Leaving Vancouver

Don’t worry folks, I have no plans to permanently move away from Vancouver. However, every now and then I find myself in the situation of having to leave this lovely city for other ports of call. This could be for work or for pleasure (in fact, I am currently out of Vancouver on a work trip to which I added a weekend of pleasure — best of both worlds). I do, however, find myself frustrated annoyed pissed off at the difficulties and expense involved in actually leaving Vancouver. When it costs $700 to fly from Vancouver to Montreal (equivalent to flying from San Francisco to New York or Washington, DC), that is too much. That’s with a ticket purchased well in advance. Now, I’ve just found out that United/Air Canada seem to have stopped running a direct flight from Vancouver to Washington DC. Not only is this annoying from a professional point of view since I anticipate having to make regular trips down there over the coming years, it is really pissing me off from a personal point of view since many of my very good friends live in DC. Not a happy camper. This is all coming out now because I’ve been invited to give a talk there and I was trying to find a ticket that would get me there on time without having to cancel my Wednesday class, arrive ridiculously late at night because of having to transfer in Chicago or have to take a redeye. Worse, I may end up having to take a redeye and transfer. Grrr. Okay, end of rant. Until the next time the airlines or TSA find a way to jack me.