New Zealand to Banff

Flying from Vancouver to Calgary

Our flight was at 8.10pm, but just to be safe we were at Auckland Airport by 5pm. Mum and Dad had Koru lounge access, so the rest of us wandered around, finding some good secret seating behind a construction area and eating overpriced burgers from Shaky Isles.

On the plane we were in premium economy - exciting! I misheard the attendant after takeoff and ended up with an orange juice instead of bubbles. They had a new seat chat - since we weren't all sitting next to each other we could talk on that instead. I read and listened to music, occasionally screen-sharing the Ab Fab movie that Lucy was watching. I also thought it was a good time to try watching Gone with the Wind, all 3 hours and 4 minutes of it. At the halfway point I went to sleep.

I was woken once during the night by the flight attendant due to strong turbulence. But my sleep was light and broken by discomfort anyway.

We landed and began the nightmare of transferring ski gear through international to domestic terminals. It wasn't actually too bad, but I think everyone thought it would be, so they were extra agitated in queues trying to push past and grumbling. It was a decent twenty minute walk around the Vancouver airport.

Customs was very slow and full of flights from Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai. The customs officers had Canadian names like Dorion, Laurence (for a girl) and Keane. Likewise, the security check was slow, calm and incredibly polite. Canadians are nice.

Our second flight to Calgary was quick by comparison and there were amazing views over huge mountain ranges until the last ten minutes before we descended through the cloud layer.

Canadian mountains

Are these the Rockies? 

Calgary was huge and flat, with steaming buildings that looked like they were on fire. We ate a sandwich at the terminal, unsure of our body clocks, then caught a huge bus to Banff. It was dark and we seemed to be on a motorway the entire two hours. I fell asleep.

Calgary from above

Steaming buildings

We were delivered to the Inns of Banff - a 70s take on a Swiss chalet made into a hotel. Getting to our room took two elevators, endless corridors and even crossing an outdoor carpark covered in ice - we were at the very back.

The Inns of Banff

The room was nice but left a bit to be desired. After a mission to put the skis in the locker at the very front of the hotel, Lucy and I shared a bunk and went to bed. Despite it being early evening in New Zealand, I fell asleep straight away only waking at 5.45am for a while.