Monday--Travel Day

         I woke up at midnight last night and could not go back to sleep.  Rebecca's alarm went off at 4:15am so just got up with her.  Last minute items put in luggage and was ready at 5:45 when Scott pulled into the drive.  So nice to have great neighbors on both sides of us.  We arrived at the United Airlines ticket counter at 6:15 to check our 3 pieces of luggage.  One weighed 50 1/2 pounds which they said was a half pound over weight but I reminded them that the first class allowance was 70 pounds.  They did not charge us but stuck a tag on it saying "Heavy".
        Our flight departed Durango on time and arrived exactly on time.  There was no service in either first class or coach on this flight.  I was looking forward to a bloody Mary but none was to be had.  Unfortunately, in Denver we had a 25 minute walk and train ride to get to our departure gate for the flight to Vancouver.  We had lots of time to make the connection.
I found it interesting that our outbound gate was B52.  I flew that plane when in the Air Force many years ago.  We were advised that Canada required all passengers to wear masks on board the flight to Canada and also in the Vancouver airport terminal.  In the city masks are not required however.
 
Here we are in first class sipping a glass of champagne during boarding.

Rebecca has pre-ordered the vegetarian chili but they did not have it so choose this chicken with pasta.  When I got on the internet at the hotel, I had an email from United apologizing for the lack of her requested entree and gave us 2500 United miles to make up for it.  NICE!!

I had pre-ordered a cheese burger and that's what I got.  Both meals were very good.

Bryan was our purser and Kaye was the galley person.  Their service was really great.  We had talked to them out in the gate area prior to boarding and explained we were both retired airline folks.  I gave each of them a mini Snicker bar which they really appreciated.

I asked Bryan if I could possibly have one of the wine glasses with a United logo on it for my collection.  He later came with two glasses and flight attendant wings in each glass.  They also wrote us a very nice note.  You'll have to click on the photos to enlarge them.

At the bulkhead opposite side from us was a couple with this huge poodle (service dog).  It slept the whole 2 1/2 hour flight.

        Surprisingly, Canadian customs and immigration was fairly simple.  We went to a kiosk to scan our passports and had trouble but a very nice young lady helped me get it done and out popped a baggage receipt which we showed customs after our luggage arrived on the baggage conveyer.  Fortunately, all 3 bags arrived with us.  We were supposed to have a private car waiting to take us to the Hilton Downtown.  The Regent greeters told us the car was scheduled for tomorrow, not today.  So I showed her my documents showing it was today, not tomorrow.  They were quite nice and offered a taxi voucher for free ride to the hotel and escorted us right out to the taxi.  The taxi was quite nice and the driver was excellent, weaving in and out of traffic to get us to the hotel in 30 minutes.

        Patrick checked us in at the Hilton and upgraded us to a two room king with a small balcony.  The room was very nice.  Rebecca went to get some ice down the hall and I went to a liquor store attached to the hotel to get us a bottle of chardonnay for later.  Hey, there is a Dairy Queen just across the street.

        Ok, Rebecca is happy now as her soap, "Young and the Restless" is now playing on our tv.  We have a dinner reservation for 6pm at an Italian restaurant close by called, "Frankie's Italian Kitchen".

Going to be an early night as we both are beat.  We have two nights to get rested up before boarding Mariner on Wednesday.