Rhonda Bracey: At Random

What a view on my flight to Hong Kong – and I wasn’t even in a window seat!

Instead of going over the Pacific, the flight followed the west coasts of Canada and Alaska, then Siberia and China. Even though many had their window shades down, thus missing the most spectacular views of glaciers, mountains, snow, rivers, etc., I was able to see much of the Alaskan coast and a little of Siberia. The lady sitting next to me kept the window open for quite some time until the stewards asked her to close it for ‘the comfort of the other passengers’. That was such a shame as this is an AMAZING part of the earth and seeing it from 11kms up is an amazing experience.

I took LOTS of photos!

… but without the trains!

I was up at 5:30am and said my goodbyes to Jill and Brian just after 6:00am. I was on my way again, this time to catch the 7:45am ferry back to Vancouver from Duke Point (south of Nanaimo). I had a reservation so had to arrive between 6:45 and 7:15. I got to the terminal at 7:00am, which was a tad longer than expected as the drive was a little hairy.

It was dark and raining when I left and the windscreen was partly iced. The roads were wet and there were warning signs for deer, icy bridges, and aquaplaning. It was very cold (about 1 to 2C) and my biggest concern was ice on the roads—especially black ice! So I took it slow and arrived at the ferry terminal safe and sound.

It’s now 7:15am and the sky is getting lighter. I’m at the head of my queue for the ferry  (Queen of Alberni) which hasn’t arrived from Vancouver yet, but I expect it’ll get here soon. The trip takes 2 hours.

After I arrive, it’s off to Vancouver Airport (refuelling on the way) to return the rental car and then to check in for my Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, which is due to leave around 3:30pm. I lose Wednesday night (tonight) and much of Thursday, arriving in Hong Kong around 9pm Thursday night.

Update 1: The ferry left on time and my car was the first in one of the lines, so it’ll be one of the first off. Guess that reservation was worth it! Actually, it was the peace of mind that was worth the $15 booking fee (which is deducted from your fare—I didn’t know that, so it was a pleasant surprise!). Without knowing anything about the schedules, the capacity, and the usage, I didn’t want to risk being stuck on a ferry vetween Vancouver Island and the mainland when my flight took off.

Update 2: I’m now in the Cathay Pacific lounge. I got fuel, but only just. There was not a single gas station from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal to the airport, except one on the other side of the busy highway. I thought I’d have to pay Hertz’s exhorbitant fuel charge, but luckily there’s a gas station on the airport land just before the parking area and the rental car return place. Its price was higher than outside ($1.217 per litre compared to $1.179 on the Island), but it was cheaper than the $3 per litre Hertz were charging!

Vancouver Airport, like SeaTac, is undergoing some major construction to put in a rail line. So it was quite a long haul from the rental car return to the International Terminal—at least, when you followed their detour signs. I think if I’d ignored those and gone straight across the road to the domestic terminal, I’d have been able to walk through to international anyway. And the signage in the terminal! Don’t get me started!! You walk in to the International Terminal and there are NO signs as to what to do next or where to go. A red cap guy told me I had to go up a level to Departures. When I got there, there are no clear signs to tell you where to go if you AREN’T travelling to the US. I eventually found the correct place, but only after asking someone else who worked there. After that it was all very painless.

So now I have another 3 hours before the flight is called. Next post will probably be from Hong Kong unless something grabs my attention that I feel like writing about!

Well, my three days/four nights on Vancouver Island are at a close. I had a totally relaxing time with our friends, Jill and Brian. But, by God, it was COLD!

The usual daytime temperature for this time of year is around 12C, but the days I was there the maximum ranged from 4 to 8C and no higher. We went walking quite a bit (they have a big dog), and the wind just cut through whatever you were wearing.  For our long walk yesterday, I had on my new polar fleece vest, my polar fleece jacket, borrowed wool gloves, and my wool footy scarf. I was still cold…

Thanks Jill and Brian, as always, for your wonderful friendship and hospitality.

The Chevy Malibu I rented had the windscreen washer nozzles cleverly concealed on the actual wipers. This feature is probably on other vehicles, but it was the first time I’d seen it. Very clever and sensible—the water goes on the windscreen, not all over the roof if the sprayers have been shifted when you last washed the car!

One of the delights with staying with Jill and Brian (other than their company, of course!) is their location in a most beautiful part of the world. Add to that the trees in front of their house that are home to a pair of Bald Eagles, and you really can’t get much better than that.

I’ve heard the eagles a few times this trip—and they always surprise me by having such a tweetering sound, not a booming and majestic noise as you’d expect from such a magnificent bird. But this time—unlike previous visits—there are no babies.

Jill and Brian said that they haven’t had babies for a couple of years now, though they still mate and build a nest. Sad. This pair of eagles can no longer reproduce, and seeing as how few Bald Eagles there are in the wild in the world, it’s a real loss. But I guess I can take comfort that this pair has been together for at least 15 years, and both are still alive and well.

However, I do miss the early morning sounds of the babies in the nest, way up in the top of the tree just outside the guest bedroom.

The ferry trip was uneventful and smooth. And the drive up the coast from Nanaimo was equally uneventful, though I can’t tell what the speed is as the car only displays the speed in miles per hour, not kilometres (many US cars have both, but not this one). Canada is metric so all speed signs are in kph.

I arrived around 4pm, and have spent the past two days with Jill and Brian just chiling out, talking a lot, eating wonderful food, drinking great wine, and generally doing very little at a great pace! Yesterday Jill and I went over to Coombes (home of the famous ‘goats on the roof’ and butterfly gardens). We popped in to the market area there and had a look around, then went in to Qualicum Beach and had a look around what was open there too (not a lot was open, as it was Easter Sunday). Then the rain started to pour down so we raced back to the car and back to a nice warm house and some wine.

On Saturday night Jill and I watched the movie, “Mrs Potter” (starring Renee Zellwegger), then last night we watched “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” with three Aussies in it: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Abbie Cornish. Neither movie would make my ‘must see again’ list. I can see why “Elizabeth” only got 2 stars—you really needed to know quite a bit of the history before watching this movie, otherwise you’d have been lost with who everyone was and the intrigues of the royal court. As a result it did poorly at the box office—I just can’t see the general public being interested. “Mrs Potter” was the story of Beatrix Potter, and it was a good filler movie but nothing more.

Today was the neighbourhood Easter Egg Hunt—bunny ears and all! About 30 or so people (mostly adults) met at the next door neighbours’, were formed into groups, and were given their first clues. Then we were off! Each team had to find some 6 eggs. The first egg had a cryptic clue to the location of the next egg, and so on, until you found the final treat for your team. We ended up going up and down the street, down on to the beach, up the very steep climb from the beach to the ridge etc. It was quite energetic and a lot of fun. The Easter Egg Hunt was followed by weiners on the BBQ, and everyone bought a salad or dip or dessert. It was cold, and it rained a little (it even hailed just before we started, though the hail was very light and almost like snowflakes), and there were patches of sunshine.

We were back by 2pm, and it was time to write this blog post, read my book, and generally just have a vacation! (Easter Monday is a holiday in Canada.)

Tomorrow, Jill and I will go looking at fabric stores in Parksville and Qualicum, and then I need to pack as I have to be on the road by 5:30am to catch the 7:15am ferry back to the mainland.

Because I got to the Ferry terminal nice and early, my car was one of the first in line, which meant one of the first on to the car deck and it will be one of the first off. But even better, it meant I was one of the first people aboard and grabbed one of the few ‘business workstations’ to fire up the laptop to continue to write this, read some PDFs, upload photos from my camera, write up my receipts, get some other work done etc. There’s no internet connection, but at least there’s a desk, a chair, and a power outlet. And it’s warm.

The weather outside is fine, but with a grey/white cloudy look, so the sea is quite grey too and the air is a little hazy. While I enjoy sitting up the very front, there’s nowhere to put the laptop. Also, I’ve done this crossing several times, so unless there’s a pod of whales to see, there’s not a lot to look at that I haven’t seen before. Of course, in all the crossings I’ve done, I’ve never seen more than a few birds! So I’m working on the law of averages and assuming that there won’t be any whales to see today. No doubt if there are any, there’ll be enough chatter amongst the passengers to alert me to them.

Oh, I also left a message with Jill and Brian – my hosts for the next few days – to tell them that I would be with them around 4pm, not 7pm as I originally thought. I had to call them on the pay phone as I found that the TracFone I purchased in the US does not have anything more than emergency coverage in Canada. Bloody phones <mutter, mumble>.

Paul said that the reports from the border crossing were that it was taking up to 2 hours (Easter weekend and all that). So I left Anacortes around 8:30. I had a reservation for the 3:15pm ferry to The Island, but if the border wait time was that long, I’d be cutting it fine. As it happened, the border wait was about 3 cars, then I had to report in to the building and get my passport stamped. All up, it took maybe 15 minutes, so as it turned out, I was worried for nothing. But then, border crossings from the US in to Canada as a foreign national isn’t always as painless.

I made the Tsawassen Ferry terminal just after 10am, and was able to secure passage on the 12:45 ferry to Duke Point, Nanaimo. They’ve upgraded the facilities at the terminal, so there are now quite a few places to eat and drink – and buy stuff! I bought a fleece vest for $10 and had a Doner Kebab/Gyro type thing. Then I found that outside there were some power points, so I fired up the laptop out in the cold to write this. My fingers are FREEZING, so I’m going to finish now and perhaps continue on board the ferry if I can find a power outlet. The battery should be OK, but I’m more comfortable if the laptop is connected to real power. The day is fine (otherwise I sure wouldn’t be sitting outside!!), but it’s VERY cold. I’m in my polar fleece and have my scarf wrapped tightly around my neck, but as I said, my fingers are FREEZING. So that’s it for now. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to load these posts up as there are no wireless access points here and I doubt there are any on the ferry. At least the ferry will be warm…

I left the charming little town of Gig Harbor for the Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SeaTac) where I was scheduled to change the car over at noon. I’d called Hertz yesterday to confirm that I could drop off earlier – no problem there.

But when I got to the Hertz counter they whacked on another full day’s charge (US$51) on top of the prepaid amount as I was 2 hours over the 14 days! Not happy about that, as, had I known, I could’ve returned the car earlier. I’ll take it up with my travel agent when I get home as the prepay was until 12 noon.

SeaTac Airport is a mess of construction! So I was glad that I’d left enough time to get there and do the changeover. Other than the extra day’s charge, the swap was painless and helped by the fact that I was the only one at the Hertz counter.

I couldn’t get another Mazda6, but I needed a car that had a trunk to conceal my luggage when I was in parking lots, and one that was suitable for taking in to Canada (i.e. Canadian or Washington licensed). So the trainee clerk upgraded me to a Chevy Malibu.

I negotiated the Seattle freeways to the Pike Place Markets without a map! If you’ve ever been to Seattle, you’ll know that’s no mean feat. I had copied down the basic directions from Google Maps the night before, but it was not really enough to deal with the maze of roads near the markets. After looking for – and not finding – the public parking garage that I had the address of, I eventually found a open air parking lot about 3 blocks from the markets. That was close enough so I paid the exhorbitant parking charge and got out of the car. By God it was cold!! Fortunately I knew where my trusty old wool Freo Dockers scarf was, so I got it out of the luggage and wrapped my neck with it. I already had a polar fleece jacket on, but it wasn’t going to be enough.

The Pike Place Markets were buzzing – LOTS of people, despite it being a Friday, out of tourist season, and very cold (like about 42F, maybe less). I was about two hours early for my lunch meeting with some local tech writers so I wandered around the Markets for that time. Lots of little stalls selling trinkets etc. as well fresh produce stalls for fruit and vegetables, flowers, meat, and, of course, the famous fish stalls (with the famous fish-tossing guys!). Some of the fish were AMAZING – the picture below is of an Alaskan King Salmon.

I was due to meet the tech writers at the bronze pig in front of the fish tossers. We all found each other – the little Aussie flag on my daypack was a giveawsay for the first one! There ended up being three of us and we had lunch overlooking Puget Sound. Lots of chat about our respective jobs and how we all work.

After lunch, one of the lunch buddies drove with me far enough to point me in the direction of the I-5 North, and off I drove, heading to Anacortes for the evening.

I made the pretty little town of Anacortes around 5pm, and navigated my way to Emily and Paul’s house. They’re a lovely couple with two gorgeous little girls. Emily and I talked about her getting back in to the job market now that the girls are getting a little older. Then we went out to dinner at “Adrift” while Paul minded the kids. Emily and I both had the “Happy Halibut” and it was delicious! Grilled fresh Alaskan halibut with bok choy, mashed potatoes and crumbled crunchy honey pecans on top with a butter sauce. Very yummy, but no photos as I didn’t take my camera.