I had a heck of a time falling asleep the night before
departure. I was awake until at least
1:00 AM. I awoke with a start at 5:30 AM
and finished throwing the final few things into my suitcase. Had to wait until I showered to put my
toiletries kit in the case. I left the
case open as I headed to breakfast one last time.
I had been debating wearing shorts and a T-shirt for the
flight home or to dress “presentable” in slacks and a golf shirt for the business
class flight. I opted for shorts and T-shirt
because my legs were still stinging from the sunburn. However, I quickly changed my mind when I got
outside. It was chilly and raining.
I got to the restaurant and got a surprise. None of the staff that had been serving me
for the last two weeks were on duty today.
Instead there was a nice fellow, who I had never seen before. But I had my usual breakfast, knowing that
there was no Maple Leaf lounge in San Diego airport. Once I got back to the room, I quickly
changed into slacks and golf shirt, but left my jacket packed.
I went and quickly checked out and called for my Uber. I got to the airport by 8:00 AM, some 4 hours
and 40 minutes before my flight. I figure
it was better to kick around the airport than to sit in the empty hotel room
with my laptop and iPad all packed.
I went up to the Air Canada Business Class check in and was
told that I was unable to check in for my flight until 9:40 AM. So rather than walking all the way down the
airport to find a Starbucks or something, I sat off to the side of the counter
and pulled my iPad out. It had not been
a problem checking in 4 hours early on any of the other flights, but, oh well.
Finally, the time came, and I checked my bags in. I got a great surprise when the Air Canada
staff told me I was welcome to use the United Airlines lounge, that Air Canada
Business Class has a reciprocal agreement.
That was awesome.
I breezed past a lineup of hundreds of people waiting to go
through security, thanks to Nexus and Business Class. I kept tripping the scanner though and none
of us could figure out why. I was
wearing my compression gloves for arthritis and they have copper fibres woven
into them. That was the problem. Once I took those off, I breezed through.
It’s funny too, because I had taken every precaution to
speed things up by putting everything, (wallets, watch, keys, coins) into
various pockets on the camera case. That
way, it was just one thing to worry about going through the scanner. Instead of repeatedly emptying out and
refilling my pockets. Oh well, I’ve
learned another thing. Oh, by the way,
the RF blocking sleeves for credit cards etc., trip the scanner too.
Anyway, I ended up in the United Lounge where there was a
buffet of food and all sorts of drinks both hard and soft. There were also some very comfortable chairs,
equipped with electric outlets and USB ports.
So, I sat there plugged in and keep myself amused until it was time to
go to my gate for boarding.
Once onboard, we were just about ready for takeoff. I
saw something different and appreciate it. The jetway had been pulled back, the
door to the plane had been closed and locked. Suddenly, the pilot comes out,
puts on a yellow vest, opens the door and goes outside. He gathers several
ground crews and they open the luggage hold. After a ten-minute delay, the
pilot gets back on board and announces, "some of the luggage was
improperly loaded causing a weight imbalance and I went out to ensure it was
properly loaded." Pretty impressive. I don't know how he knew, but he did
and fixed it before takeoff. we were in a smaller jet, a Bombardier CRJ-900
SIMILAR TO THE PLANE I WAS ON |
It was an incident free flight,
although a little bumpy at times. Once
we landed at Vancouver airport, I again was able to bypass a lot of the lines
with Nexus and business class. I breezed
through customs and then the only delay came in waiting for my suitcase to
appear.
I got outside, jumped on the
shuttle and got my truck and started the long drive home. I realized I was going to be right in the
middle of rush hour and so I pulled over and grabbed a bite to eat. It didn’t take long though and I was still in
the middle of rush hour, but for some reason, traffic moved at a steady pace
and I made it home before the news was over.