From Sechelt to Vancouver, and home

Posted On June 15, 2024

This is the 11th and final post from our Alaska cruise and Sunshine Coast road trip. On June 13th, we were in no hurry to leave Sechelt, where the Davis Bay Pier offered great views of passing boats, and the crystal-clear waters made me want to wade in.

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We had splurged for our final night of the trip, and booked a room at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel, overlooking the ramp. We got to the the airport just before 4:30, dropped our car at Avis, and were soon in Room 815. Perfect!

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We had a perfect view of the international ramp for smaller planes (Gates 79-93)…

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…and a decent view of Runway 8L/26R which alternated between landings and takeoffs occasionally

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Back inside, the room was very tastefully detailed, and there was even a Plane Spotting Guide on the table, showing how to identify many models of aircraft.

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We went down to the lounge for a drink, but it’s a very uncomfortable space so left before even getting a drink, and came back to our room.

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We decided that we were paying for the most comfortable room in the hotel, and ordered room service dinner. As can be expected at a Fairmont, the food and service were both of the highest quality.

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The skies at 9:00 provided a fine way to end this day.

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At 9:30 I went to bed but Cathy was still at the window plane-spotting, totally engrossed in the activities supplemented with activity information from FlightRadar24.com.

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June 14th began early for me – I shot the first photo at 05:20, then went out exploring.

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There were only a few people in the check-in area yet.

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In all the times I’d been to YVR, I’d never really noticed the Fairmont, so I went out to see what it looks like.

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I love the classic CP heritage chateaux-style entry roofline.

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The lounge was lovely in the morning light, but the chairs are very uncomfortable, your drinks are too far away, and they’re too far apart to talk without yelling.

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Room-service dinner had been such a nice experience we did it for breakfast as well. It, too, was exactly the right way to start the day off well.

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I decided that every now and then I should treat myself by getting this room, bringing all my lenses and my aircraft radio scanner, and just nerd out for 20 hours or so 😀

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Our flight wasn’t until 7 pm. We had talked about hopping on the Canada Line and going into town, but neither of us was much into just wandering around for a few hours, so Cathy went downstairs to see if we could rent the room for an extra 4 hours. We could, but for $350. They did, though, comp us a stay until 2 pm, which was great. More airplanes to watch! 🙂

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When I shot the next photo I thought it was our plane, but ours was on the other side of this one, which was going to Victoria. I gave up trying to figure that out.

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We taxied out onto the runway at 7:09…

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..and in a few seconds were on our way, to the east initially.

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We soon looped around and kept climbing over the coast and Howe Sound.

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The cumulus and nimbo-cumulus clouds in the next photo were common, but for a long while we flew over weather systems that were incredibly complex, to a degree I’ve rarely if ever seen them.

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We had a wild welcome back to Whitehorse. As we were almost down from the south, a squall hit, the wind changed direction, and the pilot had to abort the landing, climb up and do a U-turn, then land from the north. The rain was torrential!!

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It was great to get home, of course, though the amount of work I have to do now is quite overwhelming. That’s the blogging completed for the trip, though – it took 11 posts and 352 photos to share the experience. Thanks for coming along 🙂