Canada at Last11 Jul 2010
|
|
| Sunday 11 July 2010 - NZ Time It was a foggy day in Woodville; a promise of sun to come. Ian and the girls arrived to pick us up and we left for Palmerston North about 12.30pm. Boarding time was 1.30pm for a 1.50pm lift off time. The flight was smooth and we really only had time to read the in-flight magazine before it was touchdown time again. The view of Ruapehu was quite spectacular; covered in a blanket of pure white snow. Arriving at Auckland domestic terminal we found our bags (Jenny's 19.2 kg and Dave's 21 kg) and then walked to the international terminal. It was a beautiful sunny day in Auckland so it was a very pleasant walk. We were able to check our bags in straight away which was helpful and then we made our way upstairs towards the departure lounge. Made the bourbon purchase for Dave, Peter and Hamish and perfume for Tracey. Looked at GPS systems so we knew what to look for in Vancouver. We went through the Customs checkpoint and had a snack to keep us going until we received a meal on the plane. We had a long wait as we were not due to board until 7.15pm for a departure time of 8.00pm. We are hoping that we will get some sleep on the flight as we are not due into Vancouver until about 9.00am the next morning NZ time. Jenny bought a neck cushion (micro bead) so that her head didn't flop everywhere - will be interesting to see how it works. Hope there are some good movies on offer on the flight. Can't believe that we are finally on our way after all of our planning;seems like we have been talking and planning the trip for ever. Sunday 11 July 2010 - Canada Time It was a very good flight, a bit bumpy sometimes but overall very smooth and when we touched down in Vancouver we didn't even realise we were back on land. The in-flight meals were OK; had pancakes for brunch this morning. We found it strange at Vancouver airport that our bags didn't get checked again. As we had checked them very early in Auckland they were some of the last ones to come out and we just headed for the exit with them with airport officials only taking our arrival cards. We had marked that we had been on a farm and that we were intending to visit a farm in Canada but they didn't even look at it. We did get our passports stamped but that was all. It is quite warm in Vancouver, a nice sunny day. We decided we couldn't be bothered waiting for the Hotel shuttle so caught a taxi to the hotel; quite reasonable only $20 Canadian. It is a nice room and we have decided to stay put, have a meal at the hotel and then to bed early. Tomorrow we plan to do an excursion into Vancouver city to see some of the sights. We have finally started our adventure. |
Advertisement 
|
