The Uncarved Blog

We are on our way to Beijing. We left Seattle at 6:00 this morning, aboard the tiniest, most rickety little plane Air Canada has to offer. Seriously. We actually had to walk out on the tarmac to board the plane, because it was too little to be connected to the terminal with one of those tube walkway thingies. The right propellor was about six feet from Ben’s seat throughout the flight, and it sounded like it was at risk of sputtering out and dying any moment. I have to say, it made me a little nervous. But we arrived safely, with no propellor sputtering to speak of.

I also have to say that the Vancouver airport customs area is one of the most confusing places I have ever been. We had to ask three different people where we were supposed to go before we were able to stumble out of there and back into the light of day. But we made it, and are now enjoying some Starbucks coffee and breakfast sandwiches, and trying to entertain ourselves for the five hours before our flight takes off.

Here’s a conversation from this morning:

Ben: I’ll just use my card to get us some coffee.

Me: Why don’t you just use cash?

Ben: Because they don’t accept dollars here. We’re in Canada.

Me: (embarrassed) oh, yeah.

Ben: What kind of coffee do you want?

Me: Ummm…I’ll have an Americano. (pause) Wait! Do they have Americanos in Canada?

Ben: (laughs) They might not.

(By the way, it turns out they do serve Americanos in Canada–Starbucks is Starbucks, no matter where you go.)