Impressions of flight and Vancouver

Last week was a double shot of first times for me. I flew for the first time, and I went to Vancouver for the first time. Frankly, I enjoyed both experiences. First, the flight. I entered the airport almost late because I couldn't find a cab company to answer their phones on a Wednesday morning. I ended up driving myself. But I got there, we grabbed our tickets and headed through security and immediately onto our plane. The door to the plane was just short enough that I ducked to get through it. I may not have had to, but I did. The plane was long and the aisle was narrow. I thought it was neat that the interior of the plane was curved like a long cylinder. We sat in our seats, I had the window seat, and chatted for a bit. I looked out the window and watched the other goings on on the tarmac. Finally the flight attendants went through their little spiel about seat belts, oxygen masks and the such. Then we were off, taxiing down the runway. With a burst of speed, the plane rose gracefully from the ground. I could feel myself being pushed back into my seat, but not so hard that I couldn't ignore it and continue to watch out the window. Everything became smaller and very cool looking as we rose into the sky. Then we went through the clouds and rose above them. That was the coolest part of all. The clouds looked much more solid from above than the ground. It was almost like an entire new world of solid white. And the clouds were in weird formations, some rising up like mountains in the air. It was really neat.
Eventually we reached Vancouver, and from the plane I got my first view of the ocean, and I have to say that it looks really wet. We landed smoothly, hardly any jarring at all and disembarked from the plane. Once on the ground, we drove to Langley where our first store was. I saw none of Langley because all we did was work and sleep. What I did see wasn't anything too special. In many ways it was just like parts of Calgary, and pretty much any other city I've ever been to. Then we went to downtown Vancouver for our next store.
Our hotel was right across the street from BC Place (where the BC Lions play) and GM Place (where the Vancouver Canucks play). And then we worked and slept for another five days. On the last night we were there, I went out with one of the guys I worked with and some of his friends. We walked around some of the downtown, looking at, well, basically the buildings we passed. In some ways, it was much like Calgary, but in many ways it was different. The buildings were unique. Their downtown library is a huge curved building that looks really sweet. There were many people there, and we walked down Granville street which had many little shops and even a few booths set up on the sidewalk. There was a hospital that had been done up with a massively impressive display of Christmas lights. Eventually we made our way down to a bay near Stanley Park, and there I dipped my hand into the ocean for the first time, and I was right. It was wet. And very cold. Just as I was about to turn away, it attacked. The waves had been rolling in, but one rogue wave rose up and landed on my foot, soaking my toes. I believe I have found a new nemesis: The Ocean. Oh, I will show it a thing or two, along with its pal Gravity. How I hate them both. They will not get the better of me.
And then we flew home.