YVR and the case of the alphabet airport, computer malfunctions and the second coming of Skype -- Departure T-Minus 7 days

Some staff are a bit two dimensional.

Airports are odd.

Considering the time an average traveller spends sitting and waiting you would presume architects would be better served installing luscious lounge chairs, bean bags and maybe even the odd water fountain with frolicking pandas, although I would be happy with just a few more of those walk-accelerator-conveyor-belt-thingies.

But no, airport designers want to dazzle us with another approach.

There's is a combination of minimalism with the slightest hint of eau de emergency department, medieval torture, and a tentacled structure that stretches through narrow passage ways from the nerve centre -- containing all the facilities a human needs like restaurants, book stores and toilets -- to your destination, a dead end guarded by a disinterested stewardess, a broken drink machine and a cranky janitor who got lost in 1962 on his way for a cigarette break.

Your destination is known only by its strange combination of letters and numbers, which you inevitably fail to hear because the voice is muffled and crackly (Example: "Flight *mumble, mumble, mumble* is now boarding at Gate ZXT12-QW. Please allow yourself two hours to reach your destination. Passengers are advised to take a packed lunch.")

A riddle -- What's blue and white, is too short to lay down on, too uncomfortable to sit on and isn't a Chelsea supporter? Give up?

This time next week Em and I will be sitting at Vancouver International Airport waiting for our plane to depart but thankfully our flight is domestic which means we can turn up two hours before and not three days like with an international flight.

One thing that has been bugging me though is the constant reference to Vancouver's airport as YVR.

Well I hunted around today and can say that I lost valuable minutes from my life I will never recoup because now that I know, I wish I didn't as it seems there is no rhyme nor reason to any of it.

The story goes that every airport needs a three letter identification code and Canada asked the regulatory body responsible for handing them out for the letter Y.

I believe the group responsible for dolling out letters is the Airport Alphabet Accreditation and Anti-Aromatherapy Association, but don't hold me to that.

So Canada gets the letter Y and Vancouver simply adds the V and the R from its name.

Apparently the lads over at Toronto Pearson International Airport can't spell and lucked out with YYZ. Go figure.

We are heading to YVR tonight actually to pick up Em's parents who have flown over to spend time with the family which means we are off to Saltspring Island, by plane no less.

In other news, Wilbur the Dell Laptop just got a re-formatted hard drive which now means we can Skype everyone once we get to St Anthony and once we get an interwebz connection to the Googlebox.