Getting to Vancouver
Getting to Vancouver turned out to be quite straightforward, we didnt get too lost at any of the airports. Auckland to Sydney, changed planes to exploding airways (thats China Airways for those not in on the joke) to Taipei and then changed again to Vancouver. Jarod made it past airport security despite trying to smuggle more than 100ml of water onto the plane, we noticed that now all the food outlets past customs sell bottled water, I bet they love the new rules.
Once we discovered that Terminal 2 in Taipei is much more exciting than Terminal 1, out 4 hours there wasnt too bad, and on both legs with China Airways the planes were half empty so we got plenty of room to sleep.
Arrived in Vancouver and flew through customs and immigration, got our visas for 12 months, yipee. Question is why do they make you leave your luggage outside the immigration office, unattended, when you are always being told to stay with it? Luckily noone stole it or put drugs in it. Slight hiccup when I left my backpack behind before going thru the final security point, luckily Jarod managed to talk an airport worker to go back and get it.
Arrived at the accomodation we booked for 8 nights to find it was OK, slightly shabby and smells like boiled cabbage, but given its one block from the worst street in downtown Vancouver I guess we cant complain, its cheap. We have a TV and a frigde and a bed so creaky you wake each other up every time you roll over. Its one block from Chinatown and 4 blocks from the main city centre.
