Travel days are SO fun!

Many of our travels have started out with weird first days…..

• On one trip, our boat captain sank our dinghy (with the four of us in it) in the middle of the Florida Keys.
• On another trip, our plane ended up in gridlock in the DC airport meaning that flights were delayed by HOURS AND HOURS.
• On one trip to China, we were delayed leaving the US, meaning that we missed flights in Shanghai and ended up spending the night there.
• On a short weekend trip while we were in China, we ended up in a city WITHOUT a hotel (reservation had been given away) and were about ready to find a dry (of course it was raining) building doorway to sleep in. Fortunately a bellboy took pity on us and showed us to a small hotel where we could spend the night.

But I digress…..

Our trip to Prince George, BC started out well enough. We had first class tickets (thanks to my husband finding them CHEAPER than our normal seats) which meant easy flying into Seattle and then on to Vancouver.

I loved watching the scenery as we moved into the volcanic area in the Northwest…..

These mountains were gorgeous….

We arrived in the Vancouver airport and it was then that things started to fall apart a bit!!

Michael travels with some equipment that has to be declared in customs when we enter a new country. That worked out okay, although we did go to the wrong office first and it did take quite a while to get it taken care of.

We left the office and grabbed an elevator to go up one floor so we could sign-in for our next flight, but realized that we had gotten onto an “employee only” elevator that opened onto an office area!! Fortunately, one man took one look at us with our bulging duffels and other baggage and let us out through an employee door into the terminal.

We immediately saw a “West-Jet” check in station but were told that it was for International Flights. We needed to go to the Domestic terminal.

As we started walking….again with 2 backpacks and 4 bags between us…. we started at check-in #199. We had to walk to Check-in #SIX! My arms were burning before we got there!

We got checked in for our flight and our two duffels were sent down the luggage chute. As we arrived at the Oversize check-in for the last bag, they told us that all of our checked bags had to stay together….but we had already sent two thru???

So, as Michael worked on the paperwork for the oversize piece, I found the baggage claim where they were sending the bags once they were intercepted. As I pulled both of them to the floor, I realized that I was going to have to get two 50-pound duffels UP AN ESCALATOR!! As I was standing at the base of the escalator trying to figure out how to do it, I heard Michael call my name and ask if I needed help. Hallelujah….he was at the top of the escalator!!

So, we got all of the bags checked thru and headed to Passport control and the security check. To put a bit more emphasis on our situation, we had about 25 minutes before the plane boarded!

There were no signs telling what we needed to pull out of our bags, so we put them on the check line like we do in Atlanta. ALL THREE BAGS WERE PULLED!

Apparently, we were supposed to pull out all of our electronics, and our carry-on suitcase was FILLED with cameras, microphones, binoculars and more!!

As the woman helping me started pulling everything out of the bags, the man helping Michael found one of his liquid medicines and told him that it was over the limit for liquids so he couldn’t take it. Incidentally, without this one…..he dies!! Finally he asked the lady who was helping me and she assured him that we could INDEED take medicines, regardless of how many ounces!!

We FINALLY got all of our equipment checked and repacked and headed for the gate which, of course, was at the END of the terminal! We arrived there about 5 minutes before they started boarding.

OKAY….we are on board. As the plane is taxiing to the runway, Michael gets a message asking which hotel we were staying at in Prince George……HOTEL…..aren’t you picking us up at the airport???

The exact schedule had never been shared so we didn’t know that we couldn’t get to the camp that same night so we needed a hotel……SIGH!!!

The flight from Vancouver to Prince George was fast and the scenery was once again beautiful!!

When we landed, Michael had a text giving us the name of a hotel where we had a reservation….the BonVoyage Inn!!

We had a wonderful taxi driver from India and we enjoyed talking to him about life there.

We were both starving and saw a restaurant next door to the hotel…..

It didn’t look all that fancy and we expected to have basic food but we were pleasantly surprised….

IT SPECIALIZED IN GREEK FOOD!!

After looking at the menu….and understanding virtually none of it….. we decided to order the “Combo For Two”…..

It started out with Greek Salad and Pita Bread…..

…..followed by this ENORMOUS PLATTER…..

How can this POSSIBLY be food for TWO…..six maybe!!

We fell into bed pooped, having walked over 3-miles while INSIDE airports, and filled with amazing food!!

I guess that if you end up where you were headed to, it is a GOOD DAY OF TRAVEL!!

Okay….day one of our trip is in the books!! Thanks for indulging my endless saga!!

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Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

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