up Up UP and AWAY ...... YVR to FRA ....

2:30 am
Is that a car alarm going off RIGHT IN FRONT of my door?   Bloody Nutters in this city!  Having been violently taken out of Morpheus' arms, I decide to have a cigarette, and YES, there are people smoking something in a car in front of my room.... at 2:45 am...... STUPID CITY !

I more daze than sleep until 5:45.... might as well get up and start ticking off all the errands I have to complete today...

I deliver the last left-over belongings to Grandma's house at 7:00.  Time to say Good-Bye for 2 weeks but I also grab my Turkish coat.....it's going to be COLD in Germany as well and I'm SO SICK of being COLD!

OK, maybe not quite THIS cold.....but behold the Turkish coat ;-)

8:00
I've returned the rental car..... I've had it for a WHOLE MONTH now..... and NO, having a car at my disposal for more than 30 days was not cheap.... but weather and time issues didn't leave me a choice...... at least the income from the present translation is enough to cover it ;-)

9:45
A final e-mail to the head contractor, letting him off the hook so he can get paid....

.... and time for breakfast... ...I no longer have a car or a bike, so it has to be Denny's, unfortunately ;-(  

As expected, the food is pretty much inedible.... onions & mushrooms count as vegetables?  No wonder Canadians are pale and bulky!

12:45
Time to leave....
there is only standing room in the 240 bus.... NOT easy with two backpacks... I understand why older people insist on driving their own car instead of switching to the too infrequent and too overcrowded public transit buses....

My ticket is the cheapest option that only allows me 6kg of carry-on luggage..... but when I stand inline to check-in some friendly airport employee offers me the self-check-in machine....... Hmmm..... it gives me a boarding pass for an aisle seat AND my carry-on luggage will NOT be weighed, LOL.  Things are looking up.

Pale sky & concrete....

But it's still 3.5 hours until take-off time... much too long for my taste..... the only way to get wine in the non-secure area of the airport is WhiteSpot..... far from my favourite restaurant.... but drinkers can't be choosers!

Quelle surprise, the Airport Wifi in what claims to be the Best Airport in North America for nine years running is NOT working AGAIN !  

14:30

Red Rooster Pinot Gris (9oz glass for ~$20)  is going down well.....and the translation is looking less and less threatening due to my almost constant typing of the last few days...

red sections still need to be translated..... NOT that many ;-)

.... so for the last 2 days I have been able to catch up on my e-mails from friends..... Polish Joanna in Paris, American Joanna on Phu Quoc, Taskin in Istanbul, Julian on Koh Rong, Uwe in Frankfurt, P&M in Bad Schwartau, Zu in 108 Mile..... and last but definitely NOT least there is an e-mail from Tuy Hoa that makes my heart grin from lung to lung ....

.... and I finally get to write a new blog post.... since this blog is my diary, I am not too worried about my readership numbers... but I have noticed that the strange Italian readership has been dropping in the last few days..... ever since I first started noticing those 3 individuals reading several posts at a time (I'll just assume that its NOT 1 person reading those posts 3 times) I have been wondering WHO they are...

...the most likely explanation seems to be a group of people in Italy who like to read a foreign language and look at pretty pictures.... 

Benvenuto !

16:00

After another 6 oz of that Red Rooster, I am comfortably NUMB ;-)

But then it's finally time for the last cigarette to be followed by me subjecting myself to those lovely people at security.... GOD, how I hate the nitpicking devils!

I visit the toilets in the North America's Best Airport..... At the urinals, the pee dribbles have accumulated into a small river that has reached the center of the room.   I travel a lot, and I must confess that YVR has the most disgusting toilets of any airport I have ever seen!                                                              16:15 Best Airport in North America MY ARSE.... the sign says there would be a 5-10 minute line-up for security, but since ONLY ONE line is open at security, it takes 25 minutes..... NITWITS!

Of course, the gate only has SEATS for half the number of the plane's passengers.....squatting on the floor is the only solution..... very dignified, YVR!

YVR - FRA  10 hours

The way through the terminal is unbelievably far...... I can't imagine what Grandma would do if she were here.... be pushed in a wheel chair probably!

But I finally get my first cigarette outside.... then hit the bank machine for Euros and buy wine and food in the supermarket......  

Then... the usual decision.... take a taxi.... pay more but be in the hotel quickly.... or take the public transit bus.... pay much less and donate half the proceeds to charity?    

I slightly regret my decision after having stood at the bus stop without a proper time table for 25 minutes (This is one of Europe's BIGGEST airports and they can't maintain their bus schedules???)  and then being forced to STAND all the time because the bus is flooded by a troupe of French school kids.....

I'm finally in my hotel room at 15:45......

WTF?  The fridge does not work????   I guess I'll be drinking lukewarm wine..... so many things to do.... catch up on today's Vietnamese lesson (it is already tomorrow in Vancouver), do some sink laundry.... and TRANSLATE !

But then I can't get too much of that done.... I barely slept on the plane and I'm simply exhausted ....

but I sleep only for one hour....

20:00
... might as well go buy another bottle of wine for those wee hours during which I will indubitably be wide awake