This is another one of those blog updates where I’m typing furiously in a netcafe, trying to beat the clock so I don’t get charged extra money. Please excuse inevitable typos.

The trip to Vanouver got off to a rocky start, to say the least. Early Tuesday morning at the Fort Lauderdale airport, things were looking good. No one was behind the counter for our airline, and travelers were lined up out the door. I popped out and asked the Skycap if he could help me – he told me I’d have to wait, but we had plenty of time so it was okay.

A few minutes later, he came back into the airport, found me, and pulled me out of the (still not moving because it was 10 minutes past “opening time” and no airline employees had bothered yet to show up) line. Checked our bags, gave us boarding passes, and we were on our way, moseying past the poor people STILL standing in the line to nowhere.

Then, the plane happened. The squeamish may want to skip the next paragraph. It contains graphic vomit.

I had some mild stomach cramps that morning, but nothing unusual. However, I think when combined with general trip anxiety and plane motion and my usual flight plan of eating very little but drinking loads of fluids, the uneasiness turned to disaster. I puked on a plane for the first time in my life. Oh, and I didn’t just puke and that was that. I vomited into the barf bag so much that the bag broke and the contents spilled all over the sweater and jacket being held in my lap. I then locked myself in the plane’s bathroom and continued to be sick, even during turbulance so bad the pilot made the “Get the fuck back into your seats” announcement. And there were two hours left in the flight. I never want to feel that bad, ever again. It was the worst. I could feel that the color had drained from my face. Matt said I literally looked like a zombie. The only upside was that because it was mostly liquid, I didn’t make much noise or stink up the plane. You’re welcome, other passengers.

We landed in Seattle, drove through downtown, then made the (very, very pretty) drive up to Vancouver. A lot of that reminded us of Pennsylvania – rocksides, pine trees, etc. Except… you could peek the Pacific here and there. That was pretty rad.

Once we checked into our Vancouver hotel, the first order of business was obviously a laundromat. This turned out to be surprisingly fun, since the guy who runs it is a sweetheart, hilarious and friendly.

After we got back and showered the plane off of us, Matt and I had dinner at Locus, which was pretty terrific. Good beer, good food, and we got a table right by the window so we spent a good part of our meal people-watching. I got some chocolate hazelnut mousse cake to go, and by that time it was after midnight on our internal clocks, so we dragged our jetlagged selves back to the room where I ate cake in bed and we fell asleep.

I slept like a rock and woke up at 7:21 a.m. We got dressed and headed over to Slickety Jim’s Chat N’ Chew, with its yummy menu and framed fish and coffee so strong it put hair on my chest. Matt and I did a little walking around (I picked up Douglas Coupland’s City of Glass) before it was time to split up. He met his colleagues at a Chinese place in Richmond while I went back to the room to figure out my game plan.

I ended up taking some sort of Crazy Jamie Extreme Walking Tour of downtown. I walked across a bridge into South Granville, then backtracked to Granville Island where I walked around for a LONG time, checking out all the harbors and seawalks and tiny parks and little pockets of amazingness. Then I took an Aquabus to Science World. I didn’t go in, but walked from there to Quebec Street (passing a skate park which sadly had no skaters), which took me right into Chinatown.

There, I had a happy accident when I stumbled across the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden Park. It was on my list to check out eventually, since it seems like everyone mentions it (along with Stanley Park) when they’re talking Vancouver highlights, but it wasn’t a priority this time. I didn’t pay for tickets to the inner garden, but had a great time walking around and exploring the outside park. Loved it.

After an east-then-west exploration of Chinatown and all the cute shops and crazy markets, I headed into Gastown. At this point, I realized I was very close to Canada Place, where Matt and I had visited that morning, so I started heading back into downtown. I also realized I was starving, so I ducked into a Vietnamese noodle shop for pho and spring rolls.

I’m still full from that.

I can’t decide what to do now. Head backwards into Gastown and explore Water Street heading east, or continue down Seymour Street, try to find a park or a pub for people-watching and more City of Glass-reading? I sort of wish Matt would call and update – that might help me make a decision.

I do know I’m going to sleep like a baby again tonight.

We have no specific dinner plans – I’ll probably cave and try the place near our hotel touting itself as “The Best Burger In Vancouver,” since I can tell that’s what Matt really wants to do. Afterwards, we’re doing the touristy night view from the observation tower, and if we have the energy, hitting a pub.

I do know that we’re mostly likely going to Elbow Room for breakfast tomorrow, because Matt wants to seem them bring me the Unicef box when I don’t clean my plate.

And then tomorrow is all about Stanley Park, which is what everyone keeps recommending. We’ll probably spend most of the day there. I’d love to find a lunch place by the water.

Tomorrow evening, we head back into Seattle, where we’re having dinner and spending the night with one of Matt’s good friends. We fly back early Saturday morning.

This trip is intended to help us make a lot of decisions. Matt’s getting the information he needs about the career opportunity right now, while I’m trying to get to know the town, to see if I could picture us living here. I won’t lie – it wasn’t the love-at-first-sight affair everyone told me it would be. Maybe it was talked up too much, maybe it was the vomit, but at the end of the first night, my opinion was basically, “It’s cold, it’s rainy, and it reminds me a little too much of Ohio.”

But after today’s exploring, I’m starting to get the point. It really isn’t like any area I’ve ever seen. It drizzled on me all day today, but I was never cold and the rain makes my hair look fantastic. It’s a major city of more than a half million people, but I walked almost the entire downtown area in just a few hours. It really is fantastic urban planning – incredibly diverse neighborhoods, all linked and totally accessible.

And that’s just the urban parts – everyone says the outdoorsy stuff is really where it’s at, and we haven’t even touched that part yet.

The jury is still out, but I can hardly wait to see all the evidence.

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