2010 Beijing Trip, Vancouver

Yawn... I got up at 3:30am this morning for my 7:00am flight at LAX. Originally I wanted to fly out of John Wayne but my parents said they could take me to LAX which had cheaper flights to Beijing. We left the house at 4:00am, got to LAX at 5:00am, and the Air Canada ticket counter wasn't even open.

Anyway, right now I'm at Vancouver Airport waiting for my flight. I've only been here a few times and never in the international terminal. There are a lot of flights leaving for China in the next few hours. The four gates right next to me has two to Beijing and two to Shanghai. The flight from YVR to PEK is only ~12 hours instead of the 15+ from LAX to Hong Kong.

I haven't flown Air Canada in a long time so I was surprised to hear all the announcements in French. On Cathay, you get to hear stuff three times: English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.


Breakfast of champions at Burger King in Terminal 2 (LAX). I got chocolate milk!


Sunrise at gate 23


Vancouver Airport from gate 54. It snowed the night before.


China Eastern to Shanghai and Air China to Beijing


There are several displays from local companies in the terminal. This is from Larrivee... I heard of them before but didn't realize they were based out of Vancouver.

I have about another 90 minutes before my flight. I'm used to boarding early for the past few years since I've been flying only Cathay Pacific and American Airlines. I have no elite status with Air Canada so I have to wait around to board like everyone else now. :(

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I was in a duty free store looking for stuff for my Beijing friend (found it). All the workers were Chinese and so were most of the customers. I was on the phone explaining to my friend the USD-CAD exchange rate and some guy from China was next to me making comments about how the USD was "larger" than CAD. He wasn't talking "to" me though... just standing there talking to himself, I think. At checkout, there was a different guy from China (saw his passport) buying 12 bottles of Chanel No. 5 perfume ($75 each). He was asking the saleslady whether it was a good brand. What?! He spent ~$1,200 on perfume and he's never heard of Chanel? It must be for his mistress(es). I wanted to ask which government department he worked for but that will probably get me in trouble next week in Beijing.

I'm not sure if my flight has meals; it should for a 12 hour flight. I'll go walk around some more to see if there's anything good to eat... french fries and gravy!!!