In Vancouver
I made it!
Day 0: Departure
Took transit to the Toronto airport. Had the choice of subway and express bus (free transfer, every 10 minutes) or subway and UP Express train ($5 extra, every 30 minutes, maybe 15 pre-covid.) I was cutting it a bit close and I worried about bus luggage space, so took the train. Train was decent. I found a couple of empty seats but sandwiched between two unmasked people, so I backed away from there.
The airport did not blow me away with superior Canadian efficiency. An Air Canada employee took one look at my bag and deemed it 'oversized', then people kept pointing me to different lines. It ended up getting accepted without me being charged, and in Vancouver it emerged on the main carousel, not the oversized one. shrug. I was paranoid enough to pull a smaller day bag out of it as a carry-on, so I'd have clothes and toiletries if they lost the big one.
My boarding pass got checked like 5+ times, though my ID was only checked right as I boarded the plane. (Vs. zero ID checks on Australian flights.) The woman checking my boarding pass before the security checkpoint said I would have to take my shoes off, but the people running the actual scanner didn't make me. I did have to use like 5 different bins for my stuff, and nearly forgot my jacket and hoodie thereby -- had to go all the way back from the boarding gate to recover them. Oh, and I had to empty my water bottle, and they confiscated my toothpaste -- I thought only the USA was doing those insanities.
Some passenger was wearing the lay version of a hazmat suit, disposable bodysuit or whatever.
Plane was 30 minutes late, tra la. The boarding line had 3 or 4 branches, though one of those surrendered and another one waited for the other two to pass completely.
The seats seemed really narrow. Not helped by being a bulkhead row, so screen and train were folded into the armrest. Got better when the guy in the middle seat took the empty window seat.
I'm sure two or three of you are dying to know what mask I used in the end. I cycled through: valved 3M + surgical mask all the way to boarding; then it felt congested, so I switched to KF94 + cord locks, for 3-4 hours; then my ears hurt, so I switched to classic 3M N95, which was more comfortable than I recalled. I gave a spare KF94 to my rowmate, who'd come with a crappy cloth mask, was given a surgical by a flight attendant, and then really took to the KF. I didn't use tape, in the end. I did position the air jet at me, and only had a few drinks of water, no extended maskless period for food.
A flight attendant did chide a nose guy when I discreetly pointed him out. Twice.
Watched an anime movie: "Fireworks: should we watch it from the side or bottom?" Very Shaft (studio) art. Pretty surreal plot. I did have the fun of noticing the subs say 'Nazawa' (given name) but I heard the teacher say 'Oikawa-san'.
My host picked me up at the airport, so I didn't have reason to try Vancouver's transit yet.
Place is a downtown condo studio, with traffic noise. Initial reaction: I regret not taking the laneway ADU, though it would probably suck in the upcoming -12 C weather.
7-11 guy wasn't even pretending to wear a mask, which made the late night food run fun.
Day 1
Mostly work and grocery shopping. Grocery prices terrible at the nearest options: a very close but gourmet Fresh St. Market, and even at the 10 minute away IGA. But I needed to stock up before the Deluge or maybe getting sick.
Day 2
Still no transit, but I looked on Transit App, and a lot of the buses seem to have decent 8-15 minutes frequencies, though I did see a 30 minute one. Google Maps says I can use Google Pay to pay, though Google Pay doesn't list Vancouver as a city card. Maybe you just pay directly, sans virtual card?
There's a Japanese grocery store right across from me, with sushi and sansho pepper and houjicha.
I walked to the water, then north along it. That was pleasant, made me feel better about being here. Walked home along Davie, which my host had tried to show off Monday, but it feels more real on foot. Certainly a lot of restaurants, many of which I'd already marked on my map to try (for takeout.) Lots of doors being kept open; it's 8 C now.
I keep wondering if I got infected despite precautions, and sniffing things to see if my sense of smell is still good (yes, though Omicron doesn't seem to hit that much.) If I want to play safe and get a test, seems like Friday-Saturday would be the peak time.
Masking other than the 7-11 guy seems to be good, though my host had taken his off when he was showing my room to me.
Weather forecast has *four days* forecast of -6 to -11 C. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. See the
DW comments at https://mindstalk.dreamwidth.org/590438.html#comments
Day 0: Departure
Took transit to the Toronto airport. Had the choice of subway and express bus (free transfer, every 10 minutes) or subway and UP Express train ($5 extra, every 30 minutes, maybe 15 pre-covid.) I was cutting it a bit close and I worried about bus luggage space, so took the train. Train was decent. I found a couple of empty seats but sandwiched between two unmasked people, so I backed away from there.
The airport did not blow me away with superior Canadian efficiency. An Air Canada employee took one look at my bag and deemed it 'oversized', then people kept pointing me to different lines. It ended up getting accepted without me being charged, and in Vancouver it emerged on the main carousel, not the oversized one. shrug. I was paranoid enough to pull a smaller day bag out of it as a carry-on, so I'd have clothes and toiletries if they lost the big one.
My boarding pass got checked like 5+ times, though my ID was only checked right as I boarded the plane. (Vs. zero ID checks on Australian flights.) The woman checking my boarding pass before the security checkpoint said I would have to take my shoes off, but the people running the actual scanner didn't make me. I did have to use like 5 different bins for my stuff, and nearly forgot my jacket and hoodie thereby -- had to go all the way back from the boarding gate to recover them. Oh, and I had to empty my water bottle, and they confiscated my toothpaste -- I thought only the USA was doing those insanities.
Some passenger was wearing the lay version of a hazmat suit, disposable bodysuit or whatever.
Plane was 30 minutes late, tra la. The boarding line had 3 or 4 branches, though one of those surrendered and another one waited for the other two to pass completely.
The seats seemed really narrow. Not helped by being a bulkhead row, so screen and train were folded into the armrest. Got better when the guy in the middle seat took the empty window seat.
I'm sure two or three of you are dying to know what mask I used in the end. I cycled through: valved 3M + surgical mask all the way to boarding; then it felt congested, so I switched to KF94 + cord locks, for 3-4 hours; then my ears hurt, so I switched to classic 3M N95, which was more comfortable than I recalled. I gave a spare KF94 to my rowmate, who'd come with a crappy cloth mask, was given a surgical by a flight attendant, and then really took to the KF. I didn't use tape, in the end. I did position the air jet at me, and only had a few drinks of water, no extended maskless period for food.
A flight attendant did chide a nose guy when I discreetly pointed him out. Twice.
Watched an anime movie: "Fireworks: should we watch it from the side or bottom?" Very Shaft (studio) art. Pretty surreal plot. I did have the fun of noticing the subs say 'Nazawa' (given name) but I heard the teacher say 'Oikawa-san'.
My host picked me up at the airport, so I didn't have reason to try Vancouver's transit yet.
Place is a downtown condo studio, with traffic noise. Initial reaction: I regret not taking the laneway ADU, though it would probably suck in the upcoming -12 C weather.
7-11 guy wasn't even pretending to wear a mask, which made the late night food run fun.
Day 1
Mostly work and grocery shopping. Grocery prices terrible at the nearest options: a very close but gourmet Fresh St. Market, and even at the 10 minute away IGA. But I needed to stock up before the Deluge or maybe getting sick.
Day 2
Still no transit, but I looked on Transit App, and a lot of the buses seem to have decent 8-15 minutes frequencies, though I did see a 30 minute one. Google Maps says I can use Google Pay to pay, though Google Pay doesn't list Vancouver as a city card. Maybe you just pay directly, sans virtual card?
There's a Japanese grocery store right across from me, with sushi and sansho pepper and houjicha.
I walked to the water, then north along it. That was pleasant, made me feel better about being here. Walked home along Davie, which my host had tried to show off Monday, but it feels more real on foot. Certainly a lot of restaurants, many of which I'd already marked on my map to try (for takeout.) Lots of doors being kept open; it's 8 C now.
I keep wondering if I got infected despite precautions, and sniffing things to see if my sense of smell is still good (yes, though Omicron doesn't seem to hit that much.) If I want to play safe and get a test, seems like Friday-Saturday would be the peak time.
Masking other than the 7-11 guy seems to be good, though my host had taken his off when he was showing my room to me.
Weather forecast has *four days* forecast of -6 to -11 C. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. See the
DW comments at https://mindstalk.dreamwidth.org/590438.html#comments