Flight to Shanghai

The trip almost didn't get off the ground. Thanks to the wonderful new Flyaway service between Irvine Metrolink Station and LAX.

Here goes my first rant of this trip report...(don't worry, there will be a couple more)

My Air Canada flight between LAX and Vancouver was scheduled for 7:00am on 8/14/10. Since I had to be up by 4:00am, I decided not to goto sleep the night before(Highly recommended, slept like a log on the plane and landed in China feeling great with no sign of jetlag) The first Flyaway bus of the day was scheduled for 4:45am. If everything went according to plan, I would be in Terminal 2 at LAX ready to check in at 5:45am. 1hr15 min before an international departure, cutting it a little close but what the hey, I had already checked in and only had to drop off my bag. Well, 4:45 rolls around...no sign of the bus. I told myself and the other passengers waiting(they had a 7am flight to New York), I would wait until 4:55 before getting in my car and driving like a mad man to LAX. Well, 4:55 rolls around, still no sign, I start making my way to my car and low and behold, the sky blue FlyAway bus makes an appearance. Well, I get on the bus and the driver tells me that we can't leave until all the payments are processed. Finally, after swiping all our credit cards, we make our way to LAX at 5:05am. I arrived at Terminal 2 at 6:00am, got yelled at by the Air Canada Customer service rep because the cut off time for baggage was 1 hr before the flight. Thank god I had Star Gold status or this would not have ended well. Security took a while and I finally made it to the gate just as they were starting the boarding process. I do not remember much from the next 2 hrs because I was passed out but the flight was pretty smooth on one of Air Canada new Embraer 190s.

My Ride to YVR

IMO, YVR(Vancouver International Airport) is the best airport in North America, modern yet homey, plenty of shopping, nice employees. Although the Maple Leaf Lounges were pretty crappy. No food or booze until after 12pm!

Sights around YVR

My Ride to Shanghai a 767-300ER. Didn't know 767s had the range to make it that far.

Thanks to project XM, Air Canada now sports awesome IFE Systems. Ended up watching Kick-Ass, it was definitely Kick Ass!

Umm, havn't had one of these since college. Now I get to enjoy it again, Thank you crappy economy class food.

After an uneventful ride, we made it to Shanghai earlier than scheduled. The airport was empty and I was past both customs and immigration 10min later. We got lucky in a sense because all the big birds from the US landed about 15min behind us.