Lost On A Layover

"Tell a tale of traveling, a city or country you've been to or a favourite vacation."

I am going to share a silly little story of a layover adventure I had following our trip to Vegas, since I already blogged about our trip to Vegas this year, and our trip to Newfoundland last summer. 

I was flying home from Vegas a few days earlier than Jay, and had a 4.5 hour layover in Vancouver, British Columbia. I had been to Vancouver a few years ago but really didn't remember much about getting around the city. 

For a couple of days prior to my flight I toyed with the idea of leaving the airport during the layover to go exploring. It seemed complicated though so I more or less gave it up. 

Then as I sat on the tarmac at the Vancouver airport, minutes after my flight had landed I had an idea. I would go to the city and find the Olympic Rings from the 2010 Winter Games. So, I texted Jay since my blackberry can't handle google and from his hotel in Vegas he helped me plot my trip. 

It was a civic holiday in BC so my travel on the train-like-subway was free, which was good as I didn't quite master Jay's directions on my first attempt. 

At Olympic Village, during my detour.

From the airport there is a train-subway thing that takes you directly to downtown and stops at a place called Olympic Village. Doesn't that sound like where you'd find the rings? So I of course half listened to Jay's directions and then got off there, got lost wandering side streets and eventually realized that the Village was now just condos, in what used to be athlete housing during the games. On the bright side I got to see a giant bird statue and the BC Lions CFL team stadium. 

By this point it was really hot and I was carrying a heavy backpack filled with all my treasures and had wasted close to 2 hours of my 4.5 hour layover. I also hadn't eaten since 6am, and it was now about 11am. So I called Jay, ready to admit defeat. 

As I talked to him I decided, screw this I came for the rings and I will find them. It was a bit foolhardy probably but I wanted to see them badly. So, Jay again found me some directions, I raced back to the train-subway station and hoped back on (thankfully it was free) to downtown Vancouver. 

As soon as I got off the train I felt like I was in a better place, these streets were filled with people and the ocean was just steps away. I even found a lovely visitor information booth and they directed me to the Olympic Cauldron, 10 minutes away. Sadly, the rings are located outside of the downtown area, not to be found on a 4.5 hour layover. 

But, I did find a stranger kind enough to take a photograph of the sweaty girl, speaking too fast, and looking a bit crazy. 

Then, I raced back to the train-subway station, made it onto the train and back to the airport with 1.5 hours to spare, just enough time for security, lunch and to collect some snacks for the long flight back. 

Best of all, since I had so much fun on Jay's layover a week later he made the same trek (though he skipped my tour of Olympic Village)! So it's almost like we went together, almost. 

Keep Smiling :)