It's all in the preparation, the boy scout motto. Everything at the ready and the final piece of the puzzle, set the trusty alarm for the ungodly hour of 4am, head on pillow go to sleep. That part was easy, the alarm malfunction and the banging on the door is the true test!! That is when your survival instincts take over, feet hit the floor, night vision on, blood pressure up, adrenalin at the max. flow and memory function in escape mode. If you're thinking I forgot my luggage, you'd be wrong!

The trip to the airport was the norm, Tim's and the healthy dose of  nicotine gets you to the Park N Fly, from there to the Terminal by the mini-bus, check the luggage and get through security with your shoes on, not all people do!! Next thing is board the plane and watch what I consider to be a new Olympic sport up for consideration and that is the twisting and facial expressions of getting that carry on to the overhead storage compartment, I believe the most points should be awarded for the facial expression and the individual's ability to change it in a blink of an eye and of course the ability to get it right the first time, not as easy as you may think.  This is truly a spectator sport and I believe one that all amateur athletes (passengers) on all flights will aspire to, so stay tuned and watch for the announcement.

I digress and the seat belt is on and we are now cruising at 40,000 feet, in-flight movie on, drop in on Toronto and back at 40,000 feet, in flight movie and 40 winks and we will be starting our descent to Vancouver, out of the airport into the limo, bubbly at the ready and proceed to the hotel, unload, check in, go to room that will now be your home for the next 5 days and nights.

The first invaluable lesson learned on the streets of Vancouver and one that you should not forget is NEVER at anytime proceed out on the crosswalk when the red hand indicates stop, because if you were to ignore this, I'm sure from what I observed, is that you would be transported into the hereafter by any number of 4 wheeled vehicles and there didn't appear to be any shortage of them.

Vancouver is a great city to visit with an almost endless amount of attractions to see and we managed to see some good ones; Stanley Park and the Aquarium with it's many tenants, Horseshoe Bay, the harbor, the majestic Rockies as a constant backdrop, Granville Island, the many yachts and boats moored at the ready.  However the pace of life, especially the traffic, is just a little more than I would want to deal with on a day-to-day basis.