Good-byes are hard … so I won’t talk about them too much … It was so nice to be sent off by my parents and my lovely daughter, Ori, even though we all had to get up ridiculously early to make the 9am flight. Out of the four of us, only Dad is a morning person so the sacrifice was real. I did manage to give myself a small heart attack when I decided I had left my laptop at the house while it was just lower in the bag than I had expected it to be. I think it wouldn’t be a normal departure for any trip if I didn’t do that to myself at least once — I do believe it’s a curse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re going to travel on planes during a pandemic, I highly recommend paying extra for at least a Premium ticket. Not only is it more comfortable, it feels safer too. Also, don’t fly with a Canadian airline: pandemic or not, they will pack you in like sardines, social distancing be damned. It was a good thing I got the extra-leg-room seats but I would have felt a lot better if there had been a middle seat empty on the YVR-YYZ WestJet flight as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note to self:<\/em> Never, ever leave your reading glasses in the bag you put in the overhead bin again, if you’re planning to read during the flight. The squinting was unbearable though, thankfully, did not give me a tremendous headache later on. Got lucky, this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have to say that getting those amazing Beats headphones was the best thing ever (thank you, Ori & Aki!<\/em>). One of the things I dislike greatly about flying is the constant engine noise; it makes me totally unable to relax and sleep. Noise-cancelling headphones are just the cure for that, and I did manage to catch a few winks for a change. Their case, however, was way too big for the pocket behind the seat in front, so there is that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was a little surprised there was no visual entertainment on this flight, so another -1 for WestJest. Fortunately, the book I was reading was exciting enough to keep me mostly awake. Also, no food at all, even to buy, except some free shitty cookie, so another point lost. All in all, I was quite happy to disembark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was definitely happy to get off that crowded plane and to find my next gate, which proved easy enough. It was also time for a change of masks. Another nice thing about my itinerary, short connection times so little time wasted hanging about. I grabbed a quick sandwich and some fresh water and settled to wait at the gate. After many years of travel, I finally had my name paged … something to do with passport control. I wasn’t worried since one of the things I made damn sure I had organized was paperwork. It does confuse things to travel on two passports, however, but once I made it clear to the official I had the correct documents, and he noted the dual citizenship on some computer system or other, I was happy to continue waiting to board. Imagine my surprise having to go through the whole thing again upon actual boarding! One person saying “show me papers”, another saying “she’s clear”, and yet another, murmuring, “too many people checking too many things” … I had a chuckle and boarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the moment I got onboard, it was like being in a totally different class of travel. The French sure know how to do things in style. Even the preflight video had a spin on it I’d never seen before — a very French spin, to be sure, tres chic!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pearson International (YYZ) — Toronto<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Flight #2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n