Xi’An
I started our adventure by going on a 5-star bus tour of Western Canada. Then we took a cruise to the Inside Passage. This ended with a tour of Anchorage in Alaska to Xi’an. Six months before the date, my tour company contacted us to confirm that they had booked our return flight from Xi’an in Brisbane. They wanted to hear our opinions the moment they received us. We were both overwhelmed that day, so we quickly accepted the suggestion.
I calculated the travel time the next day. It took me 34 hours to get from one airport to another, and I made several stops at different lengths. Because of our age, we felt that Vancouver was the best place to stop for an evening. We contacted our travel agent to arrange for this. Now, let me tell you about the flight. We had to first get our airport shuttle to Xi’An by 2.30 Xi’An’s.
Next was breakfast. The check-in desk gave us a box of breakfast food. Before we could go through customs, we had to eat the breakfast food near the check-in counter. We then went into the airport lounge, where our first flight would be Cheap Flights from Xi’An Seattle.
Cheap Flights
The flight from Chicago to Seattle took four hours and was uneventful. After a two-hour stopover, we arrived in Seattle. Our luggage had already been transferred to the next flight. To fly to Vancouver, we only needed to locate the next departure gate. Our flight was joined by other passengers who were in the same situation. It took us 30 minutes to reach our destination.
The flight from Toronto to Vancouver was only one hour. The stopover in Vancouver lasted eight hours. We planned to spend our time in the airport lounge. Here we could have breakfast, lunch, coffee, or a drink. As we walked through the terminal, we could see our airport lounge.
We were, however, forced to follow a different route because of construction in the terminal. The airport lounge was therefore not visible. Lucky for us, a gentleman driving a golf car pointed us in the right direction. He told us that the airport staff should have met with us at the gate to direct us to the lounge. “Our salvation was the airport lounge.”
Comfortable Flight
It took 14 hours to fly home. We both struggled to fall asleep and felt uncomfortable. We were both exhausted when we returned to Canada and felt uncomfortable. It took us two weeks to feel normal again. We enjoyed our trip to Alaska and Canada but will never forget the 34-hour flight home.
We recommend that less experienced travelers travel abroad, be patient, and take the time to understand long flights overseas. Evening stops are worthwhile. Both Singapore and Dubai were worthwhile. We want to return to North America, stopping in Hawaii for a day before continuing.
The passengers had to shout out when they saw wildlife. Many grizzly bears were present, as well as Dall sheep. Caribou, moose, and other animals.
