isteacher. : Vancouver 2015

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Vancouver 2015

I have just spent the last two weeks back home in Vancouver, catching up with the family, visiting a few of my old hangouts, checking out a few new ones, and generally overeating and overdrinking.

I flew ANA from Seoul's old Gimpo airport to Tokyo's old Haneda airport. I find it hard to believe that Gimpo ever served Korea. I guess so few people left or entered Korea before the 2000s that it wasn't necessary, but it is about the same size as Daegu's airport. Anyway, I had six hours in Haneda where I bought some Japanese whisky for my Dad and generally tried to kill six hours.

ANA was alright as far as airlines go, though I am not sure if I would put it on par with Korean Air or Cathay Pacific. Still, a decent airline and I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to avoid them.

I arrived around 2pm in Vancouver and my Mom and sister picked me up. We went back to my Mom's place before heading to my Dad's where I was staying. We drank the entire bottle of whisky that first night, with help from my uncle and sister.

The first week was mostly catching up with friends, family and doing a bit of sightseeing. I caught up with Geoff and Elliot on Monday and with Geoff again on Wednesday. I saw my sisters new place, went to a Canucks game on Thursday and my sister's place on Friday.

The weekend was a series of family parties, both of which I enjoyed immensely. Saturday was my father's 60th birthday party, so the whole family was there. Sunday was all the Bell-Irving side, and it was one of the best family parties I have had with them in, well ever.

The second week was spent entirely with family, except for Tuesday when I caught up with Allan at the Black Bear in Lynn Valley. I spent most days hiking and drinking (seriously).

I am going to write more about individual days, such as the hockey game and Stanley Park, in more detail. For now I'll just say that it was a great two weeks home. When my uncle asked how I felt being back, what I thought of the city now etc I answered that Vancouver may not have the infrastructure, sports, culture, or excitement of a Seoul, London or Bangkok but it has one thing that none of those other places have: it is home.