Vancouver!

It was a long journey from Lisbon to Vancouver. And transiting in London was not as smooth as it usually is - instead of changing terminals, I left the boarding area altogether. In all fairness, it was not a big deal (I managed to find my way back pretty quickly!) and it might be the reason why I was provided with one of those moments, which are thought only to happen in movies - as I walked through a corridor, I found myself completely alone. Through the glass windows, I could see people moving and talking on the floor below but couldn't feel that energy, couldn't listen to all that sound.

Shortly after boarding on the plane to Calgary, we were told by a friendly voice welcoming us on board that that was the captain's very last commercial flight - he would be retiring at the end of it. And as we approached our destination, he told us that flying had been his childhood dream and that he was very happy for having fulfilled it; he mentioned how, by summing up all the hours he spent flying, he realised that he had been up in the air for more than three years - slightly over one hour per each day of his life; finally, he thanked us, passengers, for having allowed him to live the way he did. He really sounded magnanimous, which was why, when I walk passed him on the way out, he looked rather short...

Anyway, this wouldn't be the last time I would see him. He joined me on the plane from Calgary to Vancouver - this time as a passenger. I wondered if he realised that, from that moment onwards, he would be spending most of his time on the ground? And that it might come a time in which he will have to say to people that he spent ten minutes per each day of his life flying?

Soon enough it was time to land in cloudy Vancouver...