The Albatross
Thursday 28 March 2024
Off to the mainland today, we’d booked a ferry across from Nanaimo, as it saved us an hour and a half drive as opposed to the one from Victoria. Or so we thought. Up early we were at the ferry well before departure as per our usual travel mode. It had rained most the way down, I snoozed in the passenger seat most of the way.
The ferries are super impressive, they don’t look that big, however they swallow vast parking lots of cars (a quick google says about 358 normal sized). They also load and unload these in 30 minutes total. A couple of hours later having sat in the lounge and watched the waves we drove off at 2:15 as a rain storm descended, and we were surprised by the massive traffic jam going the other way.
We were soon in one of our own, we are staying in North Vancouver, and would have been safely ensconced just after 3:00 if we went straight there. However, we wanted to get the car rental finally sorted out so tried to go to Vancouver airport that afternoon. In hindsight that was a very bad decision on the Thursday afternoon before easter. Utter gridlock as we tried to get south through the city, we became caught in a bus lane and no one would let us back out. Vancouver drivers are aggressive arseholes, the first time we’ve experienced it this trip. Finally, into the airport, and the nice manager there sorted us out, it took a while as he was also managing other stuff, he didn’t care about the car, we didn’t need to show ID, produce a credit card, or even leave the vehicle. So why couldn’t this have been done online. However, it’s done.
Another hour back to our apartment in insane traffic we eventually crawled in. In hindsight driving down to the other ferry terminal would have made getting to the airport a great deal less stressful, and we would still be in around the same time. Or better yet, do what we did and worry about the car tomorrow. Luckily, I had dinner pre prepared and adequate cold wine in the coolers. We both still have lingering colds so we were exhausted and half deaf from each other’s coughing. To rub salt into the wound, the skies cleared up 10 minutes after and we arrived and we had a sunny evening.
