A Room with a View

I don’t usually travel for business, but last week I got the opportunity to present some research I’ve been working on at a meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Vancouver! A beautiful city. Host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. And, the city where I lived for three years back in the day when I attended UBC and got my Master’s degree.

My husband decided to pay his way and come with me. Getting to Vancouver was an arduous 6+ hour journey through 3 airports. Okay, actually it was fine until our 4 hour flight from Minneapolis to Vancouver ran out of snacks.  (Thanks, Delta!) I sympathized with every toddler I’ve ever known after enduring that flight without sustenance.

Anyhoo, when we arrived we took the train from the airport to downtown Vancouver. Then, my husband and I traipsed from the train station to our hotel, excusing ourselves as we stepped over homeless people and/or the folks openly smoking pot on the streets. With the trip’s hotel selection, my boss had obviously prioritized money-saving efforts!

When we finally made it to our hotel, we were hungry and tired and smelled faintly of marijuana. All we wanted to do was relax in our room.

Alas, this was not in the cards! For when we got to our room, we opened the window and this is what we saw:

Rather than relax, we spent the next hour gaping at the entertainment outside. There were men yelling at each other. There was one man pouring paint down a drain. There was another man slapping his t-shirt against and the wall and continually smelling his armpits. Coming on the heels of 2 planes, one without food, a long wait to clear customs and an interesting trip from the airport to our hotel only to see THIS view, well, we did what anyone would do.

We laughed ourselves silly!

Then we went on and had a productive work meeting and a great time visiting a beautiful city without the kids in tow. It was awesome.

Been on any good trips lately? What’s the worst view you’ve ever had?