December 29th & 30th
I am going to put the last two days into this one chapter, I don't have very many photos and we didn't do anything interesting, so let's get this one done!
Once we were all ready for the day, we headed back to the Waffle House we were at yesterday.
Kira was the observant one and noticed that these waffles had the WH logo in them.
I noticed the Humble sign on the way back to the hotel, guess I totally missed it yesterday.
The rest of the day was spent packing and organizing, catching up on emails and news.
Eventually it was supper time so we headed to Cheddar's.
Kira and I split some chicken strips, Rob had coconut shrimp and then we all split the monster cookie.
The food was just okay, the cookie was delicious but the service was incredibly slow. The bathroom was in desperate need of some attention.
Since there was no chance of pool or hot tub time, I think we all just watched our own shows on our devices. Rob had started season 2 of The Witcher and was eager to finish that and I caught up on cruise and theme park news. Then it was bedtime!
I had a bad sleep that night, we hadn't received our PCR test results yet so I was up every hour checking for them. We were supposed to get a text message but none ever came. At around 3:30am, I got an email with my results, negative.
That gave me some relief, figuring that Rob and Kira's would be in soon so I fell back asleep. I woke up at 6:30am to check again, but nothing for Kira. Rob heard me up so I asked him to check his email for his results, he got his shortly after 5am, also negative. The emails had a link to download a digital copy of our results, so Rob and I were set. It started to stress me out that we didn't have Kira's yet. I looked over the information we received from CVS once more and found a number I could call to get her results, I called but it said the results were not ready yet.
I was up now so I figured I would shower and get ready and hoped they would be in soon.
Around 9am, I called the number again still nothing. I found the direct number to call if you had any issues so I called that, waited on hold for about 30 minutes and the lady I spoke to was able to give me her results, negative!
But, I still hadn't received an email with actual proof of the result for Kira and that is what we needed. She said she could fax us the results, so we quickly found the hotel fax number and she sent it but I also wanted digital proof. She said I would have to be transferred over to another department for that, so she did that for me and then I waited on hold another 40 minutes or so. While I was on hold, Rob had run down to grab the fax but it hadn't arrived.
Not going to lie, this was pretty stressful. We still needed to pack up our stuff, go for breakfast, fill up the car, return the car, shuttle to the airport and then check-in. Our flight wasn't until 4:30pm but we knew it would take some time to get all of that done.
While I was still on hold, Rob went down about 20 minutes later and came back with the fax, yay!
Okay, that was a relief, we were all negative AND we all had proof now. Eventually, I got through and the guy I spoke to said he would send me an email with the digital results. About 10 minutes later, the email arrived but it was a link to a website for a sign-in. So, I had to go through all of that and
then I was able to get the digital test result for Kira. Apparently, since she is a minor, they can't just email us her results, there are a few more steps involved.
I packed up our last-minute stuff and we were off, with our new
DCL bag in tow.
A quick and final stop at our Waffle House, we were becoming regulars, they knew us as "The Canadians" as soon as we walked in.
Then we gassed up the car and headed back to return it.
Waiting for the shuttle to the terminal...
And then a huge long line to check in.
There were two Westjet flights going out at around the same time and no one was at the counter yet. We ended up chatting with the two ladies in front of us to pass the time. We all had stories of delays, long waits, missed connections, canceled flights and lost baggage. Fun times.
It was over an hour until we got to the front but we made it and all of our bags were under the weight limit.
Once our bags were dropped off, we headed to TSA Pre-check, nice and quick at IAH! We settled in near our gate and then Rob went and got a snack for himself.
I went and got us some waters and on the way back, I spotted the Star Wars plane and took a photo for Rob.
It was almost time to board now. We were a little delayed, I think we ended up leaving just over an hour after we were supposed to leave.
I love watching all the birds at IAH, they gather in the hundreds on the roof and take flight all at the same time, it's neat to watch.
Got to see a gorgeous sunset as we took off.
Back in Calgary four and a half hours later, where it was a freezing -23C! (about -10F)
We got through customs quickly because we all have Nexus cards but because we went to Mexico, we all had to do another PCR test at the airport.
And there were TONS of people having to test! So dumb! We all had to PCR test in order to get on the dang plane! Not only did we have to PCR test but we now had to quarantine until we got the test results!
The testing took about an hour and as soon as you're done, they only have one exit for you and it's immediate! You're not supposed to go back into the airport, they block the next two entrances/exits to deter you from going back in but Rob still had to hop on the shuttle to grab the car and Kira and I were waiting there with all of our bags and our winter coats were in our car so we ran three doors down, as fast as we could with all of our luggage and went back in and waited right at the doors for Rob to get back. Everyone else was doing this too because it was freezing out!
The good(?) news was that our car had been running for the last 90 minutes and was crazy warm! It's a good thing I filled the tank the day before we left!
Our flight being delayed and this extra hour for testing meant that our plan to pick up our lost bag from the domestic terminal was out of the question. I mean, technically, we weren't even allowed to do it because we had to quarantine.
It was just before 11pm our time and we had been up since 5:30am our time and we still had to drive about 30 minutes home, drop off bags, go get Boo and then back home. Rob got Boo while I unpacked everything. I had just finished when they got home and the reunion was amazing, as usual.
Thankfully we have awesome neighbours who had shoveled our driveway for us.
Rob got his negative test result 2.5 days later, Kira's came 3.5 days later and mine was 4 days later. UGH! I had tested first, and I was the one who needed to go out to get groceries
It could have been worse, some people weren't getting their results back for a week or longer as the labs were backed up.
When Rob was finally free and allowed, he went and picked up our bag. So, 18 days after we had dropped it off at the airport, we were finally reunited.
Westjet reimbursed us for all of the items we had to purchase in order to replace what was in that bag.
It was a valuable lesson learned and we will be packing very differently from now on.
The very next day, Rob bought bought some Apple tags.
I used one on a recent solo trip and it was awesome just to have the peace of mind that my bag was with me when I took off for all four of my flights.
So thus ends this adventure.
Thanks for joining us and following along. I appreciate your comments, as always
There may or may not be another trippie coming your way in April.
Stay tuned for the Vacation Videos. I will post those in the Chapter post when they are all done.
Until the next time!
But I totally forgot to get her to pose her hands, ding dang!
The pool area looks gorgeous, loving the nostalgic vibe. Now, are you certain there actually were people staying in 501? 
