Yesterday was one of the easiest travel days I have had in a long, long time. I was prepared for hours of waiting and sitting and instead I got this:
Drove from our place to the old place to get picked up by car service. Arrived around 3:40 and the driver was there at 3:45. Already off to a good start. Since this trip was international, I was at a different terminal, the international one (duh). Unlike my normal terminal, it was a ghost town at 4:00 in the morning. Even most of the lights were off still. I found a kiosk and got my boarding pass. As I was tired and cranky, I said fuck it, and upgraded to a business class seat. It was $200 but I didn't care. The thought of jamming my leg into an economy seat was killing me. After getting my boarding pass, I went off to find my gate. Turns out, security in international doesn't open until 5 and I ended up with time to kill. Got through security by 5:15 and went off in search of my gate. OMG the terminal was beautiful and efficient and everything my normal one isn't. I found my gate and noticed how much quieter and less crowded it was. I was first to board and normally I have to rush the gate and push all the hoverers out of my way. Nope. Not this time. No one. I got on and ended up having an entire row to myself. There were 4 of us in business class AND maybe 25 people on the whole flight. I don't expect the same on the way home, but man it was wonderful there. Complimentary iPads for business class to watch movies, a real meal, attentive attendants, seats that didn't hurt my back. Sigh. I could get spoiled by this.
Got to Vancouver 20 minutes early and prepped myself mentally for the long haul into customs and immigration. I had brought the 94 page document with me ready to defend me being there. There were exactly zero people in line in front of me at customs. I was through that in 2 minutes. Immigration next. Again, no one in front of me and I went straight to a window. The guy asked me a couple of questions and said "yeah, for what you are doing you shouldn't need any papers but let me skim this real quick.". He then proceeded to glance at page 1 of 94 and his response was "nope. you don't need anything. have a great week". Stamped my passport, stamped my form, and boom I was done. 5, maybe 8 minutes tops and I was through everything. It took me longer to walk all the way to security and my connecting gate than it did in customs/immigration. Fucking lawyers making everything more complicated than it needs to be.
Got to my gate with 40 minutes to spare and hopped on a wonderful prop plane. Whee! Arrived in Kamloops around 11:30 and hit the hotel at noon. They were able to check me in early since I am special. Yeah I am! My room is okay. Nothing exciting, but definitely nice. They even had a welcome bag with snacks and water waiting for me. Oh Canada! I took a walk to the 'super market' next door (it is a convenience store, don't let the name fool you) and grabbed some ketchup chips (yay!) and rockstars for the week. Came back to 9 work emails. Seems Boeing finally came through. The minute I get home, I have to turn right around and go to Bellevue WA. Fuck sticks. I had to take care of booking everything right then. Got that all situated, told B the horrible news. I was going to text her but then realized I have no international plan. Oops. I went online to Verizon and for $30 fixed that shit. I now have a limited voice and data plan for the week. Nothing great, but it will keep me for 5 days. When I get home I will switch it back to a 'pay as you go' model which means the next time I am international, it's a quick flip to add it back.
B was not happy about this extra trip and I can't blame her. The WA means I will spend 4 weeks straight on the road. Sigh. Went down to the restaurant for lunch, had carrot soup and a panini, then came back up for a nap. Slept for 3 hours. I needed it. When I woke up around 5, I went for a walk around town. It is so damn cute here. I found some restaurants, shops, etc. I will check them out this week. Got back to the hotel and went to dinner. Dinner was a fiasco. I sat down at 7:30 and it was moderately busy. ONE SERVER. I waited 43 minutes for a beet salad. I was pissed. Not at the server mind you, but at Hilton for putting her in that position. I tweeted them right there complaining about it. Got back to the room at 9, watched some TV and went off to bed around 10. When I woke up this morning, there was a note under the door with an apology and a coupon for a free dinner tonight. Go Canada.
Off soon to meet the client.
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