Flight from Toronto to Vancouver

Air travel is not what it used to be..But all things fair, first let us look at the bright side and hear  the good news....

The night before my trip, I printed my boarding pass in a laser printer in my basement. And I am glad I did  because it saved me several minutes in the lineup. Passengers who hated computers have a long line up because they still want the airline staff to print their boarding passes for them.. There is a separate line up for those with preprinted boarding passes. First a receptionist would scan the bar code on the Pass and match the name to my ID with a photo..Next, I would drop off my check- in luggage to be weighed, leave it  on the transport belt, then proceed to the Security area with my carry on luggage.

And again I subjected myself to that humiliating exercise of being frisked and poked with a metal detector by a gauntlet of guards who think you are carrying an explosive device to blow yourself up inside one of their planes. Surprise,surprise,  I came out clean as a whistle.

Then inside the plane I found the seat written on my home made boarding pass... There was a small LCD monitor that shows the map of Canada from Ontario to British Columbia.  And for 5$, you can watch a new movie to make your trip less boresome... If you doze off while watching the film, I do not think your money will be refunded.

Instead of a movie.I opted for a "fresly made" cheese sandwich offered by the air line for the price of $6. The cheese tasted like soap.

Then came the take off. The Captain seemed to have been a stand in comic before he got his wings.."Please do not smoke inside the wash room," he quipped.."If you do, you will be asked to leave the plane through a special door in the left wing and jumped out without a parachute..."Nobody laughed because I do not think anybody is listening to these precautionary advices.

At first we were traveling inside an endless cloudbank. There was no turbulence anyway so I continued staring at the map on the monitor in front of me with the small plane ( that's us ). The plane's speed at that time wasaround 550 miles and hour. As boredom set in I started looking at my watch frequently or look at some quaint cloud formations imagining a group of angels watching us . But once I looked down, I saw an Air Canada plane slid by below us traveling in the opposite direction. And the plane looked big! Means the paths of the two planes were pretty damned close! My boredom was shaken off. But there was nothing I can do.What, tell the next passenger to me I believe there had a been a close mid air collision?.

Maybe it was not so good looking outside after all. I went back staring at the stupid map. The plane was already over Alberta..

A few minutes later the cloudbank dissapeared. The view below was gorgeous. One minute you would see some lakes and rivers in a plain of pure snow. The highways look like thread laid down in a staright line going in and out of nowhere. Then the rivers and lakes dissapear into one endless plain of snow..Not even city clusters or even a single barn or silo. But the view from the top is absolutely enthralling...

Yes, I did take this shot from my seat as the plane passed over Alberta..

Then the plains started to grow mountains. At first there are just small ones with some lakes in between.  Then  the mountain ranges started growing bigger.Half an hour before touch down, I saw nothing below but mountain peaks covered with snow and ice, like gigantic mounds of ice cream.Or small sandhills made from white sands usually found in Boracay.

The view of the Canadian Rockies from 34,000 feet was so majestic and astounding that one could not help ( upon seeing this arial view ) but remember a paragraph from the hymn  "How Great Thou Art.."

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.