Back to living in style for a minute, Jonathan had booked us a private plane charter through Harbour Air. This is definitely the best way to fly.
We were flying Vancouver Airport to Maple Bay. We got to control our departure time, limit our exposure to Covid to just the pilot and deck hand, and only check in 30 minutes before. Because we were so many people, it didn't cost much more than the 5 flights from Vancouver to Victoria airport and the large private shuttle (or 2) up island we would have needed with all our luggage. With a private charter, we also did not have a luggage limit to deal with. It took Harbour Air awhile to weigh all our luggage. They even weighed our carry-ons. 615 lbs in total.
We got to watch a few sea planes take off before it was our turn. The kids were pretty impressed with this runway. We took a photo with our pilot and climbed aboard. The pilot said he was bring a Dock Hand to help with the luggage in Maple Bay.
The pilot walked us through the Safety Procedures Card. MsI grabbed her card and wouldn't put it down. She saw those 4 circles of the plane going up and then coming back down and she kept her finger on the state she felt we were in at the time for the entire flight. Good thing it was only 20 minutes dock to dock.
We had limo service for our last ride to our new home in Cowichan Bay. There were not a lot of large vehicle choices on this side. The kids thought the lights inside the limo were amazing. MsI now tells us, "I miss our BIG car. I want a car with lights inside." She's mad that there are no car rides in Quarantine.
I told you we're used to being a spectacle, but again people had to stop and stare at us in Maple Bay, wondering what was going on. It took quite a while for the pilot, the dock hand, the driver and Jonathan to ferry the 15+ pieces of luggage out of the plane and up the dock. There are no luggage carts in Maple Bay. The dock hand used a rusty wheel barrow for our carry-on luggage. There wasn't much room to spare in the limo with all our luggage.
Arriving in Maple Bay, it felt like we had come full circle. Maple Bay Marina was one of the first overnight locations Jonathan and I traveled to on his sailboat. Back then we thought we were on a pretty big adventure, just taking the sailboat a few days up Vancouver Island.
Our time in Singapore had certainly been an adventure. We hadn't circled the globe, but we had our eyes opened to an entirely different side of the world. Sitting out the pandemic in a foreign location really highlighted the contrast between East and West.
We were excited to be home, but also sad that about the things we hadn't gotten to do in South East Asia due to Covid limiting everyone's plans. We are unsure when we'll get back to Singapore to visit which is hard for the kids to understand; they have given everyone we met in Singapore strict instructions to come visit us in Canada.
We're both relieved to be safe at home and also a bit wary wondering what life in Canada is going to be like. Whatever it is we're sure it's still going to be quite the adventure.