Across the Northland

Well I left you all waiting in the Bangkok Airport more or less, I was there for a couple hours having nothing else to do in Bangkok and then I got on the airplane. The first flight wasn't too bad at all, besides the fact that it was at the ungodly hour of two in the morning.

 

That first flight wasn't too bad, tried to sleep since it was a 6 hours or so, but got nothing more then an hour or two. They gave us some really strange breakfast that consisted of instant noodles, shrimp and fish, with hot pepper paste and a croissant, Korean I guess...

 

We landed in Korea (ICN) at just after 9 am and I got ready for my 8 hour layover in the airport, finding out it's an hour to get into central Seoul. While I was trying to recover my forward boarding pass they told me I had a free hotel. I was slightly surprised but not willing to ask the details knowing that I didn't have any money to pay for it if they asked. So a Canadian guy I met and I got our private shuttle to the little 7 floor hotel. As we went he explained to me that most Korean airlines will provide a room if you have more then about 5 hours between their flights.

 

We made it to the hotel and it was honestly the nicest place I have ever stayed. It had a couch in the room, a couple beds, a fridge with juice, a computer with free Internet access, and a bathroom which was the most impressive I've ever seen. With more buttons on the toilet then buttons on a small remote, and more nozzles in the shower then I have in my entire house, it was definitely impressive. They also provided for us a free lunch buffet, it was only cafeteria grade food, but hell it was all you can eat! After lunch I took a nap for a few hours and was awakened completely surprised when my phone was ringing and I was told to come to the lobby. I got back on the shuttle and headed for the airport where I got my next Boarding pass.

 

The next plane was a good one, a 777, big, but not giant. It was nice, everyone had their own  TV and that gave me a pretty good chance to catch up on some of Hollywood movies I've missed out on like X-Men 3, and Mission Impossible, both good. I tried to sleep on that plane, but as soon as we were in the air I got a splitting headache and it felt like my temperature was through the roof. Sleeping was not an option so I resorted to those movies, and a game of chess with the computer on the plane. I beat it with a suicide pawn run across the board. The game lasted 7 mins which is probably the shortest I've ever played, but since I won I figured that my sickness wasn't destroying my brain at too rapid of a rate at least.

 

We landed in Seattle and as soon as we started the decent I felt better, and even better in the customs section, surprisingly. This is where the real problems started.

 

If you've never had an international layover in an American airport, then you haven't had to go through all the BS about taking your bad off the plane and sending them through customs. I got to know this very well. I got to me "Roberts" and "Charles" just one name mind you, even if the other customs call them John and Jeff... Anyway I was randomly selected because I haven't shaved in the last month and a half, so I guess I'm looking like a terrorist or a drug traffiker. So they unloaded my entire bag having me give explanations for every little piece or dirt they found. But the real killer was when they found the Lao Whiskey for my friends 21st B-day (Happy Birthday Jon!) And the Guinness can that has accompanied me since Ireland so many months ago. (Hate to break it to you this way Ethan...) Well since I was supposed to be in the States for about 45 mins in between two countries that I am legal to carry and consume alcohol, they had to "Do what is right." and make sure that I don't get in "trouble" with something that was never even supposed to come out of my bag until I was in a hostel or someplace in Canada.

 

They took the things, had me sign a paper saying that I was "okay" with them taking these things from me. (At this point they had my Passport and I had a feeling that not signing might make obtaining that again less than tidy.) I got the pleasure of repacking all of my things in  the customs area, and then going to catch my other flight, which I quickly found out had already left to Vancouver.

 

I wandered around the Seattle airport until I finally found the Air Canada window, and got to wait in line with all of the other "problem" travelers. I got up front and when I explained that it was the Custom guys that kept me from my plane they gave me a stand by pass and sent me to the gate. Luckily I got on the next flight North and everything was fine... for a couple hours.

 

I made it to Vancouver and the controller there was more then happy to have a little chat while I answered his questions, and was just all in all more friendly then his counterpart down south. So I continued to baggage claim, and waited. I waited for awhile, an hour all together at least, I even took a look at the other carousels just to make sure there wasn't a mistake, but my backpack never came through. I went to the Baggage claim manager and asked about it. He was puzzeled, telling me that the flight wasn't full and that even if I was flying stand-by the bag should have made it onto the plane. The guy was nice about it and when I told him I wasn't staying more then a night in Vancouver, so he offered to send it anywhere that I needed it to go. This was a mixed blessing, I didn't want to hitchhike with my large bag, so that was a plus, but at the same time, my warm cloaths were in there along with my sleeping bad and other supplies. In the whole I didn't mind at that point so I put down my home address and found it amussing that my bag would make it home before me. The best part was that I had bought a backpack for my little sister while I was in Bangkok and had carried it onto the plane, SO I did still have a pack I was just traveling much lighter. 

 

The first night in Vancouver I managed to find a cheap hostel and as fate would have it, I met up with an old Irish friend I met in Paris some 7 months ago or so. He was more or less the last person that I met on my travels to expect to meet with there, but that's traveling, eh? We hung out that evening and talked a little, that night I picked up some of the best pizza I've had in many months (still not that great) and then called it a night, at that point I had had about 5 hours of sleep in the 48 hours before, and I was not feeling well.

 

When I woke up the next morning I showered and took the bus as far out of Vancouver as I could figure out how, still pretty central but not as bad as downtown. I ended up waiting for almost 3 hours before getting my first ride, which only made worry a little bit about the rest of my day when it was a gay guy, telling my that he only picked me up because he really liked my beard and he was wondering if we could go back to his place for 20 mins or so... I was a little um... taken off gaurd is probably the best way to say how I felt, anyways, I explained to him I was straight, didn't plan on trying anything like that anytime soon, and I was actually hitchhiking to get to my girlfriends place. He asked a couple more time, which I had to politely deny and then her let me out.

 

Including Norman the Gay Real-Estate Agent, I got four rides before 13:00 in total then only took me about an hours worth or drive time. I finally got lucky when I was standing on an on-ramp and a Truck stopped for me. It was a Canadian Truck driver, who wasn't going too far (two hours) but I told him it would be the best ride I'd have all day, so we rode for awhile talking about various things until we got to a little truck stop where I grabbed some lunch and and went back on the on-ramp and waited for anothe 2 hours. Eventually a Native lady stopped, picked me up and took me an hour to the next big city, Kamloops.

 

In Kamloops it was starting to get dark, and I knew it would be just about impossible to get a ride all the way to Calgary so I checked in to a Motor Inn, and payed more for accomadation then I have at any other point I have at any other point in this trip. But I figured I still felt pretty bad, I saved alot of money in Thailand, and thye had a swimming pool. The room wasn't too bad, I actually got it for 10$ under the marked price. I watched some good ol' American programming and then fell off to sleep at 21:00. at about 1:15 I woke up, wide eyed and ready to go. Still adjusting to the time I guess, so I was extrmely happy when I woke up again just after 6:30 to get started on the day ahead.

 

That day wasn't too bad, I waited for about two hours and quickly got a four hour ride right away, it was an older guy who was on a construction management job, so he was actually getting paid to drive. You find out as you hitch more that the people picking you up are usually people that have hitched around quite abit them selves "back when they were your age..." I said to Jim I think his name was and then waited for just over an hour again and got a ride the rest of the way to Calgary from another older guy named Ron. He was a pretty nice guy, and actually took me all the way to the house I was staying at. That evening I stayed with one Maudes old friends from Quebec, pretty cool guy, quite but nice.

 

The next morning Maude's friend and his roommates all got up pretty early and were out the door by 6:45. I got a ride to the highway that goes right through town, and then I started walking. It was cold, it was raining, and it was windy. Having lost all of my cold weather gear with my backpack, I was frozen, and after about an hour and a ahlf of walking my toes went numb and I decided it might be wise to surrender to the airport, thinking that waiting for a ride would be nothing but a cold, wet, and miserable experience.

 

I caught a few busses that got me all the way to Calgary airport and I found my way to the WestJet counter. The cheapest they had for a flight to Regina was about $215... that is Canadian dollars, but it's still not that much cheaper then American. Honestly at this point in my trip I'm getting to the point where I don't really care about how much I spend on something like that, I'm just glad that I can get to my destination, in a good mood, safe, and dry.

 

My flight took to to Edmonton, before Regina, and the humor on the flight was the reason I payed so much I'm going to say, it was quite amusing, the stuff you only get from young male flight atendents. I did make it to Regina with no problems, not that I expected any with all of my controband already removed from me back in Seattle. And from the airport I walked to Maudes apartment. Regina is a pretty nice town and I think I'll enjoy taking a break here before heading back home, where who knows what will be going on.

 

=Logan, Canada