Der Flug

For an Air Canada flight, it wasn’t too bad. I mean, there were screaming kids and cramped seats; but I’ve been on more uncomfortable flights.

We had two flights and a bus to take, and I quickly learned the pleasure that a companionship with your personal ‘on-demand’ TV can provide. The first flight was from Vancouver to Toronto, and wasn’t too bad. In this flight my ‘on-demand’ TV wouldn’t work; but people had been flying for decades without 15cm televisions so I figured I could too. I read half of The Great Gatsby and didn’t get up to use the washroom at all because the guy on the outside of me wouldn’t budge (to be fair I never made any attempt to rouse him, I just sat there like a jerk and let him sit there).

The two hour stop-over in Toronto was alright. I’ve never been to Toronto before; but I’ve now walked the length of its airport. I’ve heard that Ontario is way more Canadian than the rest of Canada, but I always thoughts such reports were simply superstitions or exaggerations (like bigfoot). No, no they’re not. I saw a couple Canadian gift shops, all of average, Vancouver, size; however the one near the gate to Frankfurt was titanic. It spanned the whole middle section of the floor, and was so large the only booths mighty enough to take on the challenge of flanking this behemoth were a Bacardi Bar (which served other drinks than the fine rum it normally pushes) and a chocolate shop; which, now that I think of it, could just have been an extension of the Canadian gift shop. Oh, and there were, like, three Tim Horton’s in there.

The wait at the Toronto airport wasn’t that grueling, as it gave time for all of the people in my group to get to know each other. It was mainly the Vancouver/Victoria group that was there, but a rather outgoing individual by the name of Warren (on exchange from the University of Manitoba) managed to find us.

The flight from Toronto to Frankfurt was much more comfortable than one would think. Yes, the seats were a bit tiny; but it was mainly the length of the flight that was murder. However the ‘on-demand’ televisions were a godsend. I watched television straight through the six and a half hour flight (I was in the middle of the plane and had no window). I started things off with some ‘Extras’, then went straight into ‘Flight of the Conchords’. I watched anything that was produced by HBO that day (Curb Your Enthusiasm; Lewis Black: Red, White, and Screwed; and finishing with ‘Kung Fu Panda’: the only movie I watched and the only thing that wasn’t HBO produced).

Finally we arrived in Frankfurt with little fanfare, and met with our resident director Herr Christian Thomas. Herr Thomas is a pretty cool guy. He’s deadpan most of the time, but shows his ability to jest by giving an exaggerated facial expression that’s halfway a grin and a grimace, which I find amusing as hell. He’s also really nice, and wont hesitate to go out of his way to help you.

So with that we boarded the bus…

Tschuss!