Vancouver - Tale of 2 trips

So this last week was by far the craziest week I've had with my company ever.  I can't believe the number of miles I put on this week.  If only United will pick them up in my mileage summary.....personal details that drive me crazy!

 

Anyways, I needed to be in Vancouver on Monday, so instead of flying over an ocean and not seeing my family (unadvisable), I flew last Friday to Houston to spend the weekend celebrating fake Thanksgiving (turns out just as good as real Thanksgiving) and fighting a monster cold/virus thingy (Thanks London!).  Thanks to the American ER, headed up to Vancouver armed with medicine, but the damage was done as I lost my voice completely.  I've never had that happen before and don't want to have it happen again.  

 

On Monday, luckily, a friend of mine volunteered to give my portion of the presentation and I only jumped in when I felt like I could add something to it (despite sounding like a run over frog).  The conference went great - speakers worked, slides worked, dinner was close and went well.  I cut out early to get some rest as I sounded awful, but all accounts are huge success.  YEA!

Tuesday and Wednesday were conference only days with no responsibility, so I worked on other stuff most of the time whilst listening to different presenters and networking a lot.  On Wednesday, 2 of my friends decided we had heard enough and booked a seaplane for a quick 20 minute aerial tour of Vancouver.  I didn't really get out to see much of the city until this brief tour, but this was totally worth it and highly recommend for an overview of Vancouver.  What an amazing city.  For my first time in Canada, Canada over-delivered!

 

 

Waiting for sea plane

 

 That's the plane type I went up in!  I love the Chevron station in the middle of the water...

Waterfront skyline of Vancouver

Seaplanes

Aussie friend and me before going up in plane!



Aussie friend and me in plane before take off!

Proof that I really did take off from the water

Gliding along after take off

 No idea what any of this is, but the pictures were so much fun to take.

 We survived!  S organized the whole thing, so she gets 100% of the credit.  M and I were literally along for the ride.

Found it - representing in Vancouver!

 

Hotel Fairmont where we stayed and conference was held.

 

After conference on Wednesday, I met up with a good friend from Vancouver, L.  It was so nice to catch up - I'll definitely be making a return trip to Vancouver to actually be a tourist some day (preferably when it's warmer!).

 

My flight back took me through Chicago and then on to Amsterdam.  Long day on Thursday/Friday of travel....KLM would have been direct, but I'm a miles junky for United.  Gotta keep that Silver status!

Adventurer Lindsay, signing off.