Leaving home

Well, we’re shedding all the responsibilities of Seattle home life after all these past month’s preparation for our trip. It’s a pretty exhilarating experience. 

We headed to our gate at SeaTac to find our trip starting with a bang. Moon and I were upgraded to first class on Alaska. So my thoughts of a quick meal or snack, a cocktail for Moon, water in those charming little eco-friendly milk cartons and a warm “thank you for flying Alaska Airlines” flew through my head. However, on a 24 minute flight from Seattle to Vancouver, a first class passenger gets a roomier seat and a smile. I could sit on a metal stool for 24 minutes and be perfectly happy, but I’m not complaining. Anyway, after takeoff we ascended to altitude for the first 15 minutes of the flight when the PA comes alive with, “our bathrooms are now locked” (Yikes!), “please bring your seat backs to their...”, you know the drill. I think the light rail from SaeTac to SoDo takes longer. But, we are finally on our way and thrilled about it all. 

After disembarking the plane and entering Vancouver International Airport it was a breeze moving through customs with our Nexus cards. We booked a room in Fairmont Hotel which is connected to the airport. It as only about a 100 yards from where we would check our luggage the next morning. The room for our one night stay overlooked the runway. There is something calming about watching the planes, large and small, come and go. It was a nice touch to our first day of traveling. 

We were hungry, so being an adventuresome lot we visited a kiosk outside of baggage claim named Japandogs. The woman manning the kiosk was hopping up and down trying to stay warm in the 40 degree weather. She didn’t seem to find the humor in my asking if she was chilly.  Her attire would have been right at home in Homer Alaska in the dead of winter. Anyway, she handed us one pork dog with onions and seaweed and an unknown special sauce and one pork dog with chopped daikon radish, these purple pickle things and some kind of mayo/wasabi concoction. When in Rome, eh’? They weren’t bad.  

Off to Japan tomorrow.  Stay tuned.  Ed out.