a tough start to the day. It was made even a little more difficult when we landed in Toronto and took a look out the window!! Toronto was in the middle of a snow storm!
When we finally made our way to downtown via one really slippery and slow Gardiner Expressway, we had only a few short hours to spare before I was supposed to hop onto the TTC (subway) and get out to Kipling station to meet Neil Uttamsingh who had kindly offered to drive me to the Ontario REIN meeting that I had decided to crash. 
When we arrived at the hotel I opened up my suitcase and discovered this brown sand like substance all over all of my clothes. I was furious with Air Canada and immediately started taking pictures – wondering if I would get any compensation or apology for this. I was also pretty much ready to cancel on the evening because I had nothing to wear but the grungy sweat shirt and runners I’d worn on the plane. But, Julie, being the queen of action taking, jumped up, grabbed her wallet and said she’d be back with some clothes for me.
In the meantime … I set to work cleaning up the mess:
This is what the bathtub looked like after I shook out my clothes and emptied the suitcase out:
As I was cleaning … I discovered this was not Air Canada’s fault. In fact it was Julie’s fault! She’d packed her chocolate protein powder in a poorly sealed container and it had exploded! Of course it exploded all over MY clothes.
Yikes!! Anyway – I’ll spare you all the details but Julie arrived back with a shirt and jacket for me to wear and I rushed off to meet up with Neil.
It’s never a dull moment around us.
Today I really didn’t want to tell you all our travel traumas, I just wanted to let you know how great it is to find a community of like minded people to surround yourself with. I was absolutely blown away by the quality and camaraderie of the folks at the Ontario REIN meeting. Not only did we all sit through a four hour meeting (in the middle of a snowstorm!!) but we also went out for drinks together for another three hours. It was very clear to me that the REIN members in Ontario REALLY love networking, chatting, and sharing a pint or two. I was thankful to be a part of it and finally meet some of my online friends and associates.
Thank you to everyone for making me feel so welcome in your province and at your meeting. A special shout out to my new friends that I now can say I’ve met IRL (in real life – Julie’s a bit of a geek and taught me that term). And an extra big thanks to Neil for introducing me to so many folks there and to Mark Loeffler for getting me back downtown safely in the snow!
Here’s hoping the next meeting or gathering I attend is a little easier to get to and with a lot less protein powder!! : )
