5/27/17, “In Transit”
Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia (YVR)
I have now been in Canada for eight hours, or, more
accurately, I have been at YVR airport for eight hours, but it feels much
longer. I have two-and-a-half hours
before my flight to Sandspit, I love that name, plenty of time for a cigar and
to write this entry. I am fully refreshed,
the airport hotel being as nice as any downtown hotel would have been, and I am
ready to take on the world.
Unfortunately, today will be spent entirely in transit. It will be evening by the time I get to Queen
Charlotte tonight, too late to do anything, but it seems a nice enough place to
relax.
I am actually surprised that more
airports do not have hotels in the airport itself. I know that MIA does, but I am not aware of
any other US airport that has an in-terminal hotel. To me, that would often be the difference
between sleeping on a seat or bench in the terminal and shelling out for a
hotel room. I am perfectly willing to
stay at an in-terminal hotel on an overnight layover, but having to take a
shuttle bus to the hotel defeats the purpose.
I think JFK is actually working on building a hotel connected to
Terminal 5, and LAX might also be working on one. As I said, I am fully refreshed.
After I closed last night and published, as I
got into bed, I noted that dawn was about to break. I slept sporadically throughout the night,
the sunlight and time zone change, along with my watch still being on Eastern
Time, messing with my mind. I got about
four hours of sleep and then headed down for breakfast. I was hungry but not starving. There was a high-quality breakfast buffet,
but I wasn’t sure I had the appetite to do it justice. There were colds, hots, and desserts. If I went for it, I needed to commit to a
three-course meal. I went for it.
My first course was a bagel half and a large
piece of toast as my bases, various butters and cheeses and smoked salmon for
my toppers. I also had a plate of fruit,
coffee, and juice. I was starting to get
full after the first course, but I powered through. A breakfast buffet must be seen as a
challenge, an opportunity to get a good start to the day, and one must make the
most of it.
After the cold food, I went
for the hot food. The waffles were
freshly made, and they had an egg station, so I asked for a waffle with fried
eggs on top. When they gave me the food,
I also put bacon, mushrooms, potatoes, and a small sliver of French toast on
the plate, and I doused the whole thing with maple syrup. It was excellent, not as good as some that
I’ve had in Europe or even at this hotel’s sister hotel in Quebec (AKA, The
Frontenac), but it was definitely a solid B+.
After the hot food, I was full. I
knew that I would not be able to enjoy the dessert course, so I went back to
the room to recover from that feast.
After about an hour, I wanted a cigar, so I packed, changed into my
suit, and checked out of the hotel. The
smoking area was conveniently located immediately outside, so I left my luggage
with the bellhop and went outside, where I sat down, lit up an LFD Reserva
Especial, which I had gotten at Smoklahoma, and proceeded to write this entry,
which I will now close.
Queen Charlotte, British Columbia
Well, I’m here, though it will be another 36 hours before
we actually disembark for Ninstints. I
left my apartment in New York 27 hours ago, and it has taken that long before I
have finally settled into my hotel room and am changed into my
nightclothes. Contrast that to the 6
hours it took for me to get settled into my hotel room in Toronto after I left
my apartment for my last trip to Canada.
That number is also slightly inflated, as I spent an hour walking around
town and also got dinner before I came back to the hotel. Still, it is an inordinate amount of time to
be in transit, whether I count it as 25 or 27 hours.
I am glad to be here, and, while I am used to
rural Canada, being in the Pacific Northwest makes it even more dramatic, as
this establishing shot proves. Other
than this small town, there is nothing but water, trees, and mountains as far
as the eye can see. I love it here, and
I am very glad that I have a full day tomorrow to just relax and enjoy. It seems that rural Canada is the only place
I ever allow myself extended time to relax.
It is just a function of the scheduling, really, but I am glad that it
works out that way. I still have such
fond memories of Yellowknife and Fort Simpson from that trip. This is a similar trip. I have written datelines with names of Fort
Smith, Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, and Whitehorse. Queen Charlotte will be a nice addition to
the mix.
After I closed at YVR, I headed
to my gate, which was a simple enough process, even though my gate seemed to be
at the opposite end of the terminal. We
boarded a tiny propeller plane, and I happened to have the furthest seat in the
back, a window seat in the last row.
There were no middle seats, just window and aisle. I had hoped to have the pair to myself, but
someone sat down next to me. Just as we
were about to take off, he switched to the exit row, and I had my little corner
to myself. I slept most of the flight,
and we soon landed at Sandspit. I had
not given much thought to how I would get from Sandspit to Queen
Charlotte. It was an hour, including a
ferry, and I wasn’t sure if cabs made that route.
When I walked out of the airport, I saw that
there was a shuttle bus that makes that trip, and, fortunately, he had
room. It was slightly after 3 PM, and
the ferry was scheduled for 4:05 PM. It
was a little tight to make the ferry, but, it was just that one flight, and he
just needed to wait until everyone had their luggage. The drive was very scenic, and we were soon
at the ferry terminal. One hitch. The ferry was full. However, the driver said he could cut to the
front of the line, since he was a transit bus.
That was easier said than done, since it was actually a line of cars,
and he actually had to cut to the front with his bus. In the end, he wound up trying to park off to
the side, which involved a tight maneuver around a parked car, which I was
shocked he managed to successfully execute.
We waited for the ferry to come, and, once it did, he had to do the
maneuver again in reverse.
SCREEEECCCHHHHH.
He hit the
car. It was just a fender bender, but
the damage was visible. Next thing we
knew, one of the ferry workers came running to the car. “Did you just hit my car?” “Ohoh, Fuh-uh-UCK.” That’s how they pronounce the F-word
here. A lot more f-bombs were dropped,
far more than I thought were necessary given how minor the accident was. We got on the ferry, and they exchanged
information. Meanwhile, I went to the
smoking area of the boat and lit up a Nat Sherman. It was a beautiful and short ride. Once we arrived at the other terminal, I
headed back to the bus, since we would be the first ones off. The ferry worker was apologizing to the
driver for cursing him out, saying that he needs to go back to anger management
class. You can’t make this shit up.
It was a short ride there to the village, and
my hotel was right in town. I checked in
to the hotel and changed into some more casual clothes. I was starving, so I wanted to go out for
dinner. I also wanted to finish my cigar
from the boat. Once I was ready, I
retrieved my cigar and headed towards the dock to check-in for Monday’s
tour. I didn’t see a station for the
company or anything, so I called the number.
James, the guy I had dealt with by email in January, picked up.
He actually had just seen me walk by him, so
we hung up to continue the conversation in person. Everything was all set, besides the final
payment, and he showed me around, explaining the plan for Monday. The boat was slightly less primitive than I
expected, and He said that I could have a smoke at sea if I wanted to sit in
the back. He gave me some tips for meals
how to spend tomorrow. He also said that
he thought he might be able to take me on a transport run tomorrow if I wanted
to catch some extra time at sea. I was
glad for the offer.
I went to one of the
two Chinese restaurants, a fixture of rural Canada, especially in The
North. They didn’t have proper egg
rolls, nor did they have club soda, so I just got a main course, honey garlic chicken,
which was quite good. After dinner, I
went to the convenience store to get some food for the next few days, and I
also picked up some local beer at the liquor store. I headed back to the hotel, went out to the
balcony, where I sat down, lit up a Romeo y Julieta, cracked open my Red Truck
lager, and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, so that I can
publish and relax a bit before I pass out.
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