So today we are still on board the famous “Canadian” train that goes across the whole of Canada.

We are luckily only headed for Jasper. We boarded the train last night and were shown to our rooms, walk in wardrobes are bigger. When we were up in the lounge sampling our welcome drinks our rooms were going to be converted into cozy comfortable bedrooms. When we got back there was a set of bunk beds in the room. There is room for 1 person to move in and get up the vertical jungle gym that takes you to your comfy bed. There was nothing comfortable about this bed, it was rock hard, the pillow was thin and the room cooling system bounced off the window and kept me freezing all night. I didn’t dare to try and negotiate the ladder in the dark for fear of spending my holiday in a local hospital with broken bones. Below me, however snores rang out almost immediately, the train rocked all night, and I felt every bump.

We were told that brekkie was first come best dressed, eggs, shredded potatoes and bacon, with toast washed down with a litre of coffee. It was 7.30 am and we had hours to go. We had been informed that as this train was a passenger train it had to give way to freight. There was a lot of freight, we were late into Jasper, and some well-travelled passengers said that it was not unusual to be up to twelve hours behind schedule on cross continent journeys. Thank god we didn’t decide to do that.

We arrived at Jasper, got our luggage and were picked up by the shuttle bus to the Fairmont. This was a luxury upgrade we decided on ages ago in the planning of this trip. Best idea yet! Large comfy rooms with big beds. I think we may need a loan to eat here but to be honest after our last 20 hours in that train I would pay an arm and a leg…. Tomorrow we have a Canyon walk, hope we still have arms and legs in tact after it. As for our bank balance that may be another story….to be continued.