remember the canadian friends we made in uluwatu, bali? steve & emily — our surf crew? well, they’re from vancouver and we just so happened to have a three day stopover in canada on our way back to the US.
as we were boarding our flight from tokyo to vancouver, we got a message from steve that they had a surprise for us while we were in their city. sweet! i love surprises.
at 5pm on our final night abroad, steve picked us up from our hotel in downtown vancouver and drove us about 45 minutes outside the city to meet emily at the Pacific Flying Club. our surprise was a private tour of vancouver – in a teeny tiny plane. both pilots, emily and steve coordinated to take us up in a four-seater cessna for the evening.
it. was. rad.
danny’s first time in a plane that small, you could tell he was a little nervous but this isn’t an opportunity you pass up. we buckled up in the back of what felt like the inside of a VW Bug, tested out our nifty headphones & mics and before we knew it we were cleared for take-off.
steve, d and our ride in the sky
emily was our pilot for the night
not a bad view of vancouver, eh? 
we spent 1.5 hours up in the air while steve & emily pointed out all major landmarks & areas.
steve said we were the quietest passengers of all time. i think between the emotions of going home the next day, the odd feeling of communicating through a microphone and simply taking in all the beauty – i was really in my own head. loving it, but quiet.
it was about 8:30pm when this photo was taken. the vancouver summer sun didn’t set until almost 10pm!
post-flight the four of us went to dinner and drinks in downtown vancouver and had a total blast. we shut down both the restaurant and then the following bar. it felt like dinner with old friends and was literally the perfect way to spend our last night abroad.
steve & emily,
thank you for such an awesome experience. it was the cherry on top.
or should i say the yams on top?
hope to see you soon,
your friends who live in the grand canyon
