What day is it? Jet lagged in Vancouver

1 & 2 May 2017

Today was a very long day. Then again, it might have been yesterday, or even tomorrow. Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean I seem to have lost track. Much as I love to travel, I don’t much care for flying and this was the longest flight to date. It was also the longest every May Day,  wedding anniversary, birthday in the history of the world.

Up before six.  Two hours in a taxi when we’d expected three but the bank holiday traffic hadn’t materialised.  An interminable time hanging around Heathrow eating breakfast number two, walking round shops, reading, waiting because of lack of said traffic. Nine, bum numbing hours in the air watching films, reading and being fed at odd intervals. Vancouver Airport. CJ on the phone wishing me happy birthday because it was after midnight with him although it was still early afternoon with us and still May Day, not my birthday at all. A long, tense wait for my suitcase to finally appear. Blinking at the bright sunshine outside when my body expected darkness.  Another taxi journey. All this and it was still only mid afternoon! Intellectually I understood about time zones and flying east to west but my body wasn’t believing it.

We tried our best to stay awake. We knew it was the sensible thing to do. Vancouver looked so pretty as we drove through at midnight, or mid afternoon depending on which bit of brain I listened to, streets filled with pink blossom. We managed a slow stroll along West Broadway, blinking at sun that should have been moon, stretching cramped limbs. We drank coffee in Starbucks. We ate yet more food in Tim Hortons, although by this point my poor stomach didn’t know whether it was coming or going. We walked some more, staring at exotic seeming shop signs through gritty eyes, Pekoe Tea, Speakeasy, Shoppers Drug Mart, Gym Box, WestCanna Medicinal Dispensary. Near the hotel a huge sign said simply Pub. My addled brain thought for a moment I was in France looking at an advertising hoarding and it meant pub, short for publicitie.

We tried to stay awake as best we could. Coffee, TV, reading, walking. In the end it was impossible. We closed the curtain on the view of mountains and skyscrapers outside our hotel window and gave in to sleep. It was eight thirty on May Day or three thirty in the morning on my birthday depending on which side of the Atlantic my brain believed… Vancouver could wait for a while…

Please see my copyright information before you copy or use any of the above words or pictures.