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Old 13 Aug 18, 02:01 PM  
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jocat
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Vancouver and the Rockies - July/August 2018 - Travel Day

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Travel day - Sunday 22nd July 2018

I woke at 8am and showered, then dried and straightened my hair. Once they’d cooled, I could then pack my straighteners in the case.

We put the last bits in the case that always have to wait until the last minute and did the final check of our paperwork. Our daughter Katie and her boyfriend had arrived to see us before we left and took great pleasure in making fun of my holiday folder. And our packing check list!

The cases went in the car at about 10:15 am and we said our goodbyes to Katie and Brandon. I then decided to clean the kitchen for some reason. I’d cleaned the oven yesterday, so needed to make the rest of it sparkle too!

Our son, Adam, had appeared from his bed by this time so we said our goodbyes to him too, then left home via the petrol station. By 11am we were finally on our way to Heathrow.



As it was a Sunday, we didn’t hit any traffic until the M25 junction, but it only slowed us down a little and by 12:50 pm we’d parked in the long stay car park near to the terminal. We just missed a bus, as it arrived while we were getting our cases out of the car, but 10 minutes later, we were on our way to the terminal.



We arrived just before 1:20 pm as the bus went via Terminal 2 first. Within 15 minutes we had dropped off our bags at the First check in area, fast tracked through security and found the lounge.





Now this was our first (and probably only time) of flying anywhere in a class higher than Premium Economy, and we’ve only done that a couple of times. I don’t know if it was a glitch or genuine sale price, but the outward journey was priced at a quarter of the cost of what the return journey would be - too good an opportunity to pass up on experiencing flying First Class.

We entered the lounge and the first area we stumbled across was the champagne bar. This would do! Martin had regular champagne while I had the rose one. We both had to sample each others of course, but decided we’d each picked the right one for our preferences.





We headed off to find a snack and a comfy seat - the lounge was surprisingly busy, but we found a seat near the food area. Martin nipped off to find a restroom and then as he came back, nearly bumped into someone. I looked up and spotted a familiar face. It was Rod Stewart with his two youngest sons. I wasn’t quick enough to grab my phone out of my bag for a photo, and I’m not sure that’s the etiquette in the First Lounge, but if I was in any doubt who the man in the Celtic shirt was, as he passed by, he sung a few bars of one of his songs. For the life of me I can’t remember which now.
I then obviously had to send WhatsApp massages to our family group and a couple of friends groups. You can so easily tell I’m not used to this!

We hadn’t had lunch so it was now time for some food. I chose some soup and a roll, followed by a sultana scone with clotted cream and jam. Martin plumped for finger sandwiches and couscous. We also picked up a couple of bags of kettle chips for later. I don’t expect I’ll have a problem with plane food this time, but thought they might come in handy when we arrive at the hotel later.







We topped up our champagne, then it was soon time for our pre-booked spa treatments - I had chosen a facial. I arrived at the spa, completed the required form, then was ushered straight into the curtained off room. I was invited to sit in a massage chair, which I can only liken to some medieval torture device! To be fair, the part that massages your back and feet was actually quite nice, the neck part was just ok, but the head part (well more the base of the skull) was not relaxing at all – in fact it was downright painful. The part that surrounded the calf was pleasant at times, then others were like being on the receiving end of a boa constrictor.

The facial itself was very nice though and the lady doing the treatment was lovely. She fetched me some samples of the products afterwards and instructed me how to use them. There wasn’t the slightest bit of hard sell of products which I was expecting.

As I came out, I bumped into Martin who was heading in for his massage. He came back about 20 minutes later looking thoroughly relaxed. He wasn’t subjected to the same torture device as I’d had.

At about 3:30 pm they started changing the food over. A very nice looking Mediterranean chicken dish came out, which I’d got my eye on, but never got round to having. I just wasn’t hungry enough at the time, and unfortunately we weren’t delayed at all.



We picked up fresh drinks and headed to the other end of the lounge, where I found a couple of different grey goose vodkas. Well it would be rude not to try one as well.









We picked up a couple of magazines while waiting for our gate to open, and heard a rather loud, rude woman enter, bemoaning the fact that the Galleries Lounge was full of riff-raff and wasn’t at all like the Concorde Lounge at Terminal 5. I’m not sure why she felt the need to broadcast her views quite so loudly, but money obviously doesn’t buy class or manners

About 15 minutes later, I saw the same lady pinching teabags!

The lounge experience was lovely. I normally feel very stressed at an airport and instead it felt so chilled. I could definitely get used to this.

I decided to grab just a bread roll and some cheese before we headed for the gate, as because we’d grazed, I wasn’t looking for a full meal.

We then headed to the gate. Gate 1 was of course the furthest away in the direction we were headed.

When we’d checked in earlier, we were informed there was a problem with our dividing screen not working. Again, we were made aware of this at the gate. I pointed out that it was a good job that we like each other. She found this very funny for some reason - not sure if she’s used to people complaining if everything isn’t perfect.

There was a slight delay with boarding due to an issue with the catering, but within 10 minutes we were on and being shown to our seats. Oh my goodness, I think we’re spoilt for life. I enjoyed playing with the controls for the seat before Champagne was delivered, along with our pyjamas and wash bag.









We left the gate bang on time at 5:20 pm and we took off at 5:40 pm

At 6:15 pm our drinks order was taken. I stuck with champagne. The crew brought me two different ones to try. Apparently I have good taste as I preferred the champagne over the English sparkling wine, which was a bit too sweet.



Somebody came to check our food order that we’d placed online for our main course and take our order for starters along with our preferred time for dinner.

At 6:30 pm I was offered a pashmina – another difference. It was still really a blanket, just with a posher name in First. I wore it like a blanket, so probably gave myself away!



I started watching The Greatest Showman and my champagne was topped up before I’d even finished it. Just before 8 pm, they came to get our table laid for dinner. Martin chose to sit opposite me for us to eat together.





Antipasti was served for both of us as a pre-appetiser, followed by Smoked salmon for Martin. We were also brought a basket of bread.





For mains we both had the Fillet of beef.



Strawberry and almond tart followed, minus the strawberries for Martin.



A glass of Sancerre each plus some water helped wash it all down.

After dinner, the crew offered the turn down service, so off I went to get changed into my pyjamas and I was settled down under the duvet by 9:30pm.







I tossed and turned a little, but managed 3 hours sleep, before I woke up feeling rather thirsty. I’d still got some water left, so drank that before dozing for another half an hour. I then decided to go and get dressed again as there was less than 2 hours left to go.

When I came back, our beds had been put back to seats, and Afternoon Tea was offered. It was a little bizarre at 1:15 am UK time, but went down surprisingly well. I declined the tea and instead opted for a couple of glasses of water and orange juice to try and quench my thirst, which was probably due to the alcohol I’d consumed earlier.





The final hour was spent watching the flight map and typing up my notes.

I changed my watch to Vancouver time when we were about half an hour from landing.

We had a very smooth landing at 6:45 pm local time and the doors opened about 10 minutes later.

Within 20 minutes of walking off the plane, we had cleared immigration, collected our luggage and were in a taxi heading for the hotel.

The journey to Yaletown only took 20 minutes and we checked in straightaway, which was a very smooth process. We were offered a glass of sparkling rose wine or a bottle of water. We both opted for water - think we’d drunk quite enough for the day already. The staff did tell us we could pop back down later for one if we changed our mind.

While they took our luggage and checked the room was ready, we nipped into the bar and grabbed a Diet Coke each. Five minutes later, our keys were brought to us and we went to find our room - number 702. Our luggage had made it there before us.







We were impressed with what we found. It was a lovely room with a huge bed, sofa and balcony. We unpacked our Vancouver case - we’d been organised with our packing cubes, so we didn’t have to unpack all 3 cases. That proved to be a great idea and unpacking was done within 5 minutes.





We got ready for bed, then watched America’s Got Talent and managed to stay awake until 10pm.
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Old 13 Aug 18, 05:18 PM  
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Gunna
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First class looks brilliant, I’d love to do it one day, a great way to start your travels off for sure.

We only had a brief wander through Yaletown but it looked a good area to stay, looking forward to reading more of your travels.
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Old 14 Aug 18, 01:53 AM  
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Looks a great flight, maybe I'll get to try it one day, what a lucky glitch x
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Old 14 Aug 18, 07:29 AM  
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Rob & Jan
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Well that's what you call a good travel day, next time have your camera ready when you bump into Rod Stewart!
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Old 14 Aug 18, 08:39 AM  
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Which hotel did you stay at? I’m after recommendations for next year. Thanks
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Old 14 Aug 18, 04:27 PM  
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jocat
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Originally Posted by Gunna View Post
First class looks brilliant, I’d love to do it one day, a great way to start your travels off for sure.

We only had a brief wander through Yaletown but it looked a good area to stay, looking forward to reading more of your travels.
It certainly was a great way of travelling. I hate flying normally, but strangely enough not this time!

I really liked Yaletown as a location - my research served me well. We wanted somewhere where we could comfortably find places to eat on our doorstep in the evenings, and there were load of places to choose from within a 5 minute walk.

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan View Post
Looks a great flight, maybe I'll get to try it one day, what a lucky glitch x
I kept expecting that they’d contact me to say they’d made a mistake! Glad they didn’t though - it was nice to experience, even if it will probably never happen again. I’ll certainly be looking for similar bargains in every BA sale though.

Originally Posted by Rob & Jan View Post
Well that's what you call a good travel day, next time have your camera ready when you bump into Rod Stewart!
I just wasn’t prepared at all. If Martin hadn’t nearly bumped into him and I noticed that out of the corner of my eye, I probably wouldn’t have even looked up! Any lounge in the future though, and I’ll be scanning all of the guests in there with my phone in my hand!

Originally Posted by Twiggy1953 View Post
Which hotel did you stay at? I’m after recommendations for next year. Thanks
We stayed at the Opus in Yaletown. It’s a boutique hotel with all individually decorated rooms, and is in a great location, with loads of restaurants on your doorstep. They had iPads to use in the room, treats each evening with their turndown service, and a lovely bar and restaurant too.

If you decide to book, I’d recommend booking a cancellable rate, as we found there was a good sale on about 3 months before we travelled, so were able to cancel and rebook a better room for about £300 less than we’d originally booked one for. We booked a lot of our hotels on ebookers, so could get cash back with Quidco too, or use a discount voucher - ebookers often send these out on an email, giving an additional 13 or 14% off. You do have to pay at the time you use the discount though.

Edited at 04:30 PM.
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Old 14 Aug 18, 04:54 PM  
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What a lovely travel day - first class looks fab, even the food looks rather nice!
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Old 14 Aug 18, 08:12 PM  
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Originally Posted by eleele View Post
What a lovely travel day - first class looks fab, even the food looks rather nice!
It was really good - I normally resort to taking a Boots Meal Deal on a flight, but no need this time!
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Old 14 Aug 18, 10:25 PM  
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Travel day looks great! Hope the rest of your trip is as good.
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Old 15 Aug 18, 10:54 PM  
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Originally Posted by CrispyA View Post
Travel day looks great! Hope the rest of your trip is as good.
Thanks. It was great.
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