Tuesday, April 21, 2015

This one was written by Bonnie. Another point of view

 It is 9:30am Augusta time and 6:30am Vancouver time on Tuesday, April 21. I thought I would send a note from the Empire Landmark Hotel downtown Vancouver before we get on the Grand Princess.

Well, yesterday was fun!! We got up at 2:15. Ivy arrived at 3. We loaded the car and headed to Atlanta. Arrived at the International airport about 5:30. Got out and waved Ivy goodbye. Shouldn't have done that!! Our flight was out of Domestic!! Kind lady told us how to go to the end of the building, down  2 flights and out the glass doors to find a shuttle that would take us to Domestic Terminal. After a 20-30 minutes ride we arrived. Found the check in kiosk for United, checked in printed our boarding passes and headed to security (my favorite place!!). It was very busy. 
 
David told the lady I had a artificial knee so she got me an escort and took me to a scanner. I thought this is going to be good. Wrong. Went through scanner and she still patted me down. I guess she didn't believe the picture. Plus David got picked for additional scanning. Oh my GOD!! 
 
We finally got through and found our gate we still had time to grab a croissant and a muffin for me and two  drinks for $23. Got to the gate, plane was late of course and it was actually coming from San Francisco and then turning around and going back. It arrived they deplaned, cleaned and loaded a new crew. (Didn't clean real well there was a banana peal in the pocket at my seat!)  
 
We finally took off at about 10. Four hour flight to arrive at 2 our time 1 their time. We only had about 50 minutes between this flight and our flight to Vancouver. We were late  getting into San Francisco  because of a huge fog and cloud covering. But it turned out the plane we were on was the plane going to Vancouver. So we just had to get off, they cleaned and we got back on. We grabbed two sandwiches (for a mere $20), a ham and cheese and a roast beef and cheese. Finally taking off and settling back for our 2 hour trip to Vancouver. Ate our sandwiches, tried to sleep and watched the scenery.

Arrived at Vancouver airport, declaration form in hand went through security. No we haven't been to Africa, and haven't been in contact with anyone from there. Why are we here and how long are we staying. Picked up our bags headed to ground transportation. To get out of baggage area we had to give them our declaration form which we had put a way. Met first unfriendly Canadian who growled  stand over there. We got it out he took it and we left. Found our cab and after our $40 cab ride arrived at the hotel after having been up over 24 hours!!

Checked in, and arrived at our room on the 26th floor .Beautiful view and can see the harbor. Couldn't sleep so after messing with computer and phones headed out for a walk. We were unable to find one of the many gardens but we are really to tired. I am amazed at the number of Asian people in Canada. At least 50% of the people I saw on the street or driving big mercedes and jaguars and other large SUV's were of Asian descent.  
 
Most every place only takes Canadian so we came back to the hotel after about an hour. I was tired and hungry, too.

Our hotel has a revolving restaurant on the 42 floor and it opened at 5 and it was 10 till so we headed up there. Beautiful!! We had a prime rib meal which was one of there specials and included salad and dessert. It was good. The service was very nice and the view was fantastic. Our meal lasted long enough so that we made one complete revolve. It takes 1 hour and 25 minutes. Our waiter said we got a early dinner special of 20 % off so we gave him the 20% off as a tip. 

By the time we got back to our room it was 9:30 pm Augusta time and 6:30 pm Vancouver time. I have been up 30 hours or so!! I crashed and went to bed. David followed about an hour later. I slept fairly well. They have not turned the air conditioning on in the hotel yet so we slept with the window of the balcony open all night. They brought us a fan but it didn't help.
 
I finally got up at 6am Vancouver time. It is probably in the 40's outside but feels good to me. Glad I bought a coat and long pants.

We had met some of the Princess people at the airport and they told us where our hotel was, when to come to the port and etc. So we are only about 5 or 10 minutes cab ride from the port so we will leave for there around 10:30. 

Well, I have had my bath. I am dressed and hungry. So we are headed up ( when ever David is ready) to the restaurant for a $18 buffet. It is expensive here. Oh well, I am retired.

David said he will be sending out blogs at every port since we will have access to our Verizon. He isn't buying any internet on board ship. 

Hope you are all doing okay. Talk to you later.

Bonnie

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