March 14, 2023
In transit
An interesting start. We got up early, allowing lots of time to run around and get things we forgot to pack, run the dishwasher (I thought I turned it on last night!), etc. The taxi I’d booked online showed up right on time.
I specified in my booking that we needed a VAN, in capital letters, because we were two passengers travelling with two bicycle cases and we had the same problem last time. The driver, a nice fellow and not his fault that he and his Prius had been dispatched, tried to tell us that this was a van and that a cargo van was different. I pointed out that that was not an option when booking online, and he said the company’s cargo van wasn’t running anyway.
Luckily we weren’t using cardboard boxes because the two cases, on their sides and stacked, just fit into the car with the bigger side of the back seat folded down. Learning experience #1. He dropped us at Granville Station and we took Canada Line the rest of the way to YVR.
Next, we tried checking in at a kiosk as the Air Canada staff person suggested. I’ve never done this before with a bicycle and especially not when our Aeroplan credit cards gives us each a free first checked bag when our tickets don’t. She walked me through it and it was seamless; we were only charged Air Canada’s CA$50 bike fee. Learning experience #2.
Unfortunately, our bikes are only checked through to Zürich because our stop there is too long. The agent didn’t know the limit there, but YVR only holds bags for layovers less than 7 hours. We wondered whether this would be the case, now we know. Learning experience #3.
Learning experience #4 happens on the plane. We are on an Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER and I have seat 20A. I paid for seat selection and thought I was getting a window seat. But there’s no window!
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1 year ago
The second leg to Zurich was uneventful (we like that part), and seemed interminable (perhaps some day we will be able to afford first class but I’m not holding my breath).
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1 year ago