classic rebecca

this past saturday, i headed out to tswwassen for a quick walk-on trip to vancouver island. i LOVE taking the ferry and wish that i could drive my car on for much less money but then i think to myself, "remember when you went to the maritimes and had planned to catch the ferry to newfoundland from cape breton? then found out that it cost $400 and was 14 hours? but when you decided to do it anyways, realized that you HAVE to have reservations and couldn't even get a spot on the 1am ferry? yeah - our ferries rock." anyways, i parked my car in tswwassen, dropped my luggage on the trolley so that i wouldn't have to lug it around, and had a lovely, carefree ride to the ferry. as i rode, i wrote this blog post in my head about how fabulous the ferry is and how silly everyone is to not check their luggage. it makes for such a nice, weightless trip. i got off the ferry on the other side, found my favourite island friend waiting for me, grabbed my bags that were instantly waiting for me at the luggage pick-up and off we went.

on the way home, luggage drop-off is a little more complicated. not a lot more, just a little. but i've done it before. no problem. there are three types of tags to attach to your bags. as i walked up to the tags, there was another girl grabbing tags. they were white. they said vancouver. yep - that's where i'm going. i glanced at one of the other three tags - it said something about a bus. alright - vancouver it is. (here is where my mom inturrupts and says, "you aren't going to vancouver! you're going to tswwassen!" yep. i know that NOW - let me finish my masterful story.) i throw my bags down the shoot and hop on the ferry. i enjoy my ride and read my book and honestly, continue composing the blog post where i tell you all how silly you are for not checking your luggage when you ride the ferry.

i get off the ferry and find that i have to wait for the luggage. after a few minutes, the door rolls up and the luggage guy starts tossing suitcases on the rampy thing. then, i see one of my bags. he pulls it off the cart and takes it behind the cart. hmm. weird. then he continues throwing bags. when the cart is emptied, he says, "that's it" and rolls the door down. i shout, "what!?" and the lady beside me looks at me funny and says, "he's kidding. there's another cart." the second door begins rolling up. phew. he begins tossing more bags. a bus starts to go by behind him, getting off the ferry, and all of a sudden, our luggage guy runs away from his post, grabs MY bag that he'd put behind the cart and starts to whistle and wave down this BUS. the bus stops. he's motioning to the bus driver that MY bag needs to be on that bus. at this point, i yell, "that's my bag" and i run up the luggage ramp, leap off the back of it and chase down this guy. "this is my bag!" i tell him. "this tag says that it's going to vancouver." yep. "okay. well i have another bag on that bus." luggage guy leaves me to my own devices while i discuss with the bus driver. the driver gives me a glimmer of hope by asking, "does your suitcase have red on it?" "no..." "sorry!" and off he drives. shoot. i guess tswwassen isn't vancouver.

if my one bag hadn't been on this trolley accidently, i would've been clueless as what to do to get my bags or even as to where they had gone. at least, i had one bag and knew the other one was on a pacific coach bus. i made a call when i got home, located the bag, and thankfully have a dad who drives all over the lower mainland who picked it up for me. so does checking your luggage on the ferry make for a stress-free 2 hour trip? yes. is it important to read all the tags before before putting them on your bags? it sure is.