But eventually, we got out of the house and had a chance to relax while driving down to the Comox Valley. We stayed at the Coast Courtenay -- a freebie paid for with Coast Rewards. That was the icing on the cake after getting the entire airfare and half the rental car through Aeroplan points.
In the room, we watched election returns until we hit exhaustion. Tanille Johnston, our NDP candidate who I really admire and strongly support, was leading in the early going. After Rachel Blaney declined to run again, I had pretty much resigned myself to having a Conservative MP. Then Aaron Gunn turned out to be a racist idiot (seriously, he is both), and with Tanille ahead in the early hours of counting, I got my hopes up. By the time we went to sleep, Gunn had taken the lead, but Tanille was still closing the gap.
I was so exhausted that I nearly went to sleep in the disgusting clothes I had been in all day, but rallied a bit. I slept maybe four hours, woke up at 1:00 a.m., saw the final results for our riding and the country.
We knew the NDP would fare poorly, for reasons both of their own doing and well beyond their control, but I didn't expect such a total collapse, with Jagmeet losing his seat. On the other hand, I was doing a happy dance over Poilievre losing his seat. Who would imagine that the American dictator would help us dodge that (seemingly inevitable) bullet. I am happier about PP losing his seat than I am sad about Jagmeet losing his.
And then there is Aaron Gunn. He is an embarrassment, wholly unfit to sit in Parliament. I won't be at all surprised if he does something unconscionable and is forced to resign. Although he has already done something unconscionable, and his party and his voters don't care. Allan and I are absolutely disgusted at his election.
I let Allan sleep til 3:30, then we left the car at the Comox Valley Airport, and took a short and easy flight to Vancouver. Then: all that preparation, and hotel room and super-early wake-up, and now it was only 6:30 a.m. and we had an almost seven-hour layover in Vancouver. A few weeks ago, I had a brilliant idea of what to do with that time -- and I want to capture it here.
In which we cross something off our list and I congratulate myself incessantly
We have this expensive luggage, purchased from our insurance settlement after the Great Sewage Flood of 2008. Briggs & Riley luggage is guaranteed for life, repaired or replaced, no questions asked. At some point in the last year or so, my suitcase developed a tear in the fabric. B&R would fix it or replace the bag at no charge, and ship it back to me -- but I had to get the bag to the closest authorized dealer... which of course is in Vancouver. Or more accurately, in Richmond, very near the airport!
We brought the empty suitcase with us as a carry-on. Researching online, I discovered there is a bag check in the Vancouver Airport. We left our camera, CPAP, and backpack there ($11 per item, but they only charged us for two, for no reason), and took the Skytrain into Vancouver. I even had transit cards from a previous trip. (More self-congratulations for remembering them and knowing where they were.)
From the Skytrain, we figured out a long bus ride to the repair place -- or thought we did. We were on the bus for a very long time, and hey, this looks familiar... I think we've already been here... And we realized we had completed the entire bus route and were on a second loop! Oops!
I chatted with the driver: it turns out we were on the wrong bus. Lesson learned: do not trust Google Maps to understand public transit. I should have checked the bus schedule maps myself. Google gave two different options, and neither were correct.
The bus driver was extremely helpful, and helped me figure out how to correct our mistake. It was totally fixable with one long walk. We had plenty of time, it wasn't raining, and we set off. The only inconvenience was the empty suitcase and a totebag full of snacks. With a long travel day ahead of us, I had packed a lot of healthy snacks from home, and we hadn't checked that bag. We walked for about 15-20 minutes, found the repair place, and left the suitcase. Amazing!
In which a sweet travel story makes me even happier
Then came the second part of my clever plan: dim sum! Richmond has a huge Chinese Canadian population, and I know it is loaded with dim sum places -- the "dumpling trail". In New York, dim sum was a huge treat, but in Mississauga, it was practically a staple. We love it and haven't had it at all since moving to the Island. I called an Uber and in a few minutes we were at one of the places that came up in my research.
It was in a somewhat strange location, hidden away in what looked like the back of an industrial building. Plus it wasn't open yet. By this time we were very hungry and it felt like a long day and night were about to catch up with us in a big way. Should we wait for the place to open? How far were we from a Skytrain back to the airport? Should we Uber to another restaurant closer to the airport?
We walked around the building, trying to figure out what to do in this seemingly deserted parking lot. And when we came back around to the entrance, there was a small crowd of people waiting for it to open! They were all Chinese, always a good sign. I asked a woman if there was a Skytrain nearby, and... we were right near a stop! Actually between two stops! What a laugh!
I said that was amazing, as we were on a layover from the airport. She gave me a huge smile and said, Are you tourists?? She seemed all ready to help. So sweet. I told her we live on Vancouver Island and are just on our way somewhere. A few seconds later, the restaurant opened. Several steamed pork buns and shrimp dumplings later, we were full and very happy. Absolutely perfect.
The Skytrain was literally down the street, and in five minutes we were back at the airport, claimed our items from the baggage, and headed to security, exactly 90 minutes before our flight. The only question is when I will stop congratulating myself.
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