Holiday to the Pacific West Coast in Aug 2006: Day 2 – Frankfurt to Vancouver

By Nige on Tue 29 Aug 2006 at 22:00
Type: Post
Story: Holiday to Pacific West Coast in Aug 2006
Tags: FRA | Frankfurt | Hertz | Hilton | Vancouver | YVR

Slept very badly.  Woke at 12:30am, 2am and then again at 3am.  Dozed until 6am and then decided to get up.  Vick was still snoring!

Wrote yesterday’s diary in the bathroom (so as not to wake Vick), and went out to take some piccies – needed to test the new camera out.  By this time, Vick was awake and went for a swim.

Breakfast was light – eggs and toast, fruit and cereal.  Then we went out for a stroll around Frankfurt – no real purpose – just see whatever we could in a couple of hours and visit Starbucks.

Headed back to the airport and caught the 13:05 to Vancouver.  We found ourselves in the new business class seats which go almost completely flat, so we managed a couple of hours kip in the middle of the flight.  Meals were tasty, and the entertainment excellent with 3 newly released films on show that we were interested in.

There was one minor hiccup during the flight – there was a call for a doctor on board to help a passenger at the back of the aircraft.  In these situations it’s not uncommon that you have to divert to a nearby airport to dump the sick passenger, before getting back on your way.  Naturally this then leads to delays, so we were pleased not to hear anything further over the tanoy.  Glad the sick passenger wasn’t too inconsiderate to the rest of us!  (Hope they’re alright!)

Fairly buzzing by the time we arrived, (on schedule).  Baggage came through really quickly and then we headed to the Hertz counter.  Car was ready – just sign here – no scratches …. RIGHT!  The nearside corner had been seriously bashed by the previous driver who had picked up the motor at Seattle and left it at Vancouver.  We were the unfortunate ones who had to retrieve the vehicle and take it back to Seattle for Hertz.  We couldn’t change the car since we had been specially picked to take it back for them!  Cheeky blighters.

Reached the hotel after a hair-raising trip up Granville Street and onto Robson.  We stuck to the middle lane just in case we had to turn either way at short notice!

Hotel was ok – including jacuzzi and another corner room – not much of a view though!

Popped out for a Starbucks and found a nice Italian (Cafe Bellagio on Hornby Street) in downtown Vancouver.  Plates were massive though so didn’t do it much justice.  Anyway completely knackered by 8pm, so we headed back to the hotel early.

Follow the whole story here: Holiday to Pacific West Coast in Aug 2006