Sunday, May 30th
Homeward Bound
As you turned to go I heard you call my name,
You were like a bird in a cage spreading its wings to fly
‘The old ways are lost,’ you sang as you flew
And I wondered why.— Loreena McKennitt, The Old Ways
If I’d get up early, I could spend the morning visiting something as my flight is only half past four. But naturally, this morning I wake up especially late. So I decide to take things slow and start by enjoying my last Canadian breakfast. This is going to be the day of the lasts. Next thing is the last trip to a shopping mall to buy the final batch of stamps. During the trip I set a personal record in number of postcards written. If you have expected one and not gotten any, my apologies. I already wrote forty-two of the damn things (plus a significant amount of travelogue posts. Probably spent more time writing then driving).
And then it is time to pack, check out, and drive to the airport. If you have read these notes so far, you know by now that I tend to be a bit sentimental. So dropping of the car is the slightest bit emotional. It may just be an assembly of metal and plastic, but then you could also say that humans are just an assembly of carbon and water. This Dodge was a trusty companion on a very long trip. So leaving it behind in a dark garage somewhere at the airport of Vancouver feels a little bit wrong. Farewell, Silver Avenger and better luck with your next drivers. And a good journey home to Halifax. It is going to be a long one. We both know that now.
I end up being three and a half hours early at the airport. I check in and retire to the lounge. Belatedly I realize that the lady at check-in has moved me away from my preselected bulkhead seat. At least she kept it an aisle seat. Bored with the lounge I wander off to the gate way to early. On my way, I am being paged. At the gate, the whole seat issue becomes a non-issue as they change my boarding card into one with a C printed on. Thank you, Lufthansa. Incidentally, Vancouver airport is the place where my loyalty with Lufthansa started. On my flight back seven years ago they did the very same thing and upgrade me, back then a rookie air traveller with only four flights under my belt. But it turned out to be a smart move on their behalf.
Much to the surprise of the check-in lady, the flight is on time today. We fly out north-east bound, cross over Jasper, Slave Lake, off into the far north of Canada, and into the night-which-isn’t.
Beer of the day: Not Having Coor’s Light (the only beer they had in the Maple Leaf Lounge at the time. I also couldn’t quite get myself to have Warsteiner on the plane again and went for the wine route. Since I know there are wine ponces reading: The 2006 Château du Retout was a very nice surprise. Very pronounced taste of berries and something else.)