When the clock counts down on a travel day

I slept with Mr. Bear on the sofa, and he's so darn cute. When he gets cold, he just comes and snuggles under the covers! When he needs a break, he comes up for air. But when he heard the kids get up in the morning, he needed to be part of their action, so he was gone! 

I helped do some more unpacking. A few more things were on the truck to unload, and they got brought to the apartment. Then we had to get rid of the garbage and recycling, so everything went down. They rented the second floor of a house with a fantastic view. 

OK—my family has a thing for finding a place with an amazing view. Off to the left is the Lion's Gate Bridge, and to the right of that is Stanley Park. 

The view from M's deck

Here's the same view a little later in the morning. 

This was the same view from the pier

Then we went for a walk in the neighborhood, and Mr. Bear was beside himself as he checked out the new smells. And they are three blocks from this amazing waterfront area. 

Bear and M

There's a hill to the water, but not too bad. It's a great walk to improve your cardio.  

Then it was back to the apartment and we sat and had a very good chat! It's so nice when your kid is grown up and you can have some real adult conversations. While I thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip, those last precious hours with M were the best! 

I think someone wanted to come home with me! He has zero issues popping into the suitcase! 

Grandma -- can I come home with you??

Then it was time to leave but not before I packed more stuff into those suitcases of mine. I got a request to make a T-shirt quilt and I said that this was the perfect time to bring the T-shirts home with me, as I had three suitcases that I was checking in and I could go up to 70 pounds with each. 

I didn't even remove the suitcases from the car, I opened them up and filled each suitcase as much as I could. I didn't count the total number of T-shirts, but there were many. 

Loading the T-shirts into the suitcases

In my small suitcase that was off to the side, I was able to put TWENTY-TWO T-shirts in there. I counted those when I unpacked it when I got home. 

Unloading the suitcase at home

There was a projector in there, a pair of shoes, and my clothes. One does NOT need to travel with lots of clothes and hence you can put 22 T-shirts in the suitcase as additional stuff. Thankfully, that was going in the cargo area and not in the overhead bin as it was a bit heavy now. 

Then began the adventure to the airport. On the scale of one to ten on "harrowing", this was a 12. I had originally planned to leave two hours before the flight to get there in plenty of time to drop the bags. I left earlier than planned because it just felt like the right thing to do. Well....

First off, I couldn't get the GPS to find the airport. Seriously??? So a few precious minutes got wasted there. Then it must have taken me on the scenic route to the airport. I could see signs saying I was on the way to the airport, and then it veered somewhere else and I must have taken every major (traffic clogged street). We went right downtown, instead of on the somewhat highway that leads to the airport. 

With the traffic and that scenic route, it ate up another precious TEN minutes. 

I knew I needed to fill the car with gas as I was almost empty, but as the minutes ticked away in the traffic clogged streets, I contemplated how much it would cost to drop the car at the rental with no gas. I was certain there was a gas station at the airport, but boy -- it was almost at the terminal and I was watching that clock. 

It was a full service gas station -- not sure why, but of course, when I drove up, I drove up on the wrong side, so I had to turn the car around so it could be filled. As it filled, I emptied my water bottles from the car, so I'd have one less thing to do at the airport. Then the attendant was talking to someone and I said - I do NOT have a lot of time, let's get this done. And soon I was on my way, but a few more precious moments were eaten away. 

Then I arrived at the car drop-off point. Of course, I had the company that was the LAST in the long line of cars. I misread the drop off line and got into the wrong line, so I had to get out of there and into the correct line and of course, I had to drop the car at the end of the line, which was the furthest from the airport. While the guy checked out the car, I had to walk all the way to the front of the line to get a luggage cart and then get those three, now extra heavy suitcases onto it. 

I pushed the cart to the front and OH GREAT - I have to take an elevator to get to the departures area. Once I was on the correct level, I practically ran with the cart because I was NOT in the airport, but still across the road where the rental cars are located. 

I found the Air Canada terminals just inside the door and all the while the minutes are ticking. I arrive and attempt to scan my passport, but it won't scan. Of course it won't!! So I moved to the next terminal and VOILA -- it scanned, so I got my three bag tags and I breathed a sigh of relief. I could have gone to the counter, but there was a few people waiting, so thank goodness we can do that ourselves. I'm getting good at putting the tags on and I went to the bag drop and there is nothing more exciting than see your bags get weighed, and scanned, and then go into the depths of the airport. 

Printing the bag tags

I now had ONE hour exactly before the plane was to leave. I went through security which was pretty empty and for some reason, my bag was flagged for a hand search. She found nothing in the bag and just opened my iPad and laptop. No idea why - there was nothing in it that would cause them to flag it. 

I stopped to pick up some food for the plane because there was NO time for lunch. WOW -- $15 for a sandwich. Airport prices are just insane. 

Insane prices at the airport

Then I arrived at the gate and got into the line and was on the plane. DH thinks that a perk is to have access to the lounge. Well, I NEVER have time to go to the lounge (or rarely) so that would NOT be a perk for me. 

No one was in the seat beside me and I didn't get an upgrade, so it was a very comfortable ride. I binge watched Season One of Modern Family all the way home except for an hour nap along the way. 

Binge watching Modern Family

It's become a standing joke as to how many escalators or people movers aren't working. This is the first time in a long time I have seen a people mover not working. But I don't use them, so I don't care. And you have to wait for your luggage on the other side, so it's not like one needs to be in a hurry. 

People mover not working

OH -- wait one more picture of the view from M's deck. We watched a freighter come in. It's a beautiful view and if I lived there, I'd have a sewing machine on that deck! And this is where the cruise ships pass. 

Freighter coming in

By the way --- the airline has technically changed their luggage drop-off cut off from 45 minutes to 60 minutes, so I need to adjust myself accordingly. I was aiming for the 60-minute, but had so many silly things happen. OH -- I forgot to mention that when I realized I was in the incorrect lane at the car drop-off and I went to get out of the car, my little purse was open and spilled all the contents on the ground. Of course that happened!!!

I noticed that the app still mentioned 45 minutes, so if the kiosk wouldn't take my bags, I could technically have argued my way through that. And DH sent me a text about timing, and he said I was cutting it close. Like I needed to be reminded of that! Was I getting anxious? I will admit that my heart was going pitter patter a wee bit faster than it usually does, especially as I got closer to the airport. 

So the lesson learned, and especially in Vancouver -- check the damn map so I can override the GPS, and leave a few minutes earlier!!!

DH picked me up at the airport which was a total zoo for pick-ups. I ended up walking to the end of the airport (international side). What I detest are those people that get to the curb in their car and sit there, waiting for their people. There is a CELL PHONE parking lot for you to wait until your people arrive. It's a huge issue and people just don't get it. 

I will say that Air Canada has stepped up their game. All flights were on time and we pushed back one or two minutes before we were supposed to!! 

The girls are happy and we're off for our morning walk. 

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!