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YVR looks a lot different than when we left 15 months ago. At that time the pandemic had just started. It was a ghost town, only staff patrolling with masks on whispering to one another about what will happen. Upon return the airport has been transformed. 1/5
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The “greeting hall” where loved ones would line up to welcome people home has been transformed into a testing facility. I have so many fond memories of this place, but now temporary walls board up stores and guide travellers through a socially-distanced maze. 2/5
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After being nasally swabbed we are corralled (in a socially distanced sort of way) into another waiting area. A large man with a heavy accent shouts directions about transportation to our hotel rooms. We are then put into a shuttle bus. 3/5
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The driver loaded our 6 boxes and two large suitcases complaining about his back. Apparently they are not even supposed to “touch” our luggage(?). We are hauled across the bridge, the bus creaks over the cracked Canadian pavement. 4/5
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Upon arrival at the hotel we are put into yet another quarantine waiting room before we are checked in to our room for the next four days. It’s a bit dramatic I admit, but the whole time all I can think of is that scene from Children of Men. More tomorrow once I’ve slept. 5/5