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Live from the NCL Jewel December 24-31, 2022 with YVRteacher and her Dad

YVRteacher

By YVRteacher,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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armwinder

armwinder

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1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

Yes, I was able to change our flights so now we are leaving on December 21.

We leave on the 21st also. We are staying in a hotel down near the marina in San Diego for a few days. Apparently it is about 18-20°C down in San Diego, a little warmer than Osoyoos right now. 

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YVRteacher "Live from...." Rare

YVRteacher

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13 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

I pray that you have very safe travels.  Hopefully you are doing a non-stop.  Sea-Tac is being reported as a nightmare for the last few days especially with Alaskan flights.

 

Enjoy

Vancouver airport isn’t doing very well…

 

D3F150C6-DB65-44D4-A21A-E98E27776752.png

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armwinder

armwinder

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39 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

are you driving from Osoyoos tomorrow?

No we are staying over in Kelowna and are planning to fly into Van on Thursday morning. Not looking good but we will see. Some snow here but way more in Kelowna. Talked to NCL cruise consultant today on another matter. He said just turn up for the flights if the airlines cancel and we don’t make the ship then insurance should look after it. Who knows until there is a claim. We may be home for Christmas. ☺️  You should be in a better position than us as you are already in Vancouver. 

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YVRteacher "Live from...." Rare

YVRteacher

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Our journey begins today.  After driving for two hours (my city to my dad’s city then to Richmond for YVR) I dropped my dad off at the entrance to CanadaLine Skytrain so he wouldn’t have to walk in the snow from the car to the train.  When I stepped out of the car I ended up in a snow bank that was higher than my knees.  Fortunately, as I was shaking myself off I saw a glimpse of red in the snow . It was a Starbucks card.  More on this later!

 

Airport parking was crazy full so it took me a while to park and run back to meet my dad. Poor dad.  I had told him not to pack a jacket since we are (hopefully!) going to make this plane and end up in Mexico.  I didn’t know that with the windchill factor it would be -15 degrees Celsius today.  Oops.  He said he was calling for me to hurry up but I couldn’t hear him.

 

There have been horrendous news stories this week about the chaos at YVR, so we have been preparing for chaos, a long wait, potential cancellations and sleeping on a bench. When we arrived, it was organized, calm and peaceful.  From curb to gate was about 10 minutes and security didn’t even make my dad take his belt off.  Thank goodness as he swears a lot when that happens.  Just as much as he did when he tried to make something out of wood and nails when I was kid: his nails were always purple!

 

Back to that Starbucks card I found in the snow: it was a gift from a locksmith and it was a $50 card.  We had caramel brûlée lattes, cranberry bliss bars and a tray of raw veggies for dinner.  Airport picnic for the win!

 

After dinner we had to wash the salt off our suitcases.  It was all ground into the wheel wells and splattered across the bottoms and sides.

 

The flight next to ours was just cancelled. Ours is scheduled to board in 27 minutes and depart in 57 minutes.  Stay tuned!

 

PS-i didn’t have room in my suitcase for his Christmas present so I gave my dad his puzzle today.  He loves it and I’m so happy.  Of course there were Purdy’s chocolates in his Christmas parcel as well.

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armwinder

armwinder

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13 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

The flight next to ours was just cancelled. Ours is scheduled to board in 27 minutes and depart in 57 minutes.  Stay tuned!

Following. We are in Kelowna, not the nicest drive took over three hours from Osoyoos. -27°C right now. Looks like things will work out tomorrow for our 6:00am flight into Van then 9:30 out to San Diego, not holding our breath but it looks positive. 

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SunshineGal2022

SunshineGal2022

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I hope you make it!  I not too far from San Diego and it is certainly jacket weather for us. It's about 14C in San Diego (my region is actually closer to 8 or 9C).  Your poor dad standing outside in those winds!  Was he wearing a sweatshirt at least?? 

 

The puzzle is wonderful.  I love that cartoon style.

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YVRteacher "Live from...." Rare

YVRteacher

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Multiple choice

Did we 

A) Fly from Vancouver to San Diego

B) Sleep on the airport floor

C) swim 

 

We made it!  We boarded at 6:30pm, sat at the gate until 7:40, went through de-icing and finally took off at 8:23pm.  Immediately after de-icing we hit something. It felt like the time I was driving my best friend’s dad’s gas-guzzling suburban through Moab, Utah and ran over a chipmunk.  

It was a long wait for my dad and the complaints were flowing like champagne on New Year’s Eve.  I told my dad he was using up his week’s worth of complaints all in one night and he said that was allowed.  At 7:05pm my dad told me it was almost bedtime.  At 7:30 he said it was bedtime.  At 7:45 he said he was never flying again.  At 7:50 he informed me we were going to Whistler next year.  I told him Whistler is $1200 a night at Christmas.  At 8:00 he said this was killing him.  I told him to close his eyes and go to sleep and he said “this is not a sleeping position.”  Lesson learned: no more late flights for dad.

 

The guy behind us seems to have something against either deodorant or bathing and the woman in front of us leapt up and shoved her backpack into the overhead bin above our seats as soon as we sat down.  I gently slid it down her way and she had a conniption.  Later I heard her say something about going on a cruise so we’ll see if territorial backpack woman is on the same cruise.

 

For entertainment, I watched the Elvis movie (apparently the cruise director on one of the Celebrity ships was the voice of Elvis) and my dad watched the Air Canada Home Screen which gave him a choice of English or French. Riveting.

 

My dad says he wants to sleep in but the free hotel breakfast ends at 9:00am…

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YVRteacher "Live from...." Rare

YVRteacher

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13 hours ago, SunshineGal2022 said:

I hope you make it!  I not too far from San Diego and it is certainly jacket weather for us. It's about 14C in San Diego (my region is actually closer to 8 or 9C).  Your poor dad standing outside in those winds!  Was he wearing a sweatshirt at least?? 

 

The puzzle is wonderful.  I love that cartoon style.

I’m wearing shorts here today!

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YVRteacher "Live from...." Rare

YVRteacher

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14 hours ago, armwinder said:

Following. We are in Kelowna, not the nicest drive took over three hours from Osoyoos. -27°C right now. Looks like things will work out tomorrow for our 6:00am flight into Van then 9:30 out to San Diego, not holding our breath but it looks positive. 

Sending you positive travel vibes!!

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ChiefMateJRK

ChiefMateJRK

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8 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Immediately after de-icing we hit something. It felt like the time I was driving my best friend’s dad’s gas-guzzling suburban through Moab, Utah and ran over a chipmunk.  

Yikes!!  Glad to hear you made it to SD.  Hopefully smooth sailing from here. 😎  Give Dad our best!  I have a soft spot for grumpy old guys.  I see one in the mirror several times a day.

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