Friday 24th November

[squirmelia]

It was 4 a.m. and less than 24 hours before, I had booked a flight to Vancouver. I ate Daffy Duck raspberry jelly for breakfast, out of a star-shaped mould that once belonged to my grandmother. I then stumbled around my flat, gathering items to stuff into a large rucksack, unsure of what was needed. I packed Douglas Coupland's City of Glass, print-outs with the addresses of goth clubs, my half-written NaNoWriMo novel, not enough jumpers, and eventually, sushi at the airport.

In Amsterdam, between flights, I bought postcards of tulips and prostitutes and sent text messages to friends and relatives detailing my current location. My black jeans became sticky with someone else's chewing gum.

I watched My Gym Partner's A Monkey and consumed more jelly on the plane. As it flew across Canada, towards Fort St John, I looked out the window and saw a landscape that looked entirely lunar. I wondered if I was flying to another planet and what was actually there on the ground beneath me. On the in-flight radio, space exploration was mentioned.

As the plane began to descend and Vancouver came into sight, the sun began to set and the snow-covered mountains, skyscrapers, sea and clouds looked dreamy, so dreamy, glowing with shades of pink and blue.

Before I was allowed to enter Canada, immigration officers asked me to name what Douglas Coupland books I had read, amongst so many other questions that made me feel scared about travelling alone.

Eventually, I found ellescriba, bickichick, wrldtravlr2, elzbthpdx, Erin and Darlene, and we drank cocktails at Cloud 9, the rotating restaurant on the top of the Empire Landmark Hotel, where I felt giddy viewing the skyscrapers, that were lit up brightly in front of me.

Comments

[cherielabombe.livejournal.com]

This sort of thing happens to my students all the time, so I know how it is, you see.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Do they often get turned back or is it just some kind of scare tactic?

[cherielabombe.livejournal.com]

Actually they mostly make it through but I have heard of some getting turned back. Usually if they're going to get rejected at the border their visa is also rejected before they make it to Ingleterra. But not always! Still though, be glad you don't have a Colombian passport.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Ahh, it must suck if they don't get through!