To Vancouver I Fly

I awoke at 1am on June 17, anxious to be on my way to Vancouver. My flight was at 8am that morning. It would take approximately 3-4hrs to get to Toronto and thus my Dad and I left at 2am, at which point my travels began.

Right from the get go my trip began with a slight hiccup. My Dad and I arrived at the airport at 6am only to find out that my flight was cancelled. The next earliest flight was 12:30pm. The idea behind an early flight was that I would arrive in Vancouver relatively early which would give me plenty of time to put together my bike as Paula was currently disassembled so she could fit nice and snug in a box. As such, to find out my 8am flight was cancelled put a slight bash into my plans. However, one must deal with the cards they are dealt and so I got a seat on the next earliest available flight which was 12:30pm. Although I thought my plans were slightly ruined, the incident actually happened to be in my favour because all my luggage, including my bicycle, got onto the plane for free. In addition, I received breakfast and lunch vouchers so I did not have to worry about purchasing food which was fantastic.

Finally it was 12:30pm and I boarded the plane.

The flight went very smoothly and I had a window seat which was a bonus. The skies were clear and thus I could see the landscape below. It was odd to think that I would be cycling all the way back on this terrain. The thought was ridiculous because the entire situation seemed surreal. Although at that very moment I was sitting in a plane heading to Vancouver I still had not wrapped my head around the fact that I was actually going to cycle across Canada.

All too soon the terrain became hillier and all at once I laid eyes on the Rocky Mountains for the first time. At that moment the butterflies in my stomach began to franticly flutter...I was in Western Canada!

And then we were landing and I was in Vancouver, British Columbia, just over 5000km from my home and approximately 7600km from St. John’s, Newfoundland, my final destination.

At the airport I waited for Paula to be unloaded from the plane. Once she was in my hands I waved for a taxi and headed to the University of British Columbia (UBC) where I would meet the other riders who would be partaking in Mile 0. When I arrived at UBC I quickly opened up my bicycle box to see if Paula survived. She was in fantastic condition and so I commenced to assemble her. Although I arrived in BC later than I initially intended, I still had plenty of time to assemble Paula and get ready for my first adventure, Mile 0, which would begin the next morning at 9am sharp from UBC.