Vancouver (only just)

I don’t know what it is about the Boston/Toronto route, but that plane had more small children on it than I ever thought possible. The screaming! The kicking!

When you check in online now, there are all kinds of options. You see a little chair with a person in it: that’s you. Then there are the empty seats, which you’re free to change to with no problem. Then the seats with $s on them, which let you know you can change to them for a small(ish) fee. Maybe they have more legroom. Or are nearer to the toilets. I’m not sure. Then the exit rows. The Premier Something Or Other Class seats. Etc. On that flight, I started dreaming of logging in and finding a small baby on one of the seats to let me know that there’d be a child seated there and I should reserve elsewhere.

I know I sound like a snotty little DINK, but right now I am one.

Toronto airport = no food to speak of. Oh, there was some bar that described “Asian-inspired salads” on a chalkboard. And a Starbucks employed bored teens. But that was really it. Flight was delayed forever, and then when we reached the air three of the five hours saw the seatbelt sign lit. Horrific turbulence: the sort that demands your attention so completely you can’t even read for distraction.

But now I’m here. And may I say that the toilets in the international terminal of the Vancouver airport are something to behold? I thought I’d stumbled into some forbidden, exclusive lounge. It was like the locker room of a very exclusive spa. I took extra time washing my face for the sheer joy of being in there.

Haven’t seen any of the town yet, sorry. I got my car and went straight to my hotel, the Sandman. I booked it for proximity to the airport and 99, but my goodness the suite they’ve put me in! It’s got a kitchen downstairs and then a loft with a second television and a king-sized bed. It’s kind of a shame I’m leaving first thing in the morning.

I’m happy to be on the road again, and even more happy to be out of work another week. But I must say that between being in the Mountain time zone a week ago, then back to Eastern, and now off in Pacific… I’m not really sure whether I’m coming or going and whether I ought to be hungry. I don’t know how steady business travelers manage.

Off to bed now. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. ‘night.