A not to those receiving posts by email. Remember, only the first few lines of the post are sent. Click through to view the full post. The last thing in each post is a quoted saying.
Alarm set for 6 AM. No need. Awake by 5:45. Shower, quick breakfast then out the door. Traffic to the airport was not bad at all. Then it started. The Park N Fly app would not allow me to properly set the colour of my car, nor would it let the staff correct it. Guess what, we revert to paper.
On the Park N Fly shuttle, the luggage rack failed to immobilize the suitcases. With every left turn most of the largest suitcases started to roll across the bus. In the terminal we got our luggage tags with only a small re-education on the electronic checkin system. Now to the security gate.
We are Nexus card holders and we received repeated notification that as a result we would receive Trusted Traveller treatment, meaning leave everything in our carry on bags and walk on through. As we arrived at the gate B entrance with the Trusted Traveller line, it was closed and we were redirected to the next gate entrance 500 metres away which, I discovered, did not have Trusted Traveller access. So I spent the next twenty minutes separating electronics devices and helping the security personnel find a corkscrew and small knife in my carry on baggage, all of which were within their acceptable limits.
It must be nearly a kilometre from the security position we used and the gate assigned for our departure. Fortunately, about half way, we found a Tim Hortons so we stopped for a complete breakfast. The staff there was great and I had a lot of fun with them while waiting for our order. Interestingly, this location did not participate in the Tim points program or allow the use of the Tim’s app for payment.
We carried our coffee away after the food was finished, to continue to gate B19 only to discover it was beyond a large glass door. There was no urgency so we waited outside the door. As it turned out, the gate area was being used for international flights until near 10 AM. Indeed, just around 10 AM the glass for opened. While we waited for the door we saw a parade of workers move in and out of the area secured by the big glass door through an entrance requiring an ID badge or door key code. Apparently, the security system wanted the door to close between each worker entering or exiting. However, whenever there were two or more workers in a group they ignored the 0ne-at-a-time protocol which resulted in 30 seconds of unmusical entertainment as the 160 decibel klaxon announced the violation.
The wait for the plane was uneventful as was the boarding, except, of course for overhead luggage space. I think travellers near the back of the plane deposit their bags near the front, for convenience on de-boarding (my word). With help from a flight attendant we compressed enough of the existing luggage to allow for ours. Yippie!!
Airline food is not what-it-used-to-be. Perhaps it never was but the Mac and Cheese pictured on the menu bore absolutely no resemblance to what arrived. Gail, bless her heart, gave it a try but she eventually gave up and in the end received a refund of her purchase.
Now that is out of the way, it was a great flight. We took flight a few minutes early, cruised peacefully at 40,000 feet with virtually no turbulence and landed a bit early too. As we deplaned I checked my AirTags and discovered both suitcases had arrived with us. They were also among the first on the carousel. A Princess cruise representative met us on the ramp and presented us with a prepaid taxi voucher. We were in the taxi within about 10 minutes of retrieving our baggage.
The cab ride into the city was a bit intense, if you were paying attention. There are no highways that pass through Vancouver. There are several north-south streets that carry the rather considerable load. we were on Granville Street. Traffic is stop and go and the driver was skilled at weaving in and out of traffic.
We checked into the Fairwood Waterfront and after we settled in Gail phoned her niece, Karin, and made arrangements to meet her and her daughter, Brianna, at the White Spot about a10 minute walk from our hotel. We updated our respective lives since our last meeting then we said our goodbyes and we returned to the hotel.
Tomorrow we board the Crown Princess.
Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving