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PAL@YWG · Last edited by PAL@YWG on Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:40 am; edited 5 times in total

Folks, I knew for quite sometime that I need to travel to Seattle for a short visit (3 nights) in the begining of June. I have done this route before which essentially invoves a short bumpy ride on a DH3 from YVR to SEA.
But this time I was reluctant to be tossed around on a small plane. So, I thought I will do YWG- YVR- YWG and cross the border on a bus. After a quick search, I came accross Quick coach bus company that picks up passengers from YVR airport itself. I had just enough Airmiles to pick up one way ticket on Westjet & bought the return sector (on one of those "24 hour only deal") on Air Canada website. Since it's a personal trip, I was overall happy that I got all tickets at a very competetive price.

June 3, 2011:
Sector: YWG- YVR
Airline: Westjet
Flight # : WS 307
Aircraft: a crisp B737-700
Load: about 65%
Departure: 7AM

Ample leg room

Flight left in time and in no time we were over canadian rocky mountains.

People who fly on Westjet regularly, know that it's an airline owned by the employees and the sincerety stands out on everything they do. The cabin crew especially very humourous, occasionally they share jokes over the PA. On this particular flight, after touching down at YVR, a male crew member shared a joke and insisted that we all laugh (whether we like it or not ) otherwise he will not open the door! The joke goes like this:

A duck (a lot of them in Canada) walks into a corner store and asks the storekeeper:
- Can I get some duckfood please?
-No, we don't carry duckfood.
Duck leaves the store.

Next day he comes again and asks:
- Can I get some duckfood please?
- I told you we don't carry duckfood! If you bother me again, I will nail your wings to the wall!!!
Duck leaves.

Next day, Duck comes again and asks:
-Can I get some nail please?
- No, we don't carry nails.
- Then, can I get some duckfood please?

Most of the folks laughed and we were out in no time!

At YVR airport, a famous curving by John Reid, a native artist.

Just outside the international arrival, my coach arrived. In about 3 hours time (including crossing the border near Surrey, BC), I am in Seattle. I had a beautiful sunny day at Seattle, I used it to explore. Some photos:

Famous hotel by the waterfront, where Beatles stayed.

I had a glance at the Boeing factory from far. Among many aircrafts parked in a scattered manner, I was looking for AI 787s but couldn't spot them. What caught my eye was a Concorde in BA color and a Boeing 747-8. Next time I plan to take a tour of the Boeing factory, time permitting!

After enjoying my stay at SEA, it's time to head home. A smooth border crossing (USA-> Canada) again in the early hours, I was just in time to catch my following flight:

June 6, 2011:
Sector: YVR- YYC
Airline: Air Canada
Flight # : AC 202
Aircraft: a crisp E90
Load: 100%
Departure: 7AM
With 100% load, this well-maintained E90 brought us to Calgary in about an hour and 20 minutes.

Inflight

Canadian Rocky mountain again:

our aircraft at the gate at YYC

June 6, 2011:
Sector: YYC- YWG
Airline: Air Canada Jazz
Flight # : AC 8334
Aircraft: a pathetic CRJ-200
Load: about 60%
Departure: 10.05AM
The aircraft was very old and it showed. Within 15 minutes after take-off, Pilot came on the PA and said that we are turning back to Calgary, nothing serious, he finds some readings that does not look right. At least that is what I understood. After tense 10 minutes of steep decent, we touched down at YYC.

After about an hour of waiting, we got another CRJ-200, but a newer one. We walked to board the aircraft.

Rest was uneventful, we landed at YWG around 2PM.
Flat landscape of prairies:

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for my upcoming trip!

Comments are always welcome!
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Nimish · Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:27 pm Post subject:

Nice TR - though you need to edit it to embed the actual pictures (requires the ending of the URL to be a .jpg or .gif). A GCMap of the route would also help us understand the exotic routing Wink

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We miss you Nalini!

PAL@YWG · Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:05 am Post subject:

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Nice TR, thanks for sharing Smile

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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

That is a very nice trip report - thank you very much for sharing it with us! Some random ramblings:
- The Westjet interiors look interesting: the overhead bins with the Westjet colour lining.
- Very nice pictures - the ones of the cloud formations, and the mountains, and some of the city scenes really catch the eye.
- The Westjet jokes - I had only read about them thus far in some `generic' emails: good that you presented a first-hand experience.
- Your Quick Coach ride revived some memories of a trip made almost exactly a decade back. I had done this same route on 06 Jun, coming back on 08 Jun, 2001. This is a very scenic route (but had quite a few denuded mountain slopes on the way). There is a Llama farm somewhere just as the bus comes out of the YVR ariport, and takes a right turn, going beside two adjacent perpendicular boundaries of the farm. The bus driver had mentioned this. We had an interesting bus driver: someone up front had asked him as to who was the most famous passenger he had carried thus far in his bus. He gave out a name, followed by a pause, and then he announced that that was his name.
- The route goes via the Boeing factory at Renton! I guess I was too sleepy on both legs of the trip in 2001.
- PTVs on an E190: nice!
Cheers, Sumantra.

PAL@YWG · Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:37 am Post subject:

Sumantra,
many thanks for your kind comments.
In fact the bus ride between Vancouver and Seattle is quite scenic, lush greenery and mountain range on both sides for most of the strech.
En route, bus also stopped at Bellingham (BLI) airport. The parking lot was full with mostly Canadian number plates. No wonder, for Canadian passengers it always make sense to fly out of an US airport availing cheaper airfare.
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Yes, I seem to remember a tiny-weeny airport named `Bellingham International' on the way on both the legs. The largest aircraft I saw parked there was a Challenger 600. What is the air traffic like at BLI: scheduled flights, etc?
Cheers, Sumantra.