Pit Stop Van City #2

So for anyone who has ever wondered what happens when you miss your flight, I have a story for you.

The voyage to Seattle this time had been pretty crappy. Flight there took over 7hrs, with a baby wailing on top of his lungs the whole ride to Vancouver. 2 hrs of stopover at YVR with no food cuz everything is closed and had to pick up my luggage and drop it off at customs. On my way back, the stopover was even longer: 3.5 hours. After picking up my baggage and dropping them off after Canadian Customs (which took over one hour because there were 18 flights arriving around the same time) at YVR, I went out with Mavis to have some lunch and explore Richmond. Richmond is like a better version of Markham/Richmond Hill, with all big houses and asian stores everywhere. Mavis took me to this amazing Shanghainese restaurant and we ordered a lot more than we can finish.



After that, she took me to Stevenson's Wharf to check out the fish market there. The image you see on the side is the pier and all the boats are selling shrimps, prawn, salmons, etc. We then walked around this seemingly touristy area (but actually does not have a lot of tourists) and ended up having Macha Latte at Blenz, just because we don't have it in Toronto, at least none that I've seen (anyone wanna do some fact check? =P).

At around 4pm, I realized it was getting really late and I told Mavis we should be leaving. We rushed to the airport only to get there at 4:25pm and of course, no boarding cuz my flight departs at 4:30pm. The attendant that placed me on the next flight an hour later was professional to the point where he was an ass. I can't really explain his attitude, but like you can't complain about the way he dealt with me, though you can clearly feel his lack of sympathy and disdain. He also told me that my baggage would arrive at the 5:30pm flight (as opposed to my original flight) with me. Good thing I didn't believe him because when I went to check out the unclaimed luggage section, my bag was sitting there.

He also managed to place me next to the bathroom on an aisle seat next to the bathroom. Needless to say I didn't get any sleep. I guess I can't complain since it's my fault that I missed the flight. What I do have complaints about, however, is the attitude on the flight attendants on domestic flights. The woman was horridly rude and condescending to me. I had my cell phone on flight mode and I took it out of my bag after the plane landed, she came up to me and told me to turn it off. I told her it was on flight mode and she was like, "just do it." There is no reason to be condescending to anyone, even if you are not a customer. Seriously, Air Canada needs some serious work on domestic flights. The stopovers are also ridiculous.

I had a good experience with AC last time I flew direct to Seattle, with the nicest flight attendants. I know I shouldn't take small samples of flight attendants that I have interacted with as generalizations, but I really think when you have even one rude flight attendant, you have a problem. I have never encountered any rude flight attendants on any asian flights, nor UA, but I have flew with AC the most so I will factor in a multiude of variables of why AC has crappy customer service (remember that time when they lost my luggage?). Anyway, . What I really wanted to say was that if you miss a flight, I admit AC was pretty good and prompt with the rescheduling so I shouldn't complain....

I didn't arrive to Toronto Airport until 1am, got home at around 1:30am, and drove to Waterloo. Arrived in 'poo at 3am and went to bed at 4am. Woke up at 8am for my 9am class. It's scorching hot here. I wish I was back in the west coast