In Vancouver
We've arrived in Vancouver. It's Monday morning and we're feeling quite refreshed. I suppose that, short of having a private jet, a transatlantic flight couldn't possibly be less than stressful, and ours was no exception, so we're glad to be on the far side of our trip.
Our travel day started in Ipswich at 5 am. Our flight left Heathrow just after noon so we left the house around 6 am, giving us three hours to arrive and park, and three hours to check in.
I worry as a hobby, and this trip was a field day because of our immigration requirements. All our years of waiting and preparing documents could be for naught if we miss our landing; our Canadian immigration visas expire in just a few weeks, making it hard to reschedule a missed flight. One missing document could ruin our careful plans! So I lost a bit of sleep as it was.
Heathrow is on the far side of London, so we drove the top half of the M25 ring road to get there. The M25 is inside a green belt that surrounds London, so it's interesting to drive through so much countryside but know that one of the world's largest cities is always just over your shoulder and out of view. The trip to Heathrow from Ipswich is normally two hours, but as we had some rain that morning, and there had been some flood-related delays earlier that week, we gave ourselves extra time. Fortunately, we didn't need it.
At checkin we got a scare: it looked like our online reservations had been canceled. Margo had booked through a third party, Travelocity, so there was some glitch in the communication with Air Canada. However, staff had us sorted in minutes. Getting through security wasn't painful and we found ourselves with lots of time on our hands. There were some food stalls about but we did a bit of exploring and found a nice French patisserie where we settled in for a relaxing, civilised breakfast.
Our flight left Heathrow on time. We had a stopover in Edmonton with a three hour wait for our Vancouver flight. Gate to gate time to Edmonton was about nine hours. Margo and Sarah were seated together, and I was nearby. My seatmate was a physicist at the Max Planck institute in Berlin en route to present at a conference in Vancouver about the behaviour of atoms at near-zero temperatures (apparently they behave much more consistently) so I got to talk geeky on science and programming and also travel.
We weren't sure if we'd be processed by Canada immigration in Vancouver or Edmonton, but it was done in Edmonton, so we were a bit relieved as that airport is far less busy. The process was understandably anticlimactic. After clearing customs, we went into a small room, presented our documents, and signed what we needed to sign. The mayor was not there to greet us. There was not a brass band playing "O Canada". We were not even given T-shirts.
But all the same I was feeling quite emotional and excited. We settled in a restaurant and ordered drinks and a plate of nachos for our first meal in our newly adopted homeland. And how did we celebrate this momentous occasion? The culmination of years of planning? A bold new step for our family's future? Margo read a paperback, and Sarah was in a workbook about spelling. Me: excited. Margo: nonplussed. Sarah: completely indifferent.
We cleared another security checkpoint and found a spot to wait. Margo got some rest; we'd been awake for around twenty hours.
We boarded a smaller, newer Airbus jet. After a while, we noticed a blue-capped technician on board and, as time passed, the lights and fans went out as the plane "rebooted". This went on a few more times. After about an hour we were notified of a "small problem". After two hours we were informed that the small problem was actually not so small and that we'd need to deplane.
Back at our gate, the news got worse: we'd need to fend for ourselves, mostly, and book seats on one of the day's three remaining Vancouver flights (without paying extra, fortunately). Unfortunately we had to retrieve our baggage and re-check it ourselves also. We got seats on a plane scheduled three hours after our originally scheduled departure and went through security once more, the third time that day. By now we were finally seeing the sun go down; it was of course with us all day.
We're quite proud of how well Sarah held up, which was better than some adults were doing. While we waited, she got another nap, after an earlier one on the plane from London.
Our Vancouver flight was only half an hour late, which wasn't bad considering the adjustments they'd had to make. I got a bit of sleep on the way also, which I really wanted since I'd planned to be the one driving to our hotel soon.
We had a few more gauntlets to run: the wait for our bags, and then the wait for our rental car. We'd packed Margo's satnav, which helped us get to our nearby hotel. Our hotel is nothing special, a generic box by the airport, but we've probably never been happier to get the chance to wash up and sleep. And one silver lining of being awake for just over 24 hours is that the effects of jet lag are more minimised.
Our travel day started in Ipswich at 5 am. Our flight left Heathrow just after noon so we left the house around 6 am, giving us three hours to arrive and park, and three hours to check in.
I worry as a hobby, and this trip was a field day because of our immigration requirements. All our years of waiting and preparing documents could be for naught if we miss our landing; our Canadian immigration visas expire in just a few weeks, making it hard to reschedule a missed flight. One missing document could ruin our careful plans! So I lost a bit of sleep as it was.
Heathrow is on the far side of London, so we drove the top half of the M25 ring road to get there. The M25 is inside a green belt that surrounds London, so it's interesting to drive through so much countryside but know that one of the world's largest cities is always just over your shoulder and out of view. The trip to Heathrow from Ipswich is normally two hours, but as we had some rain that morning, and there had been some flood-related delays earlier that week, we gave ourselves extra time. Fortunately, we didn't need it.
At checkin we got a scare: it looked like our online reservations had been canceled. Margo had booked through a third party, Travelocity, so there was some glitch in the communication with Air Canada. However, staff had us sorted in minutes. Getting through security wasn't painful and we found ourselves with lots of time on our hands. There were some food stalls about but we did a bit of exploring and found a nice French patisserie where we settled in for a relaxing, civilised breakfast.
Our flight left Heathrow on time. We had a stopover in Edmonton with a three hour wait for our Vancouver flight. Gate to gate time to Edmonton was about nine hours. Margo and Sarah were seated together, and I was nearby. My seatmate was a physicist at the Max Planck institute in Berlin en route to present at a conference in Vancouver about the behaviour of atoms at near-zero temperatures (apparently they behave much more consistently) so I got to talk geeky on science and programming and also travel.
We weren't sure if we'd be processed by Canada immigration in Vancouver or Edmonton, but it was done in Edmonton, so we were a bit relieved as that airport is far less busy. The process was understandably anticlimactic. After clearing customs, we went into a small room, presented our documents, and signed what we needed to sign. The mayor was not there to greet us. There was not a brass band playing "O Canada". We were not even given T-shirts.
But all the same I was feeling quite emotional and excited. We settled in a restaurant and ordered drinks and a plate of nachos for our first meal in our newly adopted homeland. And how did we celebrate this momentous occasion? The culmination of years of planning? A bold new step for our family's future? Margo read a paperback, and Sarah was in a workbook about spelling. Me: excited. Margo: nonplussed. Sarah: completely indifferent.
We cleared another security checkpoint and found a spot to wait. Margo got some rest; we'd been awake for around twenty hours.
We boarded a smaller, newer Airbus jet. After a while, we noticed a blue-capped technician on board and, as time passed, the lights and fans went out as the plane "rebooted". This went on a few more times. After about an hour we were notified of a "small problem". After two hours we were informed that the small problem was actually not so small and that we'd need to deplane.
Back at our gate, the news got worse: we'd need to fend for ourselves, mostly, and book seats on one of the day's three remaining Vancouver flights (without paying extra, fortunately). Unfortunately we had to retrieve our baggage and re-check it ourselves also. We got seats on a plane scheduled three hours after our originally scheduled departure and went through security once more, the third time that day. By now we were finally seeing the sun go down; it was of course with us all day.
We're quite proud of how well Sarah held up, which was better than some adults were doing. While we waited, she got another nap, after an earlier one on the plane from London.
Our Vancouver flight was only half an hour late, which wasn't bad considering the adjustments they'd had to make. I got a bit of sleep on the way also, which I really wanted since I'd planned to be the one driving to our hotel soon.
We had a few more gauntlets to run: the wait for our bags, and then the wait for our rental car. We'd packed Margo's satnav, which helped us get to our nearby hotel. Our hotel is nothing special, a generic box by the airport, but we've probably never been happier to get the chance to wash up and sleep. And one silver lining of being awake for just over 24 hours is that the effects of jet lag are more minimised.
posted by Michael Nelson at 7:00 am
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