Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“Oh, I'm sorry hon,” Maureen seemed genuinely disappointed that they couldn't help.
“Don't you know anyone in Vancouver?”
At no other point on this trip had I reached out to someone I knew. I maintained my
commitment to strangers, but I did know someone in Vancouver, or rather I knew of her.
Lina's 102-year-old great-grandmother lived alone in the Canadian city. When Lina found
out the ship would be taking me there, she had offered to call her Nana, explaining that the
centenarian would be overjoyed to have me visit. She nudged, “I mean if you're trying to
be kind, and all, why not be kind to a 102-year-old lady?”
I had taken down the number, but only to be nice. But now, faced with going out in the
blustery cold, searching for a warm home with nothing but this lightweight jacket to keep
me alive, Lina's Nana seemed like the perfect prospect. Maureen loaned me their phone,
and I found out that Nora, Lina's great-grandmother, had heard about my trip.
“Of course you can stay, Leon,” she replied. “I was hoping you would call.”
The only problem with going to Nora's was that I would have to go outside again. In the
cold. With no more clothes than I had before. Thankfully, it turned out her house was only
twenty minutes away. I could drive twenty minutes.
Or I thought I could drive twenty minutes. Halfway there, I had to stop. Gusts of cold
air were blowing in my face, the wind chill making it feel like ten below. I stopped at a gas
station and found someone kind enough to buy me some gas. Very helpful. But what was
even more helpful was his offer to buy me some gloves and a full face mask!! I had been
wearing a now worn-out pair of yellow gloves for most of my journey, but they were most
certainly not Canadian-proof.
I arrived at Nora's in full face mask and winter gloves. She answered the door in a styl-
ish red jacket and quickly ushered me in.
“Oh dear, Leon,” she fussed. “You must be freezing.”
She initially reminded me of Kay, Willy's friend in Colorado, but as soon as I saw a
family photo in the foyer, which included my beautiful girlfriend, she also reminded me of
Lina.
After meeting her friend John, who was also visiting her, I told Nora how happy I was
to be there, and not just because she was Lina's Nana. I told her, “It's quite an honor to be
in the presence of someone who's lived so long.”
“I never thought I'd live this long,” she laughed.
John added, smiling in Nora's direction, “I'm sticking close to her because I'll want
some of that to rub off on me.”
