The morning went quickly with last minute tidying up, breakfast at Bob Evans, and minor repacking.  Today, our MBA cab was not early, but right on time at 12:15 PM.  

RSW did not seem that busy when we arrived.  However, when we reached our gate nearly two hours before departure, the lack of available seats made it obvious that flight 2740 was going to be full.  We pushed back at 2:44 PM on the dot.  Except for a bit of a bumpy ride at the start, the trip to DFW was uneventful.  Jack sat next to a woman from Montgomery, TX!  She did not know Jack’s niece Amy and, as she owned a bar, it was unlikely she would.  She and a group of friends had been on Captiva for a week.  

We landed on time and, even though the flight to Vancouver was in the same terminal, we had to take the sky train to our next gate.  By then, we had time to scarf down dinner – sandwiches, chips, and two bottles of water for $35 – from Friday’s to Go.  The YVR crowd was quite different than RSW’s – younger, more families and, of course, no shorts.  Again, this was another full flight that also pushed back on time.

The flight to YVR was a little over four hours.  We both tried to sleep a little but had no luck.  At some point, Cathy began chatting with her neighbor who was boarding RCCL’s Serenade of the Seas tomorrow.  Her family had an awful experience in Charlotte the day before.  They arrived in time for a 6:00 AM flight.  Because of the large crowd and small number of agents, they learned their luggage would not make if to Vancouver even if they made their flight.  As a result, they were on this flight.  Fortunately, they planned to arrive two days before sailing.

Even though both flights were uneventful, Cathy was uncomfortable throughout the trip.  Despite “half a blue pill”, she felt a panic attack coming on at one point.  She also felt claustrophobic mostly because both flights were completely full.

The YVR flight attendants gave us conflicting information about arrival requirements.  One person said we’d need to show our ArriveCAN app.  Later, another said we’d need to show passport and vaccination card.  Turns out we needed none of the above.  For us, customs was using a kiosk to scan passports, take our picture and answer questions.  The kiosk printed a receipt that we showed to a customs officer who marked it after a cursory look.

With some reluctance, given the price, Jack made a reservation at the Fairmont Airport Hotel.  This proved to be a good decision.  It was well after midnight our time after we cleared customs and gathered our luggage (this took at least ten minutes).  Given this, a one-floor elevator ride and a five-minute walk through the terminal was vastly preferable to waiting in the cold for transportation to an off-site hotel.  We felt even more vindicated when we saw the nicely appointed room.  After unpacking pjs and showers, we were both in bed about 1:00 AM EDT.