1st May 2025

Phil picked us up from home and drove us to Terminal 2 at Heathrow. Checking in, passport, and baggage check were all easy to do. There was a new system, hand luggage & pockets did not have to have bottles of liquid and electronic gadgets removed.  We also did not have to take our belts and shoes off.

We boarded the flight, and were herded towards the back, but we did have a spare seat next to us. A man kept on saying “water” to one of the cabin crew. She turned around to face him and told him that if he said “please”, she could probably help him, which she later did. Great stuff.

Of the films on offer, I watched Black Panther both of us watched Paddington in Peru.

Air Canada was quite good on the food and drinks side of flying, I managed a couple of beers and a wine. I even turned down a beer for a fourth round from the trolly. 

The captain, a woman, was retiring at the end of this trip after 40+ years service. Ground breaking. Lots of cheering on the flight. She said goodbye to each of us as we left, R gave her a good hug. (Actually, we were routed through business class to meet her at the posh aircraft door.) I believe there were water canons doing an arch of honour in front of the plane to commemorate her retirement.

Passport control in Canada was a first for us, all machines, and open, not like the intimidating UK ones. Where you are locked in. No questions on entry so we were automatically herded through with almost zero human interaction.

Bags picked up, and the driver that Trailfinders had ordered was there in a Tesla model X to take us to the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel opposite the cruise terminal. I have not seen so many Tesla cars on the road together. There were at least five, all next to each other. And we saw two Tesla Cybertrucks. One downside of the X, was that one gullwing door did not open at the airport, but it later opened when we exited. I suspect the Tesla thought the door was going to hit an obstruction.

It was a lovely day in Vancouver, quite warm, and no clouds. Better than the forecast, which, according to Air Canada was for “dreary” weather.

We arrived at the Fairmont, and were soon in our room. Time was around 7.0  We headed out for supper. The lift was full of people, huge queue at the lobby. It appears a group from the Rocky Mountaineer was checking in.  

We found an ATM which charged us $3.50 to use it. We ate in the Rogue Kitchen and Wet Bar.  It’s part of the station. Good selection of beers, I had a cloudy IPA (a very cloudy IPA, never seen one so cloudy, even had swirls in the cloud), and a Stout.  Kept the food to one course, bowls of  rice and salmon.

An American ship, The Ruby Princess with 3700 passengers, was in port on its way to SF, leaving at 10pm . Our ship, the Holland and America Koningsdam, was heading south from Alaska, to arrive on Saturday. It will spend the next six months back and forth between Vancouver and Alaska, then when winter arrives it will head to the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies

Back to the hotel for an early night, we had been  up for 24hours, but R found the bed problematical. Too high! Above her waist!