Hi everyone!

So another V.A.S.T. journey has begun following a short night at the Days Inn in Calgary… after a music/silent auction/V.A.S.T. fundraiser/post PhD bash for Jasmine at the Car Club in Airdrie, Alberta (an amazing venue by the way for anyone looking for a cool place to party!). Jasmine, Tyra, and the infamous V.A.S.T rubbermaids boarded a shuttlebus to the airport at 5:10 a.m. along with some very patient individuals waiting to load their few, paltry belongings on their ways to sunny holidays. The poor porter had to actually stand on one rubbermaid to ensure that everything fit inside the luggage rack.

However despite this VAST (pun intended!) quantity of luggage, thanks to the wizarding Black Magic of a friendly Westjet employee, Carolyn, no luggage fees were required and everything was checked all the way through to Kathmandu. Our attempts to repay her with a juice box were in vain as she had already disappeared into a poof of smoke. The other employees looked at us in suspicion as we offered the juice box (who was not invited into security) to them, thinking we were out to poison the team. Believe it or not we both managed to make it through security without any undue excitement or scandal.

Ironically it was Tyra who took a little bit longer boarding the plane, since someone had tried to change her name (and steal her juice boxes!) without her knowledge. The previous long days (weeks!!) of insanity finally hit as both of our eyes closed prior to the plane wheels even leaving the tarmack. In Vancouver we had to walk 3 miles to get to our next exit gate (going from one end of domestic arrivals to the far end of international departures), however, it did not matter since no food was available yet. We could buy alcohol, chocolate, and imported Venetian blinds but no breakfast… So now we are currently in search of Nemo, within the Vancouver airport… while waiting for the next leg of the adventure to begin. We will have patchier wifi access than we did in Haiti, however we will update as often as possible!

lots of love,

ty & jas