Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Our Vancouver vacation was so very....

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Wednesday, December 21

hostage crisis, day 2

While the airline app showed our flight was still on track, I checked online and saw the word cancelled (cue the dramatic music). I immediately called the Delta medallion line to check on rebooking. The agent was terrific and found flight for us to go together but nothing at all on Thursday. We were rebooked for Friday night at 7:30pm. OMG. We can’t afford to stay here forever and the airport is packed with people---people sleeping on baggage carousels and anywhere there is a spot. I was again relieved that we hadn’t schlepped to the airport only to find the flight was cancelled. But, I was also starting to get concerned about getting out any time soon.

It was very early and I was wide awake. He went back to bed and I decided to head out and take photos of the Christmas lights and snow. Very cold and a little icy but I stayed upright and had a nice walk around while almost no one was out. Very winter wonderland but I could feel Christmas slipping away. It had all started out so promising and I was trying to stay positive. I know lots of people were having a far worse time than we were. I also know what it’s like to live in a city that gets little snow and ice. Atlanta has little in terms of snow plows and are often the butt of national news jokes when we do get snow (or more often ice) as it shuts everything down.

At least we have been able to stay put through all of this so far. We still had to wait for a manager in the hotel to work out if we could stay in our room but they had room for us to stay until Friday regardless.

We enjoyed our breakfast and the hotel was so good to us. They offered solutions we might want to try, including renting a car. The bellman actually walked to Avis a few blocks away to ask about it (unfortunately, it would be $900 to leave the car in Seattle). All the trains and buses were booked. I booked a shuttle from Vancouver to Seattle for Christmas Eve morning as I realized that getting out of Vancouver would help us get home sooner if our flight on Friday night didn’t go. We’d just have to wait and see – which is hard to do. We all want to be able to control when we go home and accepting that we didn’t have any more options to try was hard…made harder by the forecast of more snow and freezing rain Thursday night into Friday.

At least the sun was finally out. We had seen almost no sun during the trip and the city just looks much more beautiful in the sun.

We worked our way over to the Fairmont Pacific Rim to take a look at their Christmas decoration (not that impressive, honestly). From there to the waterfront to enjoy the beautiful view across Vancouver Harbor and the snow-covered mountains and fir trees. We decided that we’d walk back to the Christmas market for lunch. We watched several sea planes land and take off at the waterfront. That's not something we’d see in Atlanta.

There are lots of great food options at the Christmas market. I got a Hungarian Lanos (fried dough thingy with cheese and sour cream on top. SO.GOOD. He got a bratwurst – also delish! It was very cold but still fun and enjoyable at the market.

We had planned to spend some time in the afternoon back at our hotel bar. We hung out there for a while. Lots of people having little holiday parties and great people watching, for sure. Afternoon ran into night and we ended up having dinner there as well. While we were trying to make the best of it, we were starting to run out of gas (and clothes). As lovely as the city is and as good as the food and drink is, we want to go home. We did often laugh as we were warm and dry and not stuck in the airport and knew we shouldn’t really be complaining (but the uncertainty messes with your mind) Dinner was steak frites for him and a margarita pizza for me.

It wasn’t a late night as we felt we needed to “bank” rest to prepare for the travel hell that might await us.

Vancouver is so very confining....the walls are closing in on us.

Thursday, December 22 – day 3 in captivity

Our long weekend has now turned into a full week in Vancouver. Breakfast as usual, in front of the fire with pain au chocolat, hot chocolate and coffee and more. Great service and the staff is cheering for us to get out as planned on Friday.

After breakfast and a short nap, we thought we would go back to the Christmas market. As we were headed out, the doorman, Kirby, suggested we go to Queen Elizabeth park for the view and have lunch at Seasons in the Park. We weren’t so sure but the concierge called and made the lunch reservation and Kirby called a cab for us. Off to QE park we go.

Traffic was pretty bad and it took about 30 minutes to get there. However, OMG. The view is SPECTACULAR. This far exceeded anything we could have expected; it’s a “wow” view. It’s just an incredible view of the city and mountains. The restaurant is situated and laid out to maximize the view. The food was also terrific. I had a salmon “burger” and he had fish and chips and a seasonal ale. I wish that seasonal ale had been around more spots we went to during the week. He really enjoyed the ale and we both loved our lunch and the view. We wandered around the gardens in the snow and would love to see the park without snow, especially the Japanese garden. Lots of kids sledding in the park and they were fun to watch (I know Mr Starbucks was wishing they’d invite him to hitch a ride on their sleds). I would have loved that much snow (and at Christmas) as a kid!! Our Uber ride back took even longer but the trek was so worth it. Kirby was very pleased that we enjoyed his suggestion.

We spent some time reviewing our options and plans if our Friday night flight gets canceled. I can’t watch the news as hearing about the inbound bad weather just stresses me out. We just have to wait. Friday AM flights are already cancelled but we may be OK since we are due to fly out at 7:30pm after the temps warm well above freezing.

While on the street later, we encountered a truly pissed off guy telling at no one about everyone being equal. The guy he was yelling at eventually came running up behind us and up to him. Not sure what was up but the guy continued to yell about which side of the sidewalk to be or not be on, how he was gonna beat his ass and not be told what to do and that everyone is equal. We saw a few instances of anger/hostility on the streets. Also, one of the taxi drivers and someone else also mentioned that a restaurant was for rich people and that working class people don’t go there. Given the economy, the post pandemic mess a lot of cities are managing (or not managing), the homeless populations we saw in and around Gastown it seems Vancouver is struggling. Maybe it’s not just us Americans who are divided.

We ventured out to Earl’s Kitchen for a light (and early) dinner– Bangkok bowl for him, crab cake for me. I watched the SNL Christmas special and totally needed the laughs (and some Christmas cheer) and turned in.

Vancouver is so very perplexing.

Sounds like you made the best of a bad situation. There were definitely a few days where I didn't dare leave home, where cars were abandoned in the middle of the road outside of my house. Even my partner, with his 4WD Suzuki got stuck in the snow.

I get why Vancouver's perplexing. Vancouver has always had homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health crises - it's the city where the down-and-out from the rest of Canada ends up because normally (normally!) it doesn't go below freezing in the winter, so if you're going to live on the street, it has the mildest climate in the country. Snow, at any point of time during winter, is typically short-lived in Vancouver. Usually Vancouver gets a few snowfalls a winter where a few inches fall, the city turns into chaos for a day or two, then it melts the next day and we're back to winter rain. Not this winter.

But regarding the homelessness you saw, it's a national-scale problem that sits on Vancouver's municipal budget/resources to fix. And different municipal governments take different approaches to how to best "solve" the problems. In the 90s, it didn't help that the provincial government of BC cut funding to most of the mental health services in the province, so folks that would have had professional support for their schitzophrenia and other severe mental health issues ended up on the streets. That's partially what you witnessed, I think. People who need help not getting help. And I don't think it's going to get any better with the current mayor who was just voted in a few months ago.

It did appear to get worse during the pandemic because so many downtown businesses closed up shop, and all the officer workers that would typically fill downtown's streets were working at home, so homeless camps just spread out into areas where they didn't exist earlier because there was nobody to shoo them away. This is also a much more complicated issue - this situation has been bad for decades, and the Downtown Eastside, located between Gastown and Chinatown - has all the infrastructure for folks down on their luck: the homeless shelters, the safe drug supply clinics, the soup kitchens, the church charities, etc. You could link it back to Vancouver's very beginnings as a port city at the end of the line where it was mostly just men's camps of forestry workers in Gastown making a ton of money, spending it on getting drunk, going to brothels, and getting in trouble. So all these charities set up shop right there to help the men find their way, and the charities still exist - setting up a whole district where people in need go to seek help, even to this day. And this doesn't even factor in the price of real estate which has ballooned since the late 80s with international speculators, making Vancouver one of the most expensive cities in the world to live, putting pressure on affordable housing in this city. In the past decade, Vancouver's become a city of renovictions; the few remaining affordable places to live are being demolished and turned into luxury housing. This all adds to what you see on the streets.

I digress.

On a happier note, glad you made it to QE Park and Season's in the Park. I used to live a short walk away and the park is such a gem. The restaurant is great too! (They also own Cardero's by Stanley Park, and the Sandbar on Granville Island). If you ever return to Vancouver, come back in April or May when QE Park is a wonderland of rhododendrons and cherry blossoms. And you'll have to walk to nearby Main Street after, which is a hip and happening neighbourhood - lots of great small locally-run restaurants (some of the best in the city if not the country, and one of my favourite oyster bars - Smitty's on Main), a whole craft brewery scene with some of the best breweries in the city (i.e. seasonal ales galore!) and some fo the most interesting home decor shops, clothing boutiques, bookstores and record stores. I usually like to spend a whole afternoon there browsing into shops and just strolling around the leafy residential side streets - there are some gorgeous character homes in the area, too. And a fraction of the homelessness that exists downtown.

All great points and makes sense. The US definitely has its cities where homelessness and lack of resources are problematic. I was surprised several years ago to see the homelessness in Santa Barbara but it’s definitely a climate that’s far less harsh for the homeless.

would love to see QE park in Spring and Main Street sounds incredible!

Friday, December 23

Day 4 in Canadian captivity

The snow came as predicted. And we had our breakfast as usual. We delivered our bags to be picked up and shipped UPS back home. The Christmas Eve flights that had been available from Seattle are now all gone so if we don’t get out tonight, we may not be home until Christmas Day or later. Fingers crossed but we are just waiting to see if we go. The temp is slowing inching up but at noon it is still 29. Our flight is still showing on time but is it really? Waiting and hoping for good news!

At this point we feel like we are in a movie that’s a combo of Groundhog Day and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I am feeling more Grinch in my soul but trying to prevail.

We had lunch at the hotel (both of us got pizza) and we hopped on the SkyTrain to YVR. No line at Delta check-in and we had our boarding passes quickly. Security didn’t have a lot of people but they stuck us in the lane with all the families with small kids and strollers. Pretty slow but we still got through relatively quickly….having to take off waterproof snow boots to get through security is a challenge and I can’t think of the last time I had to take off my shoes in security because of TSA PreCheck.

Next was US Customs/Immigration and although we have Global Entry I kept getting a notice that said my last border crossing was too recent and I had to go see an agent. There was no line so that went quickly, thankfully.

I should say that we both noticed that from walking into the train station and the train arrived in 10 seconds to getting through everything in else in short order seemed too good to be true. And it was.

As soon as we got through all the preflight stuff, we got the first notice that the flight was delayed an hour. This continued pretty much every hour until about 9pm when the flight was due to take off at 11:30pm. We set 11pm as our drop-dead time as the trains don’t run all night and I wasn’t gonna sleep at the airport. We were already trying to leave (which you can’t do on your own) when they finally cancelled the flight. We then had to be led through the gate area and go back through Canadian customs (as you are technically in the US in that terminal since YVR is a pre-clearance airport). I had to chuckle as they handed everyone a stupid little red card for help in rebooking.

The passport control receipt photos of us were so very bad. Two very tired people and two very “over it” people.

I should mention that I had been on hold with Delta for over an hour and a half before the flight was cancelled. We had shuttle tickets to Seattle and were going to ask to be rebooked out of Seattle as it seemed there were more options from Seattle than Vancouver. I got 2 people finally as we were going through Canadian customs who couldn’t figure out if we were already rebooked or not. The girl just kept saying “so” and then nothing for minutes, then again “so” followed by silence ….by then I had been on the over 2 hours and we were getting on the train. If I had been disconnected, I would have lost my mind. We finally did get rebooked but not together. He was rebooked Christmas Eve to Palm Springs and on to Atlanta from there. I was rebooked on Christmas Day on the route through Palm Springs.

We headed back to Hotel California, ur, I mean Wedgewood Hotel and checked back into the same room at we left 9 hours earlier. I called down and got water delivered to the room and we didn’t even bother with dinner or a nightcap. I am now feeling a lot like The Grinch. I left my phone charger in the club at the airport. Ugh. I literally can’t believe this is happening—4 days and 3 cancelled flights and zero progress. Christmas isn’t feeling very Merry.

Vancouver is so very confining!!

Lovely pics.

The only thing I can say is sorry.

:)

Thanks, Elizabeth. The subject matter for pictures is excellent, so getting good shots is not difficult!!

Saturday, Christmas Eve

Day 5

Mr Starbucks was up early to catch the Skytrain by 6am to get to YVR. I think the airport was pretty crazy as it was really the first full day of travel in 4-5 days and he was on WestJet to Palm Springs. WestJet had tons of flight cancellations during all the snow and severe cold. He reported back that they couldn't print a boarding pass for him from Palm Springs to Atlanta but that he had gotten checked in with WestJet and through security etc in a reasonable amount of time. He was waiting in the club until boarding time.

I read for a little while before taking the “walk of shame” downstairs….yep, everyone, I am still here! The staff really has commiserated with us and what a PITA this has been. Kirby the doorman was so disappointed that we hadn’t gotten out. He kindly loaned me a phone charger as I left mine in the club the previous night. Gathering all your stuff to leave while on the phone ensures you will lose something!

The servers were also kinda sad for me to still be in Vancouver and they all knew that I’d want my hot chocolate and diet soda but for one today.

After brekkie, I ran over to the London Drugs for diet coke, melatonin and deodorant. I am almost out of contacts, toothpaste and not sure how much longer the charge on my electric toothbrush will last! I also meant to buy a phone charger but managed to forget that (seriously, I did)! Maybe I should also pick up some of those memory improving medications when I go back to buy a charger. I did a few laps in the underground mall (Pacific Center) as I haven’t set foot in a mall of any kind in ages. It makes me realize that I also haven’t really been Christmas shopping in years. I couldn’t buy anything as I didn’t have any room in my backpack and tote bag that would act as my carry on. It reminds me I am out of truly clean clothes. Rotating a few things every other day or so and letting them air out is getting very old but at least I am not a "sweater".

I ended up at Hotel Georgia (a Rosewood property nearby). I had a glass of British Columbia Blanc de blanc and the BEST club sandwich ever (Real turkey, sliced thick on cranberry bread with bacon, lettuce and tomato and the bread wasn’t hard….terrific). The hotel is really beautiful and the Christmas decorations are also pretty. It feels very posh/library inside but still modern. I like the decor and vibe. Nice spot to have a solo Christmas Eve lunch and I was trying to pull out of may worsening Grinchdom. I had hoped to find an open Starbucks on the way back to get a little slice of banana bread or something to have for breakfast on the way to the airport for the next day. No luck but I can probably live off my fat until I get to the gate, I guess. It's quite slushy on the streets now so not so fun to be out and it's also raining...so it feels much more dreary than festive.

I checked Mr Starbucks flights and he is en route to Atlanta (finally, some progress). At least one of us will be home for Christmas! Sadly, there is no food at home (maybe a frozen dinner) so he may end up at Waffle House!

I repacked my backpack, watched some NFL football and then sat through the Iranian protests part deux. Nothing like having a room right on the protest march route---it’s loud and I am definitely feeling pretty angry myself.

I was considering heading to Stanley Park or Van Dusen to see the lights and checking on how I might do that via public transport. I didn’t wanna get stuck somewhere hoping I could get an Uber. As I researched, I suddenly had a thought that made me panic.

Somehow, I realized that the trains might not be running on Christmas Day. I checked that out. Uh-oh – trains don’t run until 7:30am so I quickly ran downstairs and caught Kirby just as he was leaving and he booked me a cab to YVR (Even so, I will worry all night about whether they will show up on time). Better to realize it tonight than when I get to an empty train station! As I arrived back in my room, the hotel delivered two very cute gingerbread cookies…my little Santa gift.

I had one last glass of Blue Mountain Brut at the hotel bar but decided to head up to the room to watch the Steelers game and Franco Harris tributes. Not feeling festive really and feel like I look like a sad lonely person at the bar alone so I had a margarita pizza in my room. (Also not loving that the bar isn't showing the same on their two TV screens but instead that Netflix "logs in the fire thing" - it's official, I'm a Grinch.

Oops - Vancouver is so very bleak.

What an ending to what sounded like a very nice trip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yestravel (Post 17426618)

What an ending to what sounded like a very nice trip.

You think it's over??? :)

Sunday, Christmas Day

Day 6 – Release Day

As expected, I didn’t sleep well (hope the taxi shows up on time, hope the flight gets out, hope the lines aren’t horrendous, etc….). I got up at 4:30 to jam the last few things in my backpack, check out and catch my 5:30am taxi. I checked out and the desk agent kept saying, “hopefully the taxi will be here” ….this after she said she ordered a taxi for room 6 something (not my room number). Makes me nervous. He
The taxi was on time and I was supposed to be his last fare after a 13 hour shift. When we got to the airport, a man ran out and asked if he would wait and take them someplace and he said “yes”….very nice as the trains aren’t yet running and I am sure it’s not easy to get a cab this early on Christmas.

I saw a really long line inside and walked in with a feeling of dread at waiting in that line. Merry Christmas! It was the Air Canada line and there was no line at my counter (WestJet). For some reason, WestJet and Delta’s systems don’t communicate and Westjet can’t print a boarding pass for my connecting flight (same happened to Mr Starbucks yesterday). The longest part of the check in process was the agent trying to get a boarding pass printed. Another annoying thing is that WestJet doesn’t seem to be able to capture and verify passport info online which seems crazy to me in the day and age, so you have to check in at their desk. Security was not too bad (and this time no snow boots) and passport control had no line. I was through everything by 6:11am. Again, the fear is welling up inside me as this has gone smoothly and that can't be good, can it?

At last check, the flight is on time. We’ll see. In the meantime, I want to start a worldwide campaign (#useheadphones) to give everyone in public places headphones and enforce their use. I beg of the world, it’s great that we have speakers in our devices but not great that no one uses headphones anymore (or rarely). OK, rant over (but seriously, use headphones people - no one wants to hear your phone call, YouTube video, game, etc...).

Well, you know how the traffic rules in Rome feel like they are merely suggestions and everyone just kinda does what they want on the road? Maybe boarding and departure times in Canada are like that. Or maybe it’s just WestJet. I mean after days of cancelled and delayed flights, you’d think they’d have a significant sense of urgency to move people. Especially on Christmas Day. Not so much.

I don’t know if I have ever seen a group of gate agents and flight attendants less concerned with getting an aircraft boarded and departing at least close to time.

It started out pretty good. At 8:40, I arrived at the gate and the crew was there and they boarded. The gate agents spent all their time getting passengers to get their passport info entered with the desk before boarding. The passengers also were in no hurry to report to the gate and show their passport (I’d learn that they don’t need to hurry at all). I was already irritated that WestJet, with all the automation we have, can’t scan or record and verify your passport ahead of time. No encouraging comments from the agents to get this done quickly so we could board and depart on time.

Anyway, we spent until about 9:10 having gate agents verify/record passports for passengers. The flight was due to depart at 9:25am. Again, they moved at a leisurely pace and they didn’t encourage anyone to move quickly so we can depart on time. Once we finally got that done, then they started asking people to check bags. So, they knew the flight was 100% full but didn’t they bother to ask for bags to be checked while we are all sitting there waiting to board. Again – zero sense of urgency. I see US airlines able to check bags in the boarding process, why can’t they? More multi-tasking, please!

We finally started boarding when we should have been departing. As we boarded, no announcements to be quick, not hold up the aisles in order to depart on time (which to be truthful wasn’t possible but you understand what I mean). I saw only one flight attendant in the main cabin and she also took no action to get people to board quickly. There were big gaps in passengers boarding the aircraft so the aisles would be almost empty and no one boarding behind them. This went on forever. A couple boarded and someone was in their seat and they held up the entire line (in the first row of the main cabin, mind you). It took quite a while for someone from the flight crew to even notice the bottleneck and it wasn’t resolved quickly.

During boarding, I started realizing that I was pretty far back and was hoping to find a way to get closer to the front of the plane. I guy on my row had a child in row 9 and I switched seats to get closer (and I took a middle seat to do it....sheer desperation). We pushed back well after 10am and didn’t take off until about 10:20-10:25am – an hour late.

We were told there were tailwinds, and we would shave 30 minutes off the flight time. I hope so and even then, I may not make my connection. I had an hour and 15-minute window. I know the gate is right there but, of course, I have no boarding pass (issue with WestJet and their inability to be able to communicate with Delta’s system). I doubt anyone on the flight crew will help me or others needing to make connections deplane quickly. I mean what’s another day when you’ve been trying to get home for 5 days and had 3 canceled flights already? Trying to stay out of full Grinch mode and the guy next to me has just helpfully let me know I am not gonna make it. I have a very small glimmer of hope that I might get home very late on Christmas night. I don’t even care about Christmas anymore. I am just tired of being at the mercy of the weather and the airlines. I am tired of wearing the same 2-3 things over and over. I have been gone almost 2 weeks and I simply want the airlines to act like they want to get us to our destination. WestJet could have controlled an on-time departure. I get that they don’t control the weather but my god their boarding process is amateur hour. I certainly would never voluntarily fly with them again (but this wasn’t voluntary).

Praying for a miracle in Palm Springs to make my connection. I don’t think there is another flight to Atlanta from there today.

Well, the flight landed and the taxi to the gate took a while (especially for a small airport). I asked the guy next to me to let me step into the aisle so I could get off ASAP. He said he would but I’d still have to wait for everyone in front of me and that I’d be OK (Yes, I know I will have to wait but can at least get ahead of a few rows of people who likely don’t have connections…jeez).

Have you been to PSP? What a crazy set up. The gate area is so very tiny and although I had planned to ask at the desk for a boarding pass, I couldn’t actually get to the desk. Hundreds of people crammed into the tiniest space. I had to wade through people to board. Literally, they called my boarding zone at just that moment and I showed the agent my app with no boarding pass and he had to punch it in there (sorry, need to fix the issue between WestJet and Delta). But, he got his revenge as I had 1 small shopping tote and a small backpack plus a flat travel purse that he made me consolidate into one of the other bags. Merry Christmas.

I had the window seat and had to pee, so I threw my stuff in the seat and hauled to the lavatory knowing I’d need to swim upstream back to my seat (my thought was I stay put once I got back to my seat and I wasn’t gonna risk a delayed takeoff while I had to sit there trying not to wet myself). One flight attendant was super unhappy with me for doing so (more holiday cheer) but another finally held up a few people to let me get past the last 4-5 rows and back to my seat. All the while, the Delta crew reminded passengers to step out of the aisles and let others through to board. We were also reminded how many minutes we were from an on-time departure and we boarded a much larger plane on time! WestJet- this is how you do it. If you have a plane and a crew there, there is no reason not get to a plane boarded on time and an on time departure.

Finally, the final flight home was in the air. The flight home was uneventful. No screaming kids, no loud talkers, no one aggressively tapping the entertainment screen behind my head, etc…It was all good until we got close to the gate. And we stopped. After 10 minutes or so we were told there was another plane at our gate. We eventually heard that the below freezing temps in Atlanta had caused several ruptured water pipes that impacted gate availability. We waited over 30 minutes for a gate. As ALWAYS happens when you are on the ground and not moving, there are passengers who decide they can get out of their seats. We had to wait another 5 minutes or so for those passengers to take their seats even after being told several times to sit down and we couldn’t move until they did. (This really chaps my hide—an entire plane waiting on a few clueless people who just do whatever suits them).

I got outside after a few minutes and into a cab. The guy takes off despite not taking the address I had written down for him. He finally handed me his phone for me to enter my address into Waze to get directions. This is happening at a high rate of speed. When we get to a fork he slams on the brakes and realizes the address did not load. We are just in the middle of the road stopped and he is fussing at me about not entering the address. I never use Waze and the directions are not how I would have gone. The driver was flying and swerving and slamming on the breaks since he didn’t really know where he was going, and we got into a spat over whether or not he was going to miss an exit. I was completely disoriented from the speed/swerve/slam technique and finally asked the driver to just follow the Waze directions and we’d get there but I didn’t know exactly where we were as it’s not the way I usually go from the airport—he kept insisting these were my directions since I entered the address).

OMG. It was late and dark and flat out scary. He drove 83 mph on the interstate, drifting in the lanes, slamming/swerving on the brakes the whole way. As we came on an exit to leave one interstate for another, I asked him to slow down because the exit has a very sharp curve and we wouldn’t make it at the speed we were going. I have never been so scared in a cab and I don’t scare easily. Generally, I speed myself and am usually happy when a driver is going a bit over the speed limit. I also half expected us to hit a deer as we got closer to my house as there are lots of them. Two lane roads, very dark and he was still flying but now in the 60 mph range. When we finally got to my house, I am pretty sure he over charged me as the meter and what he said I owe didn’t match (which he attributed to additional surcharges as he pointed to on the window but that didn’t add up to over an extra $20). I just gave him the money and a tip he didn’t really deserve but I was over the all the travel issues. It was late and I was beat. And it was dark and the guy has my home address and I just wanted to close the door on this odyssey. I was just glad to be home and back in my house. I walked into my house at about 10:30pm Christmas night.

Vancouver was great but the issues in getting home really sapped my energy and I have never been on my own entirely at Christmas. It feels weird to have just missed everything entirely and it’s my first Christmas without my dog Missy who died back in July and I miss her (The Facebook memory at Christmas last year with her in front of the tree kinda killed me). I think after a few days I will have better perspective and I know I have so much to be thankful for. Every year I re-read “Skipping Christmas” by John Grisham….maybe he should write “Missing Christmas” as a follow up!

Vancouver is so very in the rear view window! Thank god. I loved it and I would go back at some point but I have never wanted to leave a place so badly.

Geez, what a bummer to end your trip that way. Sorry that happened to you.

Thanks yestravel - it did take the vacation out of my vacation!

I have been home almost 2 weeks now.

The bad luck has kind of extended into 2023...my car wouldn't start when I got home and needed a new alternator and battery (ugh). We tried to make up for the lack of Christmas over New Years but it wasn't quite the same. I also got sick and then Mr Starbucks also was sick (a good bit worse than me) and my sister got sick as she was leaving us and has tested positive for Covid. Maybe this is why I am still not well after being sick for about 10 days...although I haven't had fever or any really significant symptoms but just haven't felt well with some coughing. I am glad this didn't happen as we were trying to travel back but definitely could have done without the extra gift.

Last, the bags have cleared customs in Seattle but haven't budged since doing so (naturally UPS is of no help), so we're still hoping they make it (not only b/c we want their contents but I am sure trying to get them to pay what we insured them for will be super fun).

We had a great trip but the ending has really sucked. We loved Vancouver but still feel a little snake bit by it all. I am sure if we finally get our luggage and can put some distance between all the disappointing things, we'll feel a lot better about the trip. I am definitely not traveling before or for Christmas in 2023. I am parking it at home so I can enjoy our trees and decorations, make cookies, have Christmas dinner and watch Christmas movies. I'll be tempted by the Instagram videos I will see of London, Paris, Quebec City, Vancouver, NYC, Ireland and all the other Christmasy places we are interested in. But I think for Christmas 2023, we'll be happy to say there's no place like home!

Wow, thank you for this! I stumbled across it and really sympathize with your travel nightmare. It actually should be in “Travel Tips/Ideas” for a lesson in logistics.