Thursday 12th September 2019

This morning was an early wake up (but thank god not too early) to get ourselves downtown to King Street Station. The ride down in the Lyft was good as the driver had spent some time in Australia and was also a substitute teacher. That dude got a good tip. He dropped us off right in front of a seemingly empty station.

The station was indeed quite empty at this time as it was just over an hour to departure. That meant no real lines to drop off bags etc. But sadly within moments of finding somewhere to sit, it seemed even the train station could not avoid Gate Lice. The lines began! Around an hour prior to departure they started checking passports (mainly that you had one) and assigning seats for the train (a pink ticket with a sticky label on it). We were close to the front, but not that close to the front unfortunately. It felt like a morning on lines was going to be upon us.

Before we could do much we were in line for passport check, then in line for ticket check, then we could rest a few minutes until they started boarding the train. The train was smaller carriages then I remember the last time I was onboard (2011), but I know it hasn’t changed other than getting older (even the train car signs were broken and replaced with taped pieces of paper). The seats were still comfortable though and there was enough space to ensure you didn’t smash into too many people (didnt stop the guy in front of me from trying to recline into me though, but i put a stop to that 😉 ).

The train left on time but sadly it was a very slow journey. Getting about 2 miles out of the station took 10 minutes and to get up to Everett, an hour. It was a very pretty journey though so I can’t complain all that much. The trip was all together a little boring. I ate the breakfast we brought with us. I drank a cup of coffee I purchased for an ok price. By the time we reached Bellingham we were about 2 hours into the journey. They did another Passport check to make sure everyone could get in and handed out customs forms. From there the journey took another 2 hours to wind its way into Vancouver. That drive would normally be about an hour or so plus wait time at the border. We didn’t wait at the border so that was a little annoying.

Once we pulled into the station, we had to wait onboard until we were allowed to go into Customs and immigration but, they did it car by car. It took a while to allow us to move (pretty much right after I used the restroom) and then it was more waiting in line (about 20 minutes). Our luggage made it safe and sound and by the time we got to the CBSA it was a few questions and “Have a nice stay!”. Off to the taxi line (did I mention it was a day of lines) and off to the hotel by cab (because Rideshare is illegal here at the moment).