At LaGuardia airport, I successfully rendezvous’ed with my mom and brother who were also busy this morning. Since we fly out of LaGuardia, but return to JFK, they were dropping off the car closer to JFK, and uber’ed to LaGuardia which required some coordination and an early departure from Westchester. But after going through security, we managed to get into the Delta lounge and a kind man chatting up Justin gave him a delicious bialy flat from his favorite bakery. He had almost 20 of them as he was bringing them to his over 90 years old parents who missed New York bagels and baked goods.
We boarded our quick flight to Toronto on WestJet, a Delta partner, and went through immigration with ease. But we did have to go through security again and found a lounge thanks to Justin’s AMEX card to kill time - our next flight was about 50 minutes delayed. Then we were off to Vancouver for the 5 hour flight.
Upon arrival, I received a curious email from Korean Airlines saying they had found my aunt’s luggage. Apparently someone had taken it, so my cousin and aunt who were meeting us here for the cruise had to submit a claim and dealt with some bumpiness after their 10 hour flight. So I hunted down the international desk for Korean Air across the airport, but since there were no more Korean Air flights, all employees were gone for the day. After some emails, they confirmed they would deliver the found bag to the hotel.
After a 30 minute taxi to downtown Vancouver, we arrived at Delta Suites which is part of Marriott and rendezvous’ed with my aunt and cousin, Sang Nim (상님)! We immediately fell back into old times, chatting each other up. We then headed out in search of dinner and ended up at a Japanese izakaya and ate various small dishes. Then my mom treated us to ice cream cones which she loves walking with while on vacation. Then we walked back to our hotel and were up well past midnight and went to bed. Here’s a photo of Canada Place Sails all lit up, a landmark of the Vancouver waterfront:
When I started planning the cruise, I opened it up to various friends, family friends, and family. My cousin and aunt immediately committed to the trip and we were excited to make this all happen. With that being said, I thought it would be fun to go down memory lane! This is my mom’s second eldest brother’s (may he rest in peace) family - his wife and daughter. And through the years, there have been many trips and adventures…
The second family visited New York around 1978 or 1979 and before I was born:
My cousin always brings up this memory of her graduating from school in Korea in 1985 and she always mentions my red coat! Also included in the photo is my cousin Jung Hae (정혜) in her teal coat and my grandmother:
Then my mom went to Italy for an alumni trip and my cousin was studying abroad there - my cousin is very linguistic and very good with languages:
Then here’s us in Kyung Ju (경주), the old Korean capital in 1994 - my dear uncle was amazing about planning local adventures when “the Americans” visited:
This was a trip to a pool club in Korea, the summer of 1996 or 1997:
Then my cousin and her husband visited us in New York during the summer of 2013. Here we are before a Cirque du Soléil performance in Brooklyn and other adventures:
And then my aunt came for an alumni tour of America and stayed with me in New York:
Then Sang Nim (상님) came back with her kids in 2014:
Then before my new job, I was in Seoul and my aunt and I took a selfie in 2018 - the photo I used when she first joined Instagram and she was only following me and Roger Federer
I’m looking forward to making more memories on this trip after our successful rendezvous here in Canada before our Alaskan adventure!
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