Hello from North America! I have successfully returned to my continent of origin and am happy to report that this last leg of my trip has been the most eventful to date. This may require a bit of math in some parts, but bear with me. I got up this morning (Monday) at 0330 (GMT+13) making it to the Christchurch airport with plenty of time to spare before my flight to Sydney. It was a pretty bumpy ride across the Tasman Sea, but we made it at our expected arrival time. I had four hours to kill in Sydney so it was no surprise that my gate information wasn't up yet, but when it still wasn't up an hour before departure time I was becoming mildly concerned. It turned out that the incoming flight was delayed, so we were going to be delayed about 30 minutes. Being the clever traveler that I am, I decided to take the extra time to wash my face, etc., and.... Harry Pottered my glasses!!! Broke them right down the middle, even split. Overcoming the devastation of having to wear my contacts on the long flight, we boarded at 1230 (GMT+11) then proceeded to sit at the gate, all buckled up, until 1400. Evidently the winds were so strong in Sydney that they had closed down all but one runway. We were finally cleared to push back from the gate (hallelujah), then had to wait in line for take off for another 45 minutes. The winds really were horrific. Not even trying to be clever with the whole "Yogi of Oz" thing, I half expected to see Dorothy or the Wicked Witch of the West flying past as we took off. And so.... what was supposed to be 14 hours of pure bliss on a 777 turned into a glorious 16 hours trapped in the window seat by two exceedingly large men (whom I later found out were not only Canadian tractor trailer drivers, but also stimulating conversationalists). We arrived in Vancouver at 0930 (GMT-8) on Monday (again...or still). Fortunately, I didn't have a connection on the Vancouver end of the flight, so I was at a far lower stress level than the majority of the plane.
I made it through customs and immigration with minimal questions as to the nature of my travel and tracked down the taxi stand (after nearly being killed by my own stupidity - cars drive on the other side of the road here). My taxi driver was incredibly friendly and we were chatting away about his home town in Africa when, "whoop whoop" Vancouver's finest pulled us over. Haha! I didn't even know that cops pulled taxis with fares over. It was hilarious (for me). The officer told us that he is also a commercial vehicle inspector and the taxi didn't have daytime running lights on which apparently is a Very big deal. My driver didn't get fined, but he did receive a list of things he needed to fix before he could take another fare (after dropping me off of course, although a ride home with the cops would have made a far better story).
Don't worry, this story has a happily ever after: I made it to the hotel, they let me check in early, I got new glasses, and have a nice low key evening of Canucks hockey ahead of me.
As always, all of my love!
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