Up bright and early Saturday morning at the Days Inn YVR. 6:30 Vancouver time, 8:30 SK time. We checked out the complimentary hot breakfast before heading over to the Vancouver International Airport, as requested 3 hours prior to departure.

We got to the All Nippon Airways (Japan's largest airline) about 10 minutes before they opened, along with some other passengers. Like some other Asian airlines we have used, when they opened all the ANA agents stood in front of their terminals and as a group they welcomed us and bowed to all of us.

After checking in & dropping off our luggage with ANA we set out to the foreign currency desk. As we could not get Vietnamese currency (Vietnamese Dong) at our local bank, we booked it online to be picked up here. 100,000 VND (Vietnamese Dong) is about $5.70 Canadian. We feel like millionaires after picking up 7.7 million VND!

First leg of today's flight is Vancouver to Tokyo Narita. Tokyo has 2 International airports, the other being Tokyo Haneda. Flight time is 10.5 hours. As discussed with some of my non-aviation friends earlier this week, flights do not fly across the Pacific Ocean but rather fly north over Alaska, Russia to get to Japan (or "the other side") and vice versa. This "Great Circle route" is actually shorter than flying across the Pacific Ocean. The same is true when flying east from North America to Europe - planes go over Iceland as it's shorter.

After clearing security we wandered around the international terminal. As with most metropolitan international airports there are lots of shops, restaurants & distractions here at Vancouver International. There were some interesting sculptures, an outdoor atrium (complete with nature sounds) and of course, food! There were still decorations up celebrating the lunar new year.

ANA provided very good service. We were on board a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, ANA's newest aircraft. It has a 246 passenger capacity with a 3-3-3 seating configuration in economy. 

We sat 3/4 ways back on this flight. During our flight masks were required for everyone. The entertainment system was pretty good offering large choice of movies (new releases and older ones), music, documentaries, audio books & live news stations. Last time we flew Air Canada overseas their entertainment system had many more options including games. I watched 2 movies - "Knives Out" and the newly released "Elvis". Greg watched "Bullet Train" and one other movie.

Once we hit the cruising altitude of 39,000 feet, the cabin staff came around with a disposable towelettes to wipe our hands - this happened a few times through the flight. In previous times they used hot towels which were very refreshing. Miss that. Next was beverage and snack service. About an hour later it was beverage service again followed by lunch. I had the prawn tempura and Greg went with the beef stew. Each entree came with bottled water, green salad, potato salad with a slice of ham & a cherry tomato, beans & greens, a bun or Melba toast and something surprising - ice cream. All served with real cutlery and chopsticks. About 90 minutes before landing there was a light box lunch (salmon bunwich, mixed apple slices and strawberry Greek yogurt) and beverage service.