one last thing before I quit

Day One was most certainly a long one. We got the airport an hour early, which is fine for a domestic flight. But there was a solid 50 person line-up at the security check-stop. It took some time to get through that, but everything was fine. Our flight went well too. One of the better take-offs and landings the I've experienced. The only problem was trying to stay awake. Nothing like a 7am flight.

We got to Vancouver with 9 hours to kill before we could board our train. We decided to just grab some breakfast and relax in the airport for a bit. We then snagged a taxi and went to the Ikea in Richmond. I had the pleasure of waiting in the entrance with all of the luggage while Jess went shopping. Fortunately I had picked up a couple magazines while still in the airport. More time was killed, and plenty of stares were received from strangers, but we kept moving on.

We caught another taxi and drove down to the train station. I had only ever been in Vancouver for a night, and we only went on one of the industrial scenic tours, but this time we went through the more residential part of town. And this was nice. I always heard of how green Vancouver was, but had never seen it before. The plants were green and lush and it was nice.

Once at the train station, which looked awesomely nostalgic from the outside, we checked our baggage and proceeded to kill 5 more hours. We went for a walk and ended up in an antique store for a bit. They had a large variety but nothing terribly cool. We made our way to the riverside and just sat and read for a while. The best thing in the river that day, was a pirate ship! It totally reminded me of the car in Animal House. Hilarious. We just walked around, looked at random things and just ended up sitting around in the station for the rest of the few hours. The only downside to waiting in the station, was that they tried to keep that old train station atmosphere, which meant sitting on these uncomfortable wooden benches. Oh well.

We boarded the train, after boarding was delayed a half hour. But this was all worth it! I had never been on a train, other then in museums and junk, but this would easily be my top choice to travel! The fact that you can just walk around the whole time, or wait in your more-then-roomy seats (which even had footrests so you could put your feet up) or even sit in the lounge and just mingle with everyone else. We spent most of the 4 hour ride in the lounge, but it went by super fast. The windows were massive and the view with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, all with the sun on it's way down, was more then worth the 30 bucks we spent on tickets. While in the lounge, we were sitting beside a lady who was in from London. She had written for the Warner UK and was now doing publicity for bands. And she was going to Seattle to work with PEARL JAM! GAH!! WHAT?! And I knew it was all true because I brought up the Jeff Ament stabbing, and she knew about it. We spent a lot of the ride just talking with her, and another younger guy who had seemed to have lived and traveled everywhere in the US and Canada. It was just nice to meet some friendly people. Later on, there was a younger mother and her friend who brought their kid up. He was just laughing and showing off to everyone, but it was just funny. He was well mannered and listened to everyone, which was crazy to see in a little kid. I forgot to mention that the train was a double-decker. We were on the top level. It was awesome. I'd seriously recommend this to everyone. It was a quieter, friendlier and more relaxing means of travel then anything else I've ever had.

We rolled into Seattle just after 10. The Mariners / Red-Sox game just wrapped up, which meant we had the privilege of waiting an hour for a taxi. It was a long 22 hour day.