Edmonton - pick-up trucks and neon

Executive Royal Inn



West Edmonton Mall



Our four hour flight to Edmonton was thankfully uneventful, just tiring. We arrived at the West Edmonton Executive Royal Inn hungry and tired, still on Toronto/Dubai/Cape Town time, only to be told that the money we had paid our travel agent had not reached the hotel! Not the fault of our lovely travel agent - it had got held up at some agency in between.

Gazing out of our hotel room window, after a burnt Pizza Hut dinner and giant Pepsi (the tempting glass of wine was so much more expensive), the only thing we could see was neon fast food signs and car headlights. Travel, always wonderful in retrospect, can often be dispiriting and isolated. It was only the next morning that we realised that our hotel was also surrounded by surburbia - brand new identical housing estates that hadn't had any lights on the night before.... Freaky. But the West Edmonton Mall (biggest in the world when it was first built and full of lovely clothes) was amazing. A combination of American and European high street stores, the occasional designer store, many department stores and the largest roller coaster and indoor water park in the world serves to part you from your money while you have fun. Horrible and garrish from the outside we were so pleasantly surprised when we walked in! Retail therapy really does work...