RustyBadger

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been in the process of moving, and have also been involved in a photojournalism course for summer students, so time for updates has been slim.

I have to mention the flight back from Boston, since it was one of the most memorable parts of the trip. We arrived in Ottawa, and when we went to our gate to board the flight to Vancouver, the gate attendant informed us that due to high temperatures, they had a weight restriction on the flight (and of course three burly computer geeks are gonna push them WAY over the limit!), and would we be interested in taking a later flight? In return for our flexibility, they’d bump us up to business class (free food and drinks, bigger seats, and first-name relationships with the flight attendants). Of course we said sure, since as public-sector employees, we’d never get perks like that on the taxpayer’s dime! So they took our boarding passes and went off to work magic on the computers. After a while they came back and told us we’d been kept on the same flight, but they bumped us up anyways! I gotta tell ya, that’s the way to fly! First off, our hostess brought us a nice glass of red wine (I’m okay with the fact it was Californian since it was so good!):

This was followed by a wonderful meal of Greek salad, pot roast with herb potatoes and green beans:

And of course, dessert:

I am not sure why they describe it as “Sensual”, but it was enjoyable!

Our flight attendant’s nametag claimed she was called “Heigh Yew”, but the fact she was caucasian and spoke with a fake Irish accent half the time gave away that she was just a practical joker. She gave me a pretty hard time about not eating my green beans, and told the First Officer (with whom I had struck up a conversation in the Galley) that I was not to be allowed on the flight deck due to my not eating my veggies. The funniest part was that there was some kind of screwup on the manifest and Heigh Yew called me Mr. Wahl for the first half hour of the trip!

Interestingly enough, we were given honest-to-goodness steel cutlery. My knife must have been a full three inches long, not including the handle! I guess only people in Cattle Class get aggravated enough to want to use their flatware as “Improvised Navigational Aids”.