Tokyo’s Muslim

It began in February.

In Montreal, a flight crew decided to walk away from an Air Canada flight before it could be pushed off and take off. The airport staff scrambled to find another crew to get us off the ground, and we left – an hour late. An auspicious beginning to my odyssey, which would take me to the other side of the world.

Eventually my flight took off, but I was really angry – a connecting flight would be waiting, but with a one hour delay on the ground? What an embarassment. Not a good way to kick off a (VERY LONG) 5 hour flight. The entire way I was busy wondering how I’d explain to my mom that her son, who mocked his sister relentlessly for missing her flight in Paris, was stranded in Dicksmack, British Columbia (Otherwise known as Vancouver)

Time eased my nerves, as did memories of an episode of Nightline or Dateline or one of those retarded news magazine shows where they said Airlines have built lateness into schedules, making their on-time performance seem a lot better than it is. It proved the case again, as we got to Vancouver in good time. My first goal there was to check to see where I would have to go. Following signs, I walked a heck of a long way towards the entrance ramp for my flight to Narita. Along the way, I could only gaze outside at the ugly grey weather and ask myself it this was for real

In Vancouver, stormclouds are a normal part of the weather. The presence of the Rocky Mountains makes it impossible for the clouds to move past a certain point without releasing enough mass (in the form of rain) to get into mainland Canada. As a result, Vancouver has a pretty high suicide rate. Still it is a nice view as my sole picture shows.

While walking through the lobby, I noticed security guards on little cars (and they call me lazy?) driving through trying to find a chinese passenger for some flight on Singapore Air. It must have been hell on the flight because they apparently were going to stay waiting until she got on board – and I know they were looking for more than 20 or 30 minutes.

Those few minutes would be all I knew of Vancouver. A joint Air Canada / Japan Airways flight to Narita awaited.