16.08.05
A week in Vancouver
Well I have arrived. It as been a few days since i have updated, especially with all of the details, so here goes.
The couple of days before i had left home i had been pretty crook, my temperature regulation was all out and i was going from freezing cold to burning hot, quite sore all over and very lethargic. I was that unwell i couldn’t even finish the roast lunch Mum had made for the family on the Sunday. In fact I hardly made a dent in it. With everything packed and ready to roll I went to bed and had another crap nights sleep. I woke up on the Monday feeling no better. I knew it was going to be a long trip the way i was feeling, but given that i was feeling pretty bad i was hopeful that i would be able to get a fair degree of sleep on the 14 hour flight to Los Angeles.
Karen, joined Mum, Dad and Danielle at the Canberra Airport to see me off. I said my goodbyes and waved goodbye as i headed down the air bridge. Not sure when exactly I’ll see them again. Hopefully I’ll see Karen in Hawaii just after Christmas for a nice break. The first leg of the trip the 30 minutes to Sydney were uneventful, no real dramas. I thought quickly about doing some shopping at the airport in Sydney but all I really wanted to do was sit down. So after transferring to the international terminal I pretty much headed straight for the Qantas Club. I didn’t even feel like a drink. At least the Qantas Club was quiet and i was able to sit very still and not move to much. I was starting to feel sorry for who ever it was going to be sitting next to me for the 14 hours to LA.
I was one of the last to board the flight to LA (a deliberate move). Just when it was looking like we were about to leave we were delayed for 30 minutes as one of the galleys on the plane wasn’t working. I’m sure First Class wouldn’t have noticed but the rest of us in Economy would have noticed if one of the galleys wasn’t operational. Anyway finally we were on the way. The pilot gave up on the galleys and decided that the flight crew would have to sort it out en-route. As these things go the galley was to end up working fine, despite no one being able to isolate “the fault” on the ground. The movies were slim pickings and I was just waiting for the first meal to be served before I was going to try and take the Night tablets from the Day and night cold and flu set up and attempt to sleep.
However i was to get little sleep on the flight over and the stuff that i did was pretty ordinary. The flight was pretty painful as i was pretty restless. When i finally did get some sleep, i managed about 3 crappy hours and i woke up just over 2 hours out of Los Angeles. So after suffering through the final two hours of that flight i had arrived in Los Angeles.
It’s well know that American Immigration Officials can be ruthless and one missed placed item on your arrival card and you are back to the end of the line. Plus there are all the questions that they ask you. And all i was trying to be doing was catching a connecting flight to Canada. There is no such thing as a transit lounge around here, you physically have to enter America. Karl had also told me that connecting flights in LAX can be a real hassle and he previously he had all sorts of trouble making the connection i was going to be making. He told me that you’d need all 3 hours of the layover. This had me concerned as i had already lost 30 minutes because the galleys in the plane delayed our departure.
Anyway i was off the plane pretty quickly and therefore one of the first in line for immigration. I made it through immigration pretty quickly and painlessly. Then the qantas club membership came in handy as my bags were already waiting for me on the ‘priority’ first/business/club member only carousel. Thought Customs and there was someone waiting to take my bags for the connecting flight. A short walk to Terminal 3 and i was through security and at the next departure gate within 30 minutes. Mush faster then Karl’s predicted 3 hours.
After killing just under two hours by basically watching planes come and go i was on QF3773. A qantas codeshare flight operated by Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines made Virgin Blue look like First Class. The decor inside the plane was circa 1950’s, probably even before the 737 was even built. They probably recycled it from a Super Constellation or 707. There was one drink service in the 2 and a half hour flight to Vancouver and no in-flight entertainment. I used the flight to sleep as i was feeling real average and besides sleeping was probably the best form of entertainment on this airline. I don’t know how qantas can bring themselves to let their passengers codeshare with them. Anyway at 3:30pm local time i was awoken by the plan landing in Vancouver.
Customs and immigration in Canada was a painless affair. I visited the Canada Immigration Centre between the Immigration counter and Customs and had my work permit issued. Karl and Amy were waiting on the other side for me and I was pretty glad to see them even though i probably didn’t look like it. I was glad i didn’t have to try and find my way anywhere else by myself for now. All i wanted to do was sit down and do nothing. I managed to last until about 10pm at which time i had the best nights sleep i had had in days. Tuesday i woke up feeling better but still very not with it. Tuesday and Wednesday i spent pottering around campus just getting a feel for stuff, and tagging along if the Heiden’s went somewhere. By Thursday i ventured into the City. I caught the bus downtown to visit the work program exchange people to help with the processing of my SIN. It’s the equivalent of the Australian tax file number. Anyway they weren’t running an orientation session on the Thursday and told me to come back the next day. this is despite the fact i was told on the phone on Wednesday that i could come in on the Thursday. Anyway i took this opportunity to explore the city and also try to get myself a cell phone. The city is obviously a lot bigger than Canberra, but probably resembles Adelaide rather than Sydney or Melbourne. Well thats my opinion anyway.
I ventured back into the city on Friday and this time managed to get my SIN application done. I didn’t hang around in the city for long as i had seen it the day before. Friday night my one Vancouver contact - Mel- called to see what i was up to on the weekend. So i met up with her on the Saturday, and she took me to Granville Island, which is a craft/food market place. There was lots of good food places there at Granville Island, but by far the most exciting thing for me was the Granville Island Tea Company where i was able to have a Rooibos Tea. Following the excursion around Granville Island we went to kitsilano. Which is a pretty cool neighbourhood just over the bridge from the city. This is the area where Mel lives and where i would like to try to find somewhere to live. It’s like the Bondi or Coogee of Vancouver. The only difference is that no one is in the water, despite the fact it is 30 degrees. However the pool next door couldn’t possibly hold another person. After lunch i sat down there looking through the paper for a place to live. There wasn’t a lot of adverts in the paper, which was disappointing.
That night Mel took me out for a few drinks.
Sunday Mel took me for the walking tour of Vancouver! And when i say walking i mean walking. We walked from Kitsilano to Stanley Park and back through the downtown. Some photos should appear on my gallery website real soon. Sunday night i crashed hard. And thats the end of one week in Vancouver.