Cross-continental adventure! (complete)
LOL Timestamp is New York-time. Cellphone changes automatically; computer doesn't.
Woke up 'round 4:15 after normal short sleep, ready to go within an hour. Dad drove me to the airport, and check-in was very smooth, so I sat at the gate for damn near two hours watching some lame news program that wasn't even any good.
There were iPads, but they weren't connected to the internet. It's like... what's the point? I played about three rounds of hangman and read a news article before I was bored. XD At least there's a survey I can answer about it.
I will never understand why planes aren't boarded back-to-front. The flight was entirely uninteresting. Nice and smooth, took some shitty pictures of mountains (I was on the wrong side of the plane for Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood and stuff, and I had an aisle seat anyway. LAME) and we got here a half-hour early. I pretty much just wandered around, took pictures of some of the art in the airport, got a bite to eat. Y'know, three hours to kill and no outlets for the computer, gotta do something for most of the time.
But internal SQUEEEEEE when the pilot announced, "Welcome to the Pacific Northwest."
I'm congested as fuck. It's not just usual I-was-on-a-plane-and-my-ears-are-being-stubborn-and-not-popping, but I was coughing and sneezing like a motherfucker about an hour into the flight. I think I might have been allergic to something up there, because I've been fine the past couple of days, but I can't imagine what! I feel better now, but my hearing is really bad -- I can't hear myself typing right now -- so, if only for this I can't wait to go home. The rest of it, no, I'm so excited this is happening.
So now I'm sitting at the terminal waiting for the next flight to board. Exciting. The next part will be the worst, though: prop plane. Augh, I've been on prop planes twice -- once from Charlotte to Jacksonville, NC, and back -- and it was more than enough times in my life. I dread the next hour (ish).
Next update will be from Vancouver!
***
The flight was extremely short (but man, if I had hustled -- or known to -- I might have been on an earlier flight and saved myself three hours). It seemed as though the moment we were up high enough to start taking pictures, we were told to put the cameras away to prepare for landing. XD It was maybe a thirty-five-minute flight, I wasn't really counting. But I got the window seat this time, so I took plenty of pictures! Mountains, oooooo.
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I GOT A STAMP IN MY PASSPORT :DDD
As planned, I took in a few sights before heading to the hostel, especially since we got in to Vancouver early. The first place I went was Vancouver Lookout, which is just an observation tower. It's... I think 177 metres high? Something like that. Anyway, since yesterday was a nice, clear day -- I really lucked out with the weather. Yesterday was gorgeous, today it's a little cooler and partly cloudy, but it's not pouring like I feared it might -- I was able to get a pretty good view of the downtown area and get a few pictures.
After the Lookout (which closed early yesterday for a private function, so I can go back today if I want. Not that I need to), I headed down the street to a shop called Button Button, which sells, you guessed it, buttons. I bought one just to say I did. From there, I found a Starbucks across the street, and loaded up on some much-needed coffee. It came without a lid, so I decided to sit and have a drink. I sat at a bench, across from a nice fellow named Danny.
Danny's from Hong Kong, and deaf, so our conversation was all written. He taught me a few signs in HKSL, like "nice to meet you," and "thank you," when I signed to him in ASL (he knew a little ASL... thank you is pretty much all I know that's useful. "Happy" is the same, though), which looks like you're flicking a lighter with your right thumb. It was such a happy experience, I kinda wanted to cry~
So from there, I went across the street to the Steam Clock to take pictures -- herp derp tourist derp -- and then into tourist shops because, why the fuck not. But seriously, when I walked in -- first, it was HUGE -- it was all CANADA and MAPLE EVERYTHING and I laughed so hard. Why aren't the tourist shops in New York so hilarious?! After that, it was suddenly five o'clock, two hours to game time, and I hadn't checked in at the hostel, so I took a bus downtown and got there eventually.
***
The hostel was lovely. It was very much like a dorm, which is just what I expected. When I got to my room, two girls were already in there, and it was REALLY TINY, but that's okay, since I just needed a place to keep my stuff and lay my head at night. I wasn't really looking for space. But it was very clean, which is good. I changed as quickly as I could, unloaded what I didn't need -- shoulders. On. Fire. -- e-mailed and Facebooked to let everyone know I was okay, and was on my way.
Took the bus down to Rogers Arena, and there were fewer Canucks fans on it than I had hoped (most took the SkyTrain). As we approached the stadium, the driver was like "Let's hear it for the Canucks!" and everyone cheered, even me. "Let's hear it for the Rangers!" Just me but I was really cheery. "Wow, there's just one of her, but she's got spirit!" It was a really friendly, light-hearted attitude, which made it fun.
I got off the bus and literally, literally skipped over to the Will Call window, I was so excited. I got jeered on the way, but LOL chill out bro. So I got my ticket, took a picture of a statue outside, and went inside. Once I found my seat, I took some more pictures, went down almost to the glass and took A BAJILLION PICTURES, mostly of the Ryans, the Sedins, and Brandon, but I got some of the others, as well. PICTURES EVERYWHERE of the Blueshirts and the blue shirts, and lots and lots of squealing.
Remember the game in January, Esmeralda? It was like that BUT WORSE. You thought that was fangirling? I was fangirling last night. I was ready to cry, it was like a religious experience.
STOP MAKING ME CRY, VANCOUVER! JESUS.
The pre-game also included a honouring ceremony for Rick Rypien, who had been with the Canucks for a few seasons, and committed suicide over the summer. I didn't know that that was going to happen, and I wound up taking a lot of video, which all but killed my camera battery. And did I bring my charger? NO. :V But... I might have cried again. orz And, disappointment, Michael McDonald did not come out to sing the anthems. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. That's all I would have needed to make my trip complete. D:
As for the game itself, the first two periods were boring and sloppy. The Rangers were held to less than ten shots, I couldn't believe it! There was no score, so that was good, but the Canucks are an excellent third-period team (I mean, the Rangers also come alive late in the game, but the Canucks do it better), so I thought for sure the Canucks were gonna come through.
NOPE. Mike Rupp put one past Luongo about four minutes into the third, I didn't even see it, thought it hit the post. UM OKAY I'LL TAKE IT. A few minutes later, Ryan McDonagh scored an insurance goal (Dubi with an assist, kyaa) that I did see. I'd've been fine with a 2-0 game, but Brian Boyle and Marian Gaborik knocked it in, too, and the final was 4-0. King Henrik was a fucking wall, stopping all forty Canucks shots; the Rangers, meanwhile, only managed to take nineteen against Lu. ANOTHER SHUTOUT and the second against Vancouver this year. WHAT, BITCHES! Poor Lu was jeered even when making saves, though. To be fair, while it was nice to get the third and fourth goals, it wasn't very fun. I would have rathered it be 4-3 in either direction, or 1-0, than 4-0. D:
I thought all the power plays would be the death of them, like it was against the Islanders on Saturday -- the fucking Islanders -- but that wasn't the case. The Rangers were on three power plays, and nothing came of them. What else? Oh! The nice Bieksa/Dubi fight at the end of the third. Dubi lost, but it was still fun to watch. Something lit a fire under Dubi, he was angry all night. ♥
Oooh oooh, and guess what I bought! Remember when I said I didn't know whether I should get a Kesler or Daniel jersey? Well, the decision was made for me: there were only Kesler jerseys in my size. So now I have matching jerseys: two number 17s. :D It's official, 17 is my second lucky number. I also bought socks, a calendar, a Rick Rypien pin (;A;) and a beer. British Columbia requires two forms of ID, thank goodness I had my credit card with me. It's a damn shame the third jerseys were on sale last night, though, not the primaries, or I would have saved a ton of money. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
After the game, I realized the street that the bus dropped me off on was one-way around the stadium, and I had no idea how to get back in the other direction. After asking several people, including a cop (I realize cops aren't the best people to ask, because they only rarely know directions, but I thought it was worth a shot), I decided to hoof it. Now, my internal compass didn't fail me, and I was totally headed in the right direction (I just followed the SkyTrain), but I kinda went in the wrong direction for public trans. So I walked aaaaaaaaaall the way to the next station -- which was pretty far, thank goodness I didn't have much stuff with me -- and jumped on the train back whence I came.
By the time I got to the hostel -- I walked from the train because I didn't feel like waiting for the bus, and good thing, too, because I beat it out. Got heckled again, though, lol. Vancouver, you're not a real city. There was, like, no one on that street, wtf. D: -- it was just before eleven. My roommates were asleep! That's good, but it made it very hard to do things in the dark so I didn't disturb them. I took my computer to the common room to work a little bit, because I knew I had work to do, but I didn't last very long because the everything of the day exhausted me, and my body clock said it was two in the morning, besides. That's about normal sleeping time. Set my alarm for seven-thirty, which was about a full night's sleep, and was out like a light.
***
I slept like a baby. *_* Woke up, showered, got locked out of my room dressed, and went to the free breakfast in the kitchen. Bit of a clusterfuck, didn't know where the plates and utensils were right away, but I figured it out. I watched the news while I had my scone, apple slices, and coffee, with a plan to get some oatmeal when I was done. A girl sat across from me and we ate in silence for a while, until she asked me what was in the packet.
I introduced someone to oatmeal! Her name was Anit(e), and she was Austrian. We had an awesome conversation about where we'd been, why we were in Vancouver, how it compared to home, all sorts of things. And! She let me in on a tip about bike rental near Stanley Park, which really helped me out, actually. And she had a cool tattoo sleeve (sleeve tattoo? How do you say that?). She was very sweet. ♥
Internetted for a while, until everything was set, and headed out. Bought a disposable camera at the store across the street just in case mine dies on the way. I straight-up walked to Stanley Park, beating out the buses again. Found a place where I could rent a bike for an hour -- that was all I needed, really -- and was off. The park was so pretty! And I made it all the way down to English Bay, pictures, pictures, pictures, video. It even drizzled a little, and it was such a great feeling, biking along in a park in Vancouver in the rain. Kyaa~~
It's been a while since I've been on a bike, though, and with all my shit, I couldn't ride so well. It also took me a minute to figure out how to switch gears, so cue huffing and puffing up some of the hills. XD From Stanley Park, I successfully returned the bike in an hour (just five bucks!), and walked quite a ways to the next bus stop. Took the bus down to Granville Island, which is where I am now, sitting in a Starbucks to catch up. Whew! I've been here forever, actually.
I've got two more things left to do on my list: check out Granville Island itself -- I hear there's an excellent market here -- and then down to Queen Elizabeth Park before returning to the airport. It's only a quarter after two, and my flight is at seven-thirty, so even with a two-hour allowance at the airport (maybe I can push it to an hour and a half, since Canada isn't as crazy as the U.S. is), I think I'll have time to knock them both out (which means yay, I might be able to look at some of the attractions in the park!).
That's all for now, next update will be Stateside (Los Angeles, hopefully)!
***
This isn't coming from Los Angeles, by the way. It's been about twenty-five hours since my last update. I'm at home. WHOOPS.
Granville Island isn't very big. Perfect, I thought. So I just walked up a street and found a map at the end of the block. The market was right near by, so I went in, and ... wow, so lively. And so many different shops and I didn't know which way was up. It was like being in the dealers' room at a convention. XD I passed this cosmetic stand selling soaps and lotions and they all smelled so wonderful and earthy, so I took a business card. And because I hadn't eaten since breakfast and the biking took it out of me, I needed to eat. Stopped at a grill and had an inch-thick salmon burger with a salad (and some tea leftover from Starbucks because caffeeeeeeeeine), and was back on my way.
Didn't seem like there was very much. There's an art school there and an art supply shop. Sitting in Starbucks and catching up killed a lot of time, so I had to speed it up a bit, but it was very pretty, and a great atmosphere. There were trolley tracks in the ground that I wanted to follow around, but I lost them and found them so many times, I would have ended up in the same places anyway (and I think they went under buildings a time or two, so there's that).
Headed back to the bus stop, ready to take the bus down to the park, and just as the bus was getting there, I remembered I'd left a bag in the food court of the market! I ditched the bus and ran back to get my stuff, but when I got there, the bag was gone. That might have been because it was with me the entire time, and I'd forgotten I'd put it in my messenger bag. Augh. So I walked back to the bus stop -- plenty of time, I figured, since the bus was every fifteen minutes and it took just five to get back to the other end of the island -- and naturally, I missed the bus. Even in another country, I have shitty luck with buses. And the next one was in fifteen more minutes -- a half-hour wasted -- and I wasn't going far, so I decided to hoof it yet again.
Didn't see anything. And when I turned onto the street where it said the bus was supposed to go, the bus stop signs didn't include that particular route. Um, okay. But I knew I was walking in the right direction, so I kept going. It must have been a whole half-hour that I walked (which comes to maybe 2.5 km?) with all my stuff, and I was sweaty and tired and gross, and I was starting to doubt I'd gone the right way, but I found the bus stop for the next bus I was meant to take! ... Fuck that, I'm taking the train. Same price.
The train was much faster, which saved me some time, although I DID have to wait for the bus anyway to get to the park, which killed another twenty minutes (NO MORE WALKING MY SHOULDERS ARE GOING TO FALL OFF), pushing my time to five.
My flight was at seven-thirty, and I thought I would have to be at the airport at five-thirty. I was close by, but I really wanted to see the park. Was that a gamble I was willing to take? Hell yes. So I went to the park. Had I known in advance there was an entrance not too far away from where I was waiting doing nothing, I'd've walked (but I suppose resting my shoulders was also a good idea). But I jumped on the bus and went in the park.
I found a map and though the park looked huge, it really wasn't, and what I thought would be a ten-minute hike took maybe a third of the time, perfect. I set my alarm for five-thirty, with a goal to be out of the park by then if I could. I walked around, took some pictures, couldn't find the information kiosk (but as it was after five, I think everything was closed?), and headed back. Took some more pictures on the way out, took the bus to the train, and the train to the airport. Made it!
***
Getting to the airport wasn't bad at all. Filled out my customs form ($250 worth of stuff I'm bringing home. Awesome.), checked in, looked around for a place to buy a postcard, caught the one out of the fourth inning of Game One.
Customs wasn't so bad. I was bringing food back, so they asked me about that, and I had the bottle of mouthwash that they needed to see (9_9), but smooth sailing otherwise. No one was able to believe that I'd come up to Canada from the other end of the United States just for a hockey game. ... And sightseeing. But mostly the hockey game.
The flight was nice and smooth, and there were screens in the back of each chair. I'm one of those nerds who needs to know exactly how far she's travelled at all times, so I kept it tuned to flight information. Whoa, was it really -75F outside the plane?! :O And as it was Air Canada, everything was bilingual, and nothing amused me more than translating kilometres and shit into French. 1,5 km is 1.5 km WHO WOULD HAVE KNOWN and i didn't understand a damned word the captain said after "mesdames et messieurs..." whoops
And even though the flight was really easy -- and try as I might to stay awake (the last thing I bought was coffee) I fell asleep somewhere over California (I asked for a soda on the plane and they gave me a seltzer? Whaaaa?)-- we passed Los Angeles and circled back. I started to get nervous. The flight was originally meant to land at 10:12, but I guess we took off a hair late because the estimated time to land kept going between 10:15 and 10:17. Five minutes, no big deal. Because we went past and turned around, that was another ten minutes. Okay, fifteen's still not so bad.
Except... I had an hour thirty-three between flights, now an hour eighteen. And people didn't wanna get off the plane. And I had to use the bathroom. And the map of the airport was so confusing that I wound up going to the wrong terminal. Of course, I had to get back to the right terminal, but I didn't see the waiting area for the airport shuttle, so I had to hoof it the entire way. When I finally got to the correct terminal, gross and sweaty again for the third time (at least), I couldn't check in; the machine didn't feel like reading my passport. So I had to wait online. When I was finally getting help....
"Where are you going?"
"New York. ^_^"
"New York?! You're very late!"
"WTF I JUST GOT HERE! D:"
Commence panic, the way the agent was talking I thought the plane was already up in the air (or would be within the next five minutes), and she was screaming at me about which gate I had to go to ("47! It's upstairs, through the hall, down--" "YEAH YEAH BETWEEN 46 AND 48, I GOT IT"), and it was really hard to juggle those bags up the escalator and... oh shit. Security line.
So, let's see. I needed four bins: one for my laptop, one for each of my bags, because the bin was juuuust small enough that they couldn't both fit in one, and one for the rest of my shit, including all the junk in my pockets: cell phone, change, MetroCard, passport.... and there was a huge line, too! A family with some kids let me jump in front of them, but despite my looking very harried and nervous, no one else was nice.
And then, seriously, it was one of the x-ray scanners. WHATEVER I DON'T HAVE TIME LET'S DO THIS. They were super super cereal about "STEP HERE. FACE YOUR PROPERTY." It was kinda ridiculous. But as my plane was probably up in the air -- I had about a half-hour when I got to the line -- I didn't have time to put all my stuff away so I carried it and ran... and dropped half of it along the way. Shit I couldn't leave behind like my passport and my wallet and my phone, dlkfjsd.
Naturally, Gate 47 was indeed between 46 and 48, all the way at the end of the hall. Running, huffing, puffing, I got there just in time -- there were four or five people getting ready to board the plane in front of me -- and I had to sit and catch my breath. I was shaking like a leaf. Not wanting to delay New Yorkers any, because I know how we are, I put on a brave face and breathlessly stumbled onto the plane. Despite it being damn near midnight Pacific Time when we took off, all the adrenaline kept me awake (and shaking) for a couple of hours. I got to see some random cities all lit up, though, but one thing bothered me.
WHERE WERE ALL THE STARS
I mean, I know I don't see any here. That makes sense. But I was seven miles up in the sky, and I didn't see many more stars than when I'm out in suburbia. Is the Milky Way a myth? Are you all just pulling my leg?! D: Okay, sure, I only got to see one side of the plane, but still, I should have been able to see more than Orion and the Big Dipper. :| SHENANIGANS.
I dozed off here and there, and the next thing I knew, we were somewhere over PA/NJ and lookit, clouds! It's morning! I'm almost home~~!! I took a couple of pictures of the clouds, and it wasn't too long after that that we landed. But damn if we weren't taxied forever. Anyway, from there, not too much that's interesting. Took the Air Train (lol almost said "SkyTrain") around to the bus stop, missed the bus (ah, I'm home), waited for the next one. Interesting ride out from the airport, walked the half-mile home, said hi to Dad and Bradley and collapsed.
That trip was far too short. I can't wait to go back.
Pictures and video will be in a separate post because dear god, there are too many of them. I'm nearly at two hundred. @_@
Woke up 'round 4:15 after normal short sleep, ready to go within an hour. Dad drove me to the airport, and check-in was very smooth, so I sat at the gate for damn near two hours watching some lame news program that wasn't even any good.
There were iPads, but they weren't connected to the internet. It's like... what's the point? I played about three rounds of hangman and read a news article before I was bored. XD At least there's a survey I can answer about it.
I will never understand why planes aren't boarded back-to-front. The flight was entirely uninteresting. Nice and smooth, took some shitty pictures of mountains (I was on the wrong side of the plane for Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood and stuff, and I had an aisle seat anyway. LAME) and we got here a half-hour early. I pretty much just wandered around, took pictures of some of the art in the airport, got a bite to eat. Y'know, three hours to kill and no outlets for the computer, gotta do something for most of the time.
But internal SQUEEEEEE when the pilot announced, "Welcome to the Pacific Northwest."
I'm congested as fuck. It's not just usual I-was-on-a-plane-and-my-ears-are-being-stubborn-and-not-popping, but I was coughing and sneezing like a motherfucker about an hour into the flight. I think I might have been allergic to something up there, because I've been fine the past couple of days, but I can't imagine what! I feel better now, but my hearing is really bad -- I can't hear myself typing right now -- so, if only for this I can't wait to go home. The rest of it, no, I'm so excited this is happening.
So now I'm sitting at the terminal waiting for the next flight to board. Exciting. The next part will be the worst, though: prop plane. Augh, I've been on prop planes twice -- once from Charlotte to Jacksonville, NC, and back -- and it was more than enough times in my life. I dread the next hour (ish).
Next update will be from Vancouver!
***
The flight was extremely short (but man, if I had hustled -- or known to -- I might have been on an earlier flight and saved myself three hours). It seemed as though the moment we were up high enough to start taking pictures, we were told to put the cameras away to prepare for landing. XD It was maybe a thirty-five-minute flight, I wasn't really counting. But I got the window seat this time, so I took plenty of pictures! Mountains, oooooo.
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I GOT A STAMP IN MY PASSPORT :DDD
As planned, I took in a few sights before heading to the hostel, especially since we got in to Vancouver early. The first place I went was Vancouver Lookout, which is just an observation tower. It's... I think 177 metres high? Something like that. Anyway, since yesterday was a nice, clear day -- I really lucked out with the weather. Yesterday was gorgeous, today it's a little cooler and partly cloudy, but it's not pouring like I feared it might -- I was able to get a pretty good view of the downtown area and get a few pictures.
After the Lookout (which closed early yesterday for a private function, so I can go back today if I want. Not that I need to), I headed down the street to a shop called Button Button, which sells, you guessed it, buttons. I bought one just to say I did. From there, I found a Starbucks across the street, and loaded up on some much-needed coffee. It came without a lid, so I decided to sit and have a drink. I sat at a bench, across from a nice fellow named Danny.
Danny's from Hong Kong, and deaf, so our conversation was all written. He taught me a few signs in HKSL, like "nice to meet you," and "thank you," when I signed to him in ASL (he knew a little ASL... thank you is pretty much all I know that's useful. "Happy" is the same, though), which looks like you're flicking a lighter with your right thumb. It was such a happy experience, I kinda wanted to cry~
So from there, I went across the street to the Steam Clock to take pictures -- herp derp tourist derp -- and then into tourist shops because, why the fuck not. But seriously, when I walked in -- first, it was HUGE -- it was all CANADA and MAPLE EVERYTHING and I laughed so hard. Why aren't the tourist shops in New York so hilarious?! After that, it was suddenly five o'clock, two hours to game time, and I hadn't checked in at the hostel, so I took a bus downtown and got there eventually.
***
The hostel was lovely. It was very much like a dorm, which is just what I expected. When I got to my room, two girls were already in there, and it was REALLY TINY, but that's okay, since I just needed a place to keep my stuff and lay my head at night. I wasn't really looking for space. But it was very clean, which is good. I changed as quickly as I could, unloaded what I didn't need -- shoulders. On. Fire. -- e-mailed and Facebooked to let everyone know I was okay, and was on my way.
Took the bus down to Rogers Arena, and there were fewer Canucks fans on it than I had hoped (most took the SkyTrain). As we approached the stadium, the driver was like "Let's hear it for the Canucks!" and everyone cheered, even me. "Let's hear it for the Rangers!" Just me but I was really cheery. "Wow, there's just one of her, but she's got spirit!" It was a really friendly, light-hearted attitude, which made it fun.
I got off the bus and literally, literally skipped over to the Will Call window, I was so excited. I got jeered on the way, but LOL chill out bro. So I got my ticket, took a picture of a statue outside, and went inside. Once I found my seat, I took some more pictures, went down almost to the glass and took A BAJILLION PICTURES, mostly of the Ryans, the Sedins, and Brandon, but I got some of the others, as well. PICTURES EVERYWHERE of the Blueshirts and the blue shirts, and lots and lots of squealing.
Remember the game in January, Esmeralda? It was like that BUT WORSE. You thought that was fangirling? I was fangirling last night. I was ready to cry, it was like a religious experience.
STOP MAKING ME CRY, VANCOUVER! JESUS.
The pre-game also included a honouring ceremony for Rick Rypien, who had been with the Canucks for a few seasons, and committed suicide over the summer. I didn't know that that was going to happen, and I wound up taking a lot of video, which all but killed my camera battery. And did I bring my charger? NO. :V But... I might have cried again. orz And, disappointment, Michael McDonald did not come out to sing the anthems. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. That's all I would have needed to make my trip complete. D:
As for the game itself, the first two periods were boring and sloppy. The Rangers were held to less than ten shots, I couldn't believe it! There was no score, so that was good, but the Canucks are an excellent third-period team (I mean, the Rangers also come alive late in the game, but the Canucks do it better), so I thought for sure the Canucks were gonna come through.
NOPE. Mike Rupp put one past Luongo about four minutes into the third, I didn't even see it, thought it hit the post. UM OKAY I'LL TAKE IT. A few minutes later, Ryan McDonagh scored an insurance goal (Dubi with an assist, kyaa) that I did see. I'd've been fine with a 2-0 game, but Brian Boyle and Marian Gaborik knocked it in, too, and the final was 4-0. King Henrik was a fucking wall, stopping all forty Canucks shots; the Rangers, meanwhile, only managed to take nineteen against Lu. ANOTHER SHUTOUT and the second against Vancouver this year. WHAT, BITCHES! Poor Lu was jeered even when making saves, though. To be fair, while it was nice to get the third and fourth goals, it wasn't very fun. I would have rathered it be 4-3 in either direction, or 1-0, than 4-0. D:
I thought all the power plays would be the death of them, like it was against the Islanders on Saturday -- the fucking Islanders -- but that wasn't the case. The Rangers were on three power plays, and nothing came of them. What else? Oh! The nice Bieksa/Dubi fight at the end of the third. Dubi lost, but it was still fun to watch. Something lit a fire under Dubi, he was angry all night. ♥
Oooh oooh, and guess what I bought! Remember when I said I didn't know whether I should get a Kesler or Daniel jersey? Well, the decision was made for me: there were only Kesler jerseys in my size. So now I have matching jerseys: two number 17s. :D It's official, 17 is my second lucky number. I also bought socks, a calendar, a Rick Rypien pin (;A;) and a beer. British Columbia requires two forms of ID, thank goodness I had my credit card with me. It's a damn shame the third jerseys were on sale last night, though, not the primaries, or I would have saved a ton of money. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
After the game, I realized the street that the bus dropped me off on was one-way around the stadium, and I had no idea how to get back in the other direction. After asking several people, including a cop (I realize cops aren't the best people to ask, because they only rarely know directions, but I thought it was worth a shot), I decided to hoof it. Now, my internal compass didn't fail me, and I was totally headed in the right direction (I just followed the SkyTrain), but I kinda went in the wrong direction for public trans. So I walked aaaaaaaaaall the way to the next station -- which was pretty far, thank goodness I didn't have much stuff with me -- and jumped on the train back whence I came.
By the time I got to the hostel -- I walked from the train because I didn't feel like waiting for the bus, and good thing, too, because I beat it out. Got heckled again, though, lol. Vancouver, you're not a real city. There was, like, no one on that street, wtf. D: -- it was just before eleven. My roommates were asleep! That's good, but it made it very hard to do things in the dark so I didn't disturb them. I took my computer to the common room to work a little bit, because I knew I had work to do, but I didn't last very long because the everything of the day exhausted me, and my body clock said it was two in the morning, besides. That's about normal sleeping time. Set my alarm for seven-thirty, which was about a full night's sleep, and was out like a light.
***
I slept like a baby. *_* Woke up, showered, got locked out of my room dressed, and went to the free breakfast in the kitchen. Bit of a clusterfuck, didn't know where the plates and utensils were right away, but I figured it out. I watched the news while I had my scone, apple slices, and coffee, with a plan to get some oatmeal when I was done. A girl sat across from me and we ate in silence for a while, until she asked me what was in the packet.
I introduced someone to oatmeal! Her name was Anit(e), and she was Austrian. We had an awesome conversation about where we'd been, why we were in Vancouver, how it compared to home, all sorts of things. And! She let me in on a tip about bike rental near Stanley Park, which really helped me out, actually. And she had a cool tattoo sleeve (sleeve tattoo? How do you say that?). She was very sweet. ♥
Internetted for a while, until everything was set, and headed out. Bought a disposable camera at the store across the street just in case mine dies on the way. I straight-up walked to Stanley Park, beating out the buses again. Found a place where I could rent a bike for an hour -- that was all I needed, really -- and was off. The park was so pretty! And I made it all the way down to English Bay, pictures, pictures, pictures, video. It even drizzled a little, and it was such a great feeling, biking along in a park in Vancouver in the rain. Kyaa~~
It's been a while since I've been on a bike, though, and with all my shit, I couldn't ride so well. It also took me a minute to figure out how to switch gears, so cue huffing and puffing up some of the hills. XD From Stanley Park, I successfully returned the bike in an hour (just five bucks!), and walked quite a ways to the next bus stop. Took the bus down to Granville Island, which is where I am now, sitting in a Starbucks to catch up. Whew! I've been here forever, actually.
I've got two more things left to do on my list: check out Granville Island itself -- I hear there's an excellent market here -- and then down to Queen Elizabeth Park before returning to the airport. It's only a quarter after two, and my flight is at seven-thirty, so even with a two-hour allowance at the airport (maybe I can push it to an hour and a half, since Canada isn't as crazy as the U.S. is), I think I'll have time to knock them both out (which means yay, I might be able to look at some of the attractions in the park!).
That's all for now, next update will be Stateside (Los Angeles, hopefully)!
***
This isn't coming from Los Angeles, by the way. It's been about twenty-five hours since my last update. I'm at home. WHOOPS.
Granville Island isn't very big. Perfect, I thought. So I just walked up a street and found a map at the end of the block. The market was right near by, so I went in, and ... wow, so lively. And so many different shops and I didn't know which way was up. It was like being in the dealers' room at a convention. XD I passed this cosmetic stand selling soaps and lotions and they all smelled so wonderful and earthy, so I took a business card. And because I hadn't eaten since breakfast and the biking took it out of me, I needed to eat. Stopped at a grill and had an inch-thick salmon burger with a salad (and some tea leftover from Starbucks because caffeeeeeeeeine), and was back on my way.
Didn't seem like there was very much. There's an art school there and an art supply shop. Sitting in Starbucks and catching up killed a lot of time, so I had to speed it up a bit, but it was very pretty, and a great atmosphere. There were trolley tracks in the ground that I wanted to follow around, but I lost them and found them so many times, I would have ended up in the same places anyway (and I think they went under buildings a time or two, so there's that).
Headed back to the bus stop, ready to take the bus down to the park, and just as the bus was getting there, I remembered I'd left a bag in the food court of the market! I ditched the bus and ran back to get my stuff, but when I got there, the bag was gone. That might have been because it was with me the entire time, and I'd forgotten I'd put it in my messenger bag. Augh. So I walked back to the bus stop -- plenty of time, I figured, since the bus was every fifteen minutes and it took just five to get back to the other end of the island -- and naturally, I missed the bus. Even in another country, I have shitty luck with buses. And the next one was in fifteen more minutes -- a half-hour wasted -- and I wasn't going far, so I decided to hoof it yet again.
Didn't see anything. And when I turned onto the street where it said the bus was supposed to go, the bus stop signs didn't include that particular route. Um, okay. But I knew I was walking in the right direction, so I kept going. It must have been a whole half-hour that I walked (which comes to maybe 2.5 km?) with all my stuff, and I was sweaty and tired and gross, and I was starting to doubt I'd gone the right way, but I found the bus stop for the next bus I was meant to take! ... Fuck that, I'm taking the train. Same price.
The train was much faster, which saved me some time, although I DID have to wait for the bus anyway to get to the park, which killed another twenty minutes (NO MORE WALKING MY SHOULDERS ARE GOING TO FALL OFF), pushing my time to five.
My flight was at seven-thirty, and I thought I would have to be at the airport at five-thirty. I was close by, but I really wanted to see the park. Was that a gamble I was willing to take? Hell yes. So I went to the park. Had I known in advance there was an entrance not too far away from where I was waiting doing nothing, I'd've walked (but I suppose resting my shoulders was also a good idea). But I jumped on the bus and went in the park.
I found a map and though the park looked huge, it really wasn't, and what I thought would be a ten-minute hike took maybe a third of the time, perfect. I set my alarm for five-thirty, with a goal to be out of the park by then if I could. I walked around, took some pictures, couldn't find the information kiosk (but as it was after five, I think everything was closed?), and headed back. Took some more pictures on the way out, took the bus to the train, and the train to the airport. Made it!
***
Getting to the airport wasn't bad at all. Filled out my customs form ($250 worth of stuff I'm bringing home. Awesome.), checked in, looked around for a place to buy a postcard, caught the one out of the fourth inning of Game One.
Customs wasn't so bad. I was bringing food back, so they asked me about that, and I had the bottle of mouthwash that they needed to see (9_9), but smooth sailing otherwise. No one was able to believe that I'd come up to Canada from the other end of the United States just for a hockey game. ... And sightseeing. But mostly the hockey game.
The flight was nice and smooth, and there were screens in the back of each chair. I'm one of those nerds who needs to know exactly how far she's travelled at all times, so I kept it tuned to flight information. Whoa, was it really -75F outside the plane?! :O And as it was Air Canada, everything was bilingual, and nothing amused me more than translating kilometres and shit into French. 1,5 km is 1.5 km WHO WOULD HAVE KNOWN and i didn't understand a damned word the captain said after "mesdames et messieurs..." whoops
And even though the flight was really easy -- and try as I might to stay awake (the last thing I bought was coffee) I fell asleep somewhere over California (I asked for a soda on the plane and they gave me a seltzer? Whaaaa?)-- we passed Los Angeles and circled back. I started to get nervous. The flight was originally meant to land at 10:12, but I guess we took off a hair late because the estimated time to land kept going between 10:15 and 10:17. Five minutes, no big deal. Because we went past and turned around, that was another ten minutes. Okay, fifteen's still not so bad.
Except... I had an hour thirty-three between flights, now an hour eighteen. And people didn't wanna get off the plane. And I had to use the bathroom. And the map of the airport was so confusing that I wound up going to the wrong terminal. Of course, I had to get back to the right terminal, but I didn't see the waiting area for the airport shuttle, so I had to hoof it the entire way. When I finally got to the correct terminal, gross and sweaty again for the third time (at least), I couldn't check in; the machine didn't feel like reading my passport. So I had to wait online. When I was finally getting help....
"Where are you going?"
"New York. ^_^"
"New York?! You're very late!"
"WTF I JUST GOT HERE! D:"
Commence panic, the way the agent was talking I thought the plane was already up in the air (or would be within the next five minutes), and she was screaming at me about which gate I had to go to ("47! It's upstairs, through the hall, down--" "YEAH YEAH BETWEEN 46 AND 48, I GOT IT"), and it was really hard to juggle those bags up the escalator and... oh shit. Security line.
So, let's see. I needed four bins: one for my laptop, one for each of my bags, because the bin was juuuust small enough that they couldn't both fit in one, and one for the rest of my shit, including all the junk in my pockets: cell phone, change, MetroCard, passport.... and there was a huge line, too! A family with some kids let me jump in front of them, but despite my looking very harried and nervous, no one else was nice.
And then, seriously, it was one of the x-ray scanners. WHATEVER I DON'T HAVE TIME LET'S DO THIS. They were super super cereal about "STEP HERE. FACE YOUR PROPERTY." It was kinda ridiculous. But as my plane was probably up in the air -- I had about a half-hour when I got to the line -- I didn't have time to put all my stuff away so I carried it and ran... and dropped half of it along the way. Shit I couldn't leave behind like my passport and my wallet and my phone, dlkfjsd.
Naturally, Gate 47 was indeed between 46 and 48, all the way at the end of the hall. Running, huffing, puffing, I got there just in time -- there were four or five people getting ready to board the plane in front of me -- and I had to sit and catch my breath. I was shaking like a leaf. Not wanting to delay New Yorkers any, because I know how we are, I put on a brave face and breathlessly stumbled onto the plane. Despite it being damn near midnight Pacific Time when we took off, all the adrenaline kept me awake (and shaking) for a couple of hours. I got to see some random cities all lit up, though, but one thing bothered me.
WHERE WERE ALL THE STARS
I mean, I know I don't see any here. That makes sense. But I was seven miles up in the sky, and I didn't see many more stars than when I'm out in suburbia. Is the Milky Way a myth? Are you all just pulling my leg?! D: Okay, sure, I only got to see one side of the plane, but still, I should have been able to see more than Orion and the Big Dipper. :| SHENANIGANS.
I dozed off here and there, and the next thing I knew, we were somewhere over PA/NJ and lookit, clouds! It's morning! I'm almost home~~!! I took a couple of pictures of the clouds, and it wasn't too long after that that we landed. But damn if we weren't taxied forever. Anyway, from there, not too much that's interesting. Took the Air Train (lol almost said "SkyTrain") around to the bus stop, missed the bus (ah, I'm home), waited for the next one. Interesting ride out from the airport, walked the half-mile home, said hi to Dad and Bradley and collapsed.
That trip was far too short. I can't wait to go back.
Pictures and video will be in a separate post because dear god, there are too many of them. I'm nearly at two hundred. @_@