No snakes on a plane ... YET!!

Okay, I lied. This is going to be my last post on Canadian soil. I'm currently rolling in the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in the otherwise shabby Terminal 2 of the Pearsons Airport. That's right folk, I'm still in Canada ... despite setting off on this journey since 10:30pm last night.

As I may have told some of you guys, I managed to cash my Aeroplan miles for a pair of sweet sweet business class tickets. According to my mom, this is the second time I travel business; according to my own memory, this is the first time I travel business since that trip happened like in the mid '80s back when I was 3. Anyway, I guess my parents secretly did want me out of the house, because they left me at the airport at 10:30pm for my 00:55am flight. Gee, thanks! Nothing special happen during those 3 hours as I tried to plow through the last 20 pages of The Crying of Lot 49 like 15 times and still not really getting it. (BTW; if any of you have some insights to that book, send it my way.)

The most exciting part was of course the traveling in business class. Remember the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry was upgraded to first class and the rest of the group was stuck in coach AND Elaine had to get a Kosher meal because that's the last thing they have? Yeah, it's just like that. Except the washroom isn't as roomy as purported. In fact, it's pretty much normal size with your normal hand soap and nothing else (cheapass Air Canada). But that still didn't stop the brief moment of satisfaction when the flight attendant chased away people who tried to sneak into our washroom. That's right, your washroom is in the back ... behind the drink cart! Good luck holding it in!

Knowing this is a redeye flight, I thoroughly expected reduced meal service. However, apparently that's only limited to the suckers on the other side of the curtains! 30 minutes after we took off, the flight attendant came over and took down our food choice before preparing our meals one by one. I was so excited that I briefly forgot that it's technically like 2am Edmonton time (4am Toronto time) and neither the teriyaki chicken noodles nor beef with mash potatoes are appropriate midnight snack options. But fuck that! I've been subjected to too many mealless flight to let this opportunity go away. Let those people in the back pay $6.00 or a ham and swiss sandwich. I'm getting hot food!

Food came on a little tray with table cloth. My chicken and noodles were nestled in a warm plate, there were metal utensils and real cloth napkin. Even my salt and pepper came in a little chic caddy. The highlight was the bread. Oh hellz no were we getting a cold hard bun wrapped in cellophane. Our bread came in a basket, with choices between foccacia and some other fancy bread. Most importantly, it was warm! Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures with my cellphone camera, so the only evidence I have of this awesome meal is this little Lindt hazelnut praline.


That delicious meal was almost ruined when we encountered some wicked turbulence around Saskatoon. The in-flight movie, MI:III, almost ruined my appetite as well. No sightings of any snakes though. Then I wondered if the flight attendents have to deal with many snakes on a plane quips since the movie came out.

After I landed in Toronto, I braved the TTA and went to Leah's place. Then we met up with Chris and went for breakfast, and stimulating conversations, at The Drake.








It was perfect patio weather and we enjoyed our breakfast there. There was a crazy guy carrying a (half empty? empty?) paint can wandering next to the patio. He was swathed in fabrics and kept yelling at the traffic. Leah briefly wondered if this could be one of the many performance artists frequenting her neighbourhood. But we were convinced that the dude's just crazy since the mental hospital is also only a few blocks away.

Afterwards, we wandered around a bit and I saw a pair of crocheted underwear. Again, to show how hip Leah's neighbourhood is, I'm not sure if that's art or actual underwear. Should've snapped a picture of that. We also walked by the Candy Factory Loft, which appeared on The Designer Guys recently. So that, in my own weird way, is almost like my TO celebrity sighting.

Then I came back to the airport and that's pretty much it. Oh, and the paranoid freaks at security made me put my shoes through the X-ray machine even though they're open-toe flats. I promise I'll be posting from Boston the next time you hear from me.