Wednesday 22 August 2007

We're here!!






We're in Vancouver, pretty tired, but we are here with all luggage. We are going to try and hire a car as we need to do some shopping and we have a lot to buy, might be too difficult on a bus!
A summary so far!

My carry-on suitcase was 14kg - 2x the recommended weight! Customs pulled me up, and wrote the weight on my ticket, but the air hostess didn't seem to care and we were sent straight through.
10 hrs to Taipei - good aeroplane food, good service, airbus330 has great inflight entertainment!
Plane was a little late, found the hotel transfer easier than expected as we wore a big sticker saying 'mirimar golf country club' or something like that, and were found once we got through customs. After 30 min drive (Taiwan is like a sauna!) we were at a 4 star hotel, very nice, but only had 30mins til the buffet dinner closed.
Could have taken a taxi in to have a look around, but chose to take it easy, with a 40min walk around the 36 hole golf course. A fellow passenger said that it cost about 60 dollars for a taxi to drive her around, show her the town, and take her to the airport (about 3 hrs). Rearranged my suitcase (just in case!) Only had to pay for lunch at airport, as other meals provided.
10 hr flight to Vancouver - old 747 without luxury of the entertainment consoles, but had 3 movies. I didn't really sleep during either flight, but Nathan got an hour or two.
Security in Canada a little more intimidating than Taiwan, with several passport checks. Baggage took a while to come through, and we praise God that immigration wasn't any hassle, not even needing bank details that had caused us some stress on Friday!
Were picked up at the airport by a Regent student called Beth, driven to St Andrew's Hall (receptionist was a bit flustered) but we finally got all 9 pieces of luggage up the elevator to our room - the same as the pictures on their website, maybe a little smaller than I thought. (We have a shower, not a bath). The last tennant left some disposable bowls and a toaster. We purchased some necessities from local shops, walked a little around UBC/Regent, still getting our bearings.
I can't wait to sleep! Even without pillows or a blanket (just sheets). Weather is about 18 degrees, a little humid, but the sun comes out occasionally.
We love you all, and are missing you -although it's easy not to think about that with all the things to do to keep us busy at the moment.

We have done recon for Nathan's family on China airlines as they are making the same trip in January to visit....hence lots of photos of the accomodation stop over

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to hear from you! Been thinking about you heaps. Sounds like things are going well :-)
CP

Anonymous said...

Wow what a place. Those photo's look stunning! Sorry we couldnt make your house goodby day. :( Hope all is well! :)