On The Move Again - Jan 17-20

We left Squamish at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday, January 17 and rolled through the sweating mist and dark grey ground clouds hovering over the Sea to Sky Highway. We managed to avoid the puddles, the rocks, on the road, and the kamikazi drivers!! Our nerves were at full alert, the excitement butterflies in our stomachs were working overtime, and our minds were looking ahead to sleep mode for 25 hours on the plane.

On the way to the airport we picked up Azalea who was going to take our car from the airport, go back into Vancouver to load up her stuff, and then drive up to Squamish to stay in our house while we are away. “Change” seems to be in the air all around us. Azalea’s boyfriend has been offered a job by Apple and was given eight days to get himself to the Silicon Valley. Azalea and he and his father were in the midst of packing his stuff in a u-haul van ready for the move down later in the week.

Fish Tank at Vancouver International Airport

Fish Tank at Vancouver International Airport

We arrived at the airport in good time and moved smoothly through the security line. In the past we have forgotten to remove nail files, pen knives, and scissors from our backpacks and water from our water bottles but this time we had been vigilant!

There was lots of excitement in the loading lounge. We watched about six police walking up and down the aisles of the patiently waiting seated passengers with their sniffer dogs who, with tails wagging and nostrils flaring, sniffed shoes, legs, and any bags that may be on the floor beside each person. We watched a couple of people being taken aside and their bags searched. Our minds raced to think of what the police were looking for: drugs, guns, explosives???

The Back-End of the B-777

The Front-End of the B-777

 Loading 275 people on a Boeing 777-ER requires patience but soon we were aboard, stuffed in like cows in a cattle car. The engines roared into life, the plane reversed smoothly out of its bay, and then turned onto the runway. For me, the most exciting part of an air journey is the take off; the building of speed, the thrust of gravity that hammers you into the back of the seat, and the sensation of being lifted up into the air as if you are lying in a floating hammock. The rest of the journey was smooth and steady, all 10,000 km of it. The Cathay Pacific flight attendants ran up and down the aisles serving lunch, then dinner, then breakfast in the 12 hours 27 minutes of the flight into Hong Kong. They could have been training for a 10k – actually, they probably ran 10k during the flight!! The meals were delicious and tasty albeit with no regard for calories. The flight attendants must have been exhausted by the time we arrived in Hong Kong.

In contrast to the activity around me, I calmly watched three films: The Bridge of Spies, The Dressmaker, and Bajrangi Bhaijaan  a beautiful Hindi Drama starring the gorgeous looking Salman Khan; listened to two talk shows on Ted Talks on “Turning Points“ and “The Meaning of Work”; and listened to Mozart and other classical music all interspersed with walking intervals, stretching, and conversing with other travelers headed for exotic destinations. The time passed easily, and I enjoyed these quiet (well, hardly "quiet" with 1000 tons of screaming aluminium all around, but there was "quiet" in my mind.

We only had 2 hrs 25 minutes to wait between flights and by the time we had wandered through the terminal to the new departure gate and once again negotiated the security process, it was time to reload, this time on an Airbus 330-300 carrying 242 passengers. Remember I mentioned that we had been diligent in removing all “no fly” articles from our carry on back packs. Not true. When the bag went through the security camera on the conveyor belt, a “foreign object” was detected…..and Ray lost his nail file! Ironically, we went through a second security check in the corridor leading onto the plane, but compared to the previous one this one was like and a promise! This shorter portion of the flight – 8 hrs 30 minutes – was passed in dreams with phantom figures serving food to people in the seats around and beside me. I awoke refreshed in time for breakfast and then we arrived in Sydney – where at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday January 19 the temperature was 25C.

Walking through the Sydney Terminal my mind roamed over my years in Toronto living with Sue on Davisvile Avenue and tried desperately to remember when it was that we had been in Sydney with her and Jim previously. The more recent trips to Vancouver came more readily. How is it that some relationships from the past remain some of the most prominent relationships in our lives? Both Ray and I were excited to meet Sue and Jim again…..and then we were through customs, picked up our baggage, I managed to lose the information card I had completed on the plane and had to do a repeat, and then we there…in Sydney….and then Sue and Jim were there…..and we realized why we were here. We haven’t skipped a beat.

Chatter has been our main activity since we arrived. I am determined to get jag-lag over quickly and stayed up till about 10:30 p.m. last night, although I have to admit that the last couple of hours I needed matchsticks in my eyes to keep them open! Ray in the meanwhile managed a nap earlier. After the nap, Ray and I went for a lovely 5 k walk along the side of Tarbin Creek. 

Carbin Creek

Tarbin Creek Walk

Today, Ray and Jim went off together doing “men” stuff…and Sue and I went to the Top Ryde Shopping Centre on Victoria Road to buy some basics that I needed. It is a huge mall something like the Eton Centre. Sue says it was the first mall built in Sydney and not one of the larger malls around. Seemed pretty big to me!!  I spent the time in the later afternoon catching up on my blog. Then it was dinner time. Sue and I decided it is fun “to be living together” again!

PS – The temperature today was close to 40C!!!