I am blogging this from YVR’s free-fi network. =D I left Waterloo right after the ECE 251 exam which went sort of ok, except for this one really weird question that I don’t think any one got. It was quite the hectic agenda since a lot of things are happening at once! I got picked up at my apartment by the airport shuttle and off I go!

One last look out my apartment room before I leave… (there are much more interesting photos after the break, I promise)

This time I booked my flight on Air Canada’s newest flight route on their new Boeing 777-300ER which begin its service December 11th. The plane goes from Toronto to Vancouver and then from Vancouver to Sydney. Before the 777′s, people had to have a couple hours stopover in Honolulu to refuel on the Airbus planes. The new 777 plane is noticeably larger than the Airbus A340 and A330. It was a really comfortable ride due to its large wingspan. Each seat is also equipped with a touchscreen entertainment system and a standard 120v power plug. The seats also have a 3.5mm audio plug for your regular headphones. Now the in-flight movies really feel like… movies! The seats were reasonably comfortable with good leg room. I’ll have to say this is the most comfortable flights that I’ve been on, but since this is Air Canada that we’re talking about, the service still needs significant improvement. In other words, the new hardware really rocks the socks, but the customer service still needs improvement.

By the time I got home in Vancouver, it was already mid-night. I spent the next few hours unpacking my two bags (they weighed in at 50 lbs and 55 lbs btw) to remove the items that I don’t need for my trip to Hong Kong/Taiwan and the items that I need overnight. But it turned out to be more difficult then I had originally expected, so I just ended up unpacking everything.

I got a quick 4 hour nap during my 12 hour stopover at home and then left the door again at 12:30 in the afternoon for my flight to Hong Kong with Oasis Airlines. There wasn’t much of a line up at the check-in kiosks because I arrived at the airport fairly early. The security checks were really ‘lax (as usual at YVR).

I finally got to check out the new YVR international wing with their new “160 shops, restaurants and services, we have eyvrthing”. They weren’t kidding with their slogan, after I passed the security checkpoint, its like a mini-mall inside, without the dead shops. There’s also really nice loungey areas for people to sit and rest with free wi-fi throughout.

And finally, the Oasis Airline 747-400!

As you can tell the weather isn’t exactly the best today in Vancouver, but you’ll have to agree with me that it is much much better than the winter storm that we had over the weekend in Waterloo.

Bonus: Cathay Pacific Airbus A340 parked over on the next gate, along with seats that appears to be comfy by the windows. Also note the dual boarding gates in the close-up shot for the new Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 planes.