VS096 YVR-LHR 25 SEP 13 (Upper Class)

[honey lamb]

This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin

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My week in the Pacific NorthWest went all too quickly. On my first day in Seattle, my friends and I descended on Crate and Barrel for wedding gifts where we denuded the happy couple’s wedding registry by buying all the small items thereon such as a mini-masher, herb scissors and not one, but two butter-warmers! Why anyone would want one, let alone two still beggars belief!

The wedding reception itself was great fun and the groom and groom were truly thrilled that I had taken the trouble to cross the Atlantic which made the hassle of the outbound journey all worthwhile. On Sunday we relaxed and the following morning Chris gallantly went into work late at 6.15am in order to leave me at King Street Station in order to catch the train back to Vancouver.

Last year King Street Station was undergoing renovations which had now been completed. I’ll say this much about the American railway system - their stations are stunning when you consider places like Grand Central Station, Union Station in DC and now King Street.

When I left home a few days earlier, I hadn’t had the chance to print off my ticket and so at check-in, having first pulled up the confirmation email on my phone, I proffered the agent a picture of Aer John! Ooops! The correct page was brought up and was scanned. Baggage tags were produced and my case was whisked away until I arrived in Vancouver. I then went over to the departure hall to find that a desk had been set up in front of the track from which we would depart and at which seat allocations would be given. There were two queues, one for business and one for economy and already long lines had formed. I joined the business class one and shortly afterwards an announcement was made and we all shuffled forward. In front of me was a fussy man who moaned and complained to his long-suffering wife who looked into the middle distance with a glazed look in her eyes. Some of his complaints were about her and if she had suddenly given him a clatter with her handbag, I personally would have cheered! Before any such contretemps could take place, they were called forward only to be sent to the back of the now very long economy line! At this stage the wife, shot him a look of pure fury and said “I told you we were in the wrong line, but listen to me would you? Oh no!” We all perked up at this. Was WW3 about to erupt? This made getting up at the crack of dawn worthwhile. He merely glared at her and slunk off with his tail well and truly between his legs, well aware that he had lost his place of being #1 in the queue to what looked like being #101. In turn, we drooped our shoulders in disappointment as our entertainment was so abruptly curtailed. In any case it was my turn to go forward to get my seat assignment and a very nice one it was although it was in car 2 and I would have preferred to have been in car 1. After that, I settled back to people watch. Many of them, especially those who had printed off their tickets arrived at the desk with masses of luggage in spite of the notices around the place saying that only one piece could be in the carriage with you.

They were all sent back to check-in and eventually someone had to patrol the lines and direct them to check-in first before they could get their seat allocation.

The rail journey was just fine. In Vancouver they disembark you one carriage at a time so that there are no horrendous queues at immigration and the bags have all been removed from the train before passengers are allowed off - none of this power walking to get to Immigration first or long lines once there. It was all rather leisurely and efficient (well unless you happened to be in the last carriage) and soon I was checking into my hotel for my brief stay in Vancouver. For the first couple of days the weather was not especially kind - a bit chilly and with occasional showers, but on the last day the sun shone and I took myself off up to Grouse Mountain for my remaining few hours in Canada.

When I arrived at the airport check-in had already commenced but the UC line was empty and I was checked in by as nice a person as you could wish to meet. She made sure that I had a sticker on my boarding pass and proceeded to tell me where the lounge was. I told her I had been there before but she told me that they were refurbishing it and they had set up a temporary lounge alongside Gate 64 which was the departure gate for my flight. Oh dear! The poor souls at YVR had done their best while the Premium Plaza Lounge was out of commission but the room was small and pokey with plenty of seating but it was warm and with no natural light. Alongside one wall they had set up a buffet mostly of snacks and cheese but there was some soup there and, at this long interval since my flight, I can't remember what else. There was however a rather nice G&T with my name on it and so it somewhat redeemed itself but the wifi in the room was dire. Outside the room in the main concourse, they had roped off an area for lounge members to use and while the wifi was as excellent as it always is in Canadian airports, one was subjected to all the noise from the airport itself. It was a relief when the flight was called.

The aircraft this time was Molly, the same one I had been on when I left Vancouver last year and I was in the selfsame seat again. The cabin crew were helpful, friendly and efficient so I knew it was going to be a good flight - perhaps not an outstanding one, but one I knew I would be happy with and thus it was. Champagne was produced promptly as was a G&T as soon as we were airborne followed by its companion. The meal was delicious comprising of a rather nice soup, some beef and I can't remember what else. Well it was a couple of months ago! Shortly after that, having placed my iPad in the pocket next to the seat, I converted the suite to a bed and within minutes was away with the fairies! When I awoke we were already over Ireland and I was afraid I had missed breakfast, but no - it was just being served. Having just woken up I really didn't feel like much to eat so satisfied myself with cereal and tea and then occupied myself with my iPad until we were due to land and I put it away again. An unadventurous trip report due to my slumbering away throughout - sorry. But there's more to come......

Once off the plane I headed for Border Control and, as my new passport was a biometric one, I decided to use the e-gates given that there seemed to be a longish queue for EU passports and a large Indian family blocked the entrance while they decided whether or not they could use that line. Feeling rather proud of myself when the gates worked I headed off to collect my bag which was already on the carousel before making my way through the subway to T1 and the Major Embarrassing Incident!!

On arrival in T1 I made my way to the Aer Lingus desk to ask if I could check in for my Cork flight. In the past they have made me wait until three hours before the flight but they seem to have got their act together since and there was no trouble in doing so and a very happy honey lamb handed over her case till he arrival in Cork. I decided to go through security which was fairly busy, went through the stage of being photographed and lined up ready for screening. I put my carry on bag on to the belt, put my hand into the compartment where I keep the iPad. it was empty!!!! A feeling of sheer horror gripped me - I had left it on Molly in the seat pocket!! With a world-weary sigh from the security guy who had seen it all before and would no doubt see it again, I was escorted out of security and thanking my stars for Little Red, headed over to the desk where I explained my dilemma. They, in all fairness, rose to the challenge and called Virgin Atlantic over in T3, helped by the fact that I was able to give the aircraft name, my seat number and a whole lot of other information which was totally unnecessary, except that I wanted to prove that I wasn't entirely useless! So there they are, no doubt happy to have something to do during a lull in their business, when all of a sudden a vague memory pushes itself through my befuddled brain. I put my hand into my handbag and......

. ....yep! You've guessed it! The iPad was there all the time! I was mortified!!! And that doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling and very shamefacedly showed it to the staff. They looked a bit disappointed that their sleuthing powers had been curtailed and looked at me with pity as I slunk off with my tail well and truly between my legs. It was a relief to get through security and into the Aer Lingus area once more where no-one knew about the eejit with the iPad. After that the flight became bog standard - in other words, it took off, I had a G&T and it landed and soon I was back home again.

What could possibly happen next? Wait and see.

[buns]

Thanks for such an engaging TR

I salute your courage in mentioning the I Pad, given that we would have been none the wiser A salutary lesson to us all about heading the advice of the FSM's "Welcome to.... " message

buns

Great TR. I seem to carry so many "can't possibly travel without" items nowadays it is almost a given one of them will go missing at some point! Very glad the iPad reappeared.

Ahh what will HL get up to next..

Cheers for the TR, always good to be reading about your adventures

Thank you for yet another entertaining TR with a bit of suspense thrown in . So glad the ipad was found safely ! What an awful feeling it must have been when you thought you had mislaid it followed by a mixture of relief and shame.

It would never happen with a laptop, as they're bulky and unmissable..poking out of the seat pocket or storage area.
But yes, these iPads are so thin and easily-tuckawayable, that I just can't quite relax with them onboard! Every time I tuck it away in the seat pocket or whatever, I sit there so paranoid that I will forget it when disembarking, that I just can't leave it in there for more than a minute or two!!