The Start



Time to go again!

Raina had been back from "The RussianTrip"  (The Russia Trip Blog) for over three weeks. It was now time for another trip!!!!!!


This time Raina and Andy head off to 'Vancouver Eh', then cruise back on the Radiance.  We fly out to 'Vancouver Eh' on Tuesday 9th September and have three days there. It's then onto our favorite ship, The Radiance of the Seas, to meet up with some lovely people.


Leg 1 - "10 Night Hawaiian Cruise".











We have now convinced Sarah to met us in Tahiti.  She will fly out and meet us in Papette.  Yahhh.


Leg 2 - "18 Night Transpacific". 

Friday   17 days to go.  Exciting!!!!!!!
Saturday - 16 days to go.
Sunday 15 days to go.
Monday 14 days to go.
Tuesday  13 days to go.
Wednesday 12 days to go.
Thursday 11 days to go.
Friday  10 days to go.

We are flying to Sydney then flying to 'Vancouver Eh' with United Airlines. Gee.  Sad fact - when doing a long flight with Andy (and with Raina).....it had to be a comfortable seat.  No sitting up the back with knees up under you chin for us!!!!  Thanks Dad. 
We got a good deal with United Airlines and are flying GLOBAL FIRST CLASS!!!!  The only down side was that we go through LAX. LA is the WORST airport in the world!  Huge and chaotic. With a two hour connection, I was resigned to the fact that we would miss that connection and be put on the next flight! That would not matter. Just have to negotiate LAX!

But then we got the email..........
Our flight has been changed and now we are going through San Francisco.  YAHHHHHHH.


And with lovely seats.
And once again it's a wonderful flight. We leave Sydney at 2.45pm and get to 'Vancouver Eh' at 3.45pm.  
A one hour flight. Excellent!!!!

                   Saturday 9 days to go.
Sunday  8 days to go.


And while we are mentally preparing for this trip we must remember the words of the great Babe Ruth....
"Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, "It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."


So whether it's wine, beer or cocktails....it is our duty to help these factory workers out.

And now we can say "This time next week...."


Tuesday 9th September 2014.

The day is here .....and Andy did not explode with excitement. He even managed to stay in bed until after 6am!!!!

We arrived a the Canberra airport in plenty of time.  In so much time in fact they changed us to an earlier flight.  But they did through check our luggage so we didn't have to handle it in Sydney.
Now...when ever a Burke flies one of the party is always chosen for the random explosive test. Even Molly the Jack Russell was chosen once!

Andy was chosen and returned a positive result. OHHHH.  Another test and another positive result.

Security, airport managed and the Aust Federal Police.  Andy was interviewed and a background check was done. The flight that we had been moved to was held up. They couldn't even go without us as our luggage was on board and who knew what was in that! They finally decided that it must have been the WD40 that he used to give his walker a pre cruise tune up with before the trip.
Raina and Sarah stood around laughing very hard.



Of course we had to do the 'walk of shame' down the aisle of the plane as everyone snarled at us. Then we had to put our gear in the overhead lockers so got more snarly looks. 
"How dare we!"

Off we went, flight was simple, 

checked in in Sydney and through immigration without further incident.  
Check in was a bit flash with the 'Red Carpet'.

It was then a few hours in the lounge waiting for the flight. 
But as they say "Better to be too early and sitting there bored, then having a heart attack while held up in traffic and running late!"
And we did have time to get to the Caviar Bar at Sydney International.  $15 a spoon full. 



We got onto the plane and our seats were amazing. 

Big, squashy and lots of room.  The staff were great and looked after us really well. We were happy!

Of course we were greeted with a champagne etc.




The food was great.  I had rack of lamb - that they cooked in a little oven. They didn't reheat it, they cooked it. They just kept bring more and more food - course after course.

And then it was dessert time.  The menu said ice cream sundae with .......

Well down the aisle came the trolley with glasses of ice cream and stacks of extras.  And she made a sundae to order.




Sensational.

Andy slept, off and on for about 7 hours.  I watched a few movies and had two sleeps - at least 3 hours which is probably my record. Very comfortable.  Almost as good as sleeping on the lounge.  Not as good as your bed - but good!


At one time during the night, Andy knocked a hearing aide down behind the arm of the chair.  A successful rescue operation found it. 


Overall a great flight.

Pity we then had to go onto a small flight that was on a tiny plane (like a Dash 8).  We had had breakfast a few hours before landing then had to rush at San Fran airport to make our connection - which we did by 7 minutes, so had no time to call into the lounge for lunch. Then after take off they announced that as someone of the plane had a severe peanut allergy they had to cancel the food service. Hungry!!!!!!


But we did arrive at Vancouver airport, which was lovely and full of happy smiling Canadians. 

Everything was painless and efficient and we were soon in our car driving to the hotel.

27 hours after leaving Canberra we check into the hotel.

And it was stunning!!!!!

L'Hermitage Hotel, Richards St Vancouver.

Time to click on the Vancouver tab to see the next part.




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