Day 1: Saturday May 10, 2014 ...Travel Day

Well the journey begins.  Our BASEF group all met at Pearson Airport at 7 am.  Catherine and Calvin were there with their respective parents and families and Arjuna was with his Grandfather.  The latter told me wonderful stories about his days working at this very airport.  Check-in was smooth without problems and was highlighted by a sighting of movie star Donald Sutherland … the kids know him as Dr. Snow from the Hunger Games but I know him as an older generation Canadian actor who also is father to 24’s Kiefer Sutherland and once son-in-law to Tommy Douglas.

We met up with YSC chaperone Ratna and her group of the YSC team that arrived in Toronto from various other areas of Canada.  The BASEF group and the YSC group bonded quickly; some have known each other from previous CWSF.  Dan A (London), Dan M (Richmond Hill), Adamo (Ottawa), Alex (Windsor), Meagen (Windsor), Sujay (Calgary), Amit (Ottawa), Varsha (St. Catherines) , Ben (Grimsby) and Jessica ().  A quick breakfast and the flight departed on time at around 11 am.  The flight landed in LAX after a 5 hour flight … uneventful.   We met up with Dustin, a YSC chaperone who flew in with the other YSC group (Anne, Duncan and Nicole) that arrived from Vancouver.   How the circle of time works …. Cathy was Dustin’s chaperone back 8 years ago. And so was Ratna back 5 years ago.

Together we all got on a chartered bus which took the whole group to home for the next week… Hotel Figueroa.  Enroute, Cathy told numerous stories trying to convince us that the hotel was very unique, that it would grow on us and how a previous chaperone had a room without a washroom.  And the rooms still use actual keys.  Oh no … keys and I do not get along well.

As we pulled up to the hotel, it reminded me of what a hotel in a Humphrey Bogart Casablanca movie would look like.  Either that or it’s the Hotel Zanzibar circa the the Foreign Legions in North Africa or Morocco.  Definitely quaint as Cathy had forewarned … beds were small but again so am I.  Old fashioned CRT TVs … but who has time to watch.  Only 2 prong electrical outlets … where am I to plug in my chargers?  AND NO WIFI … Captain Cathy was going to look into this and fix .

After check-in and settling in, the group moved en mass to the LA Convention Center where the Fair is to be held.   A short 3-4 block walk was interrupted by a mass of people lining up and gathering for the LA Kings Stanley Cup match against the Anaheim Ducks at the Staples Center.  Oh how that brought back memories of the Leafs debacle during IISEF 2013 in Phoenix.  Project registrations proceeded smoothly and then it was back to the hotel to prepare for dinner at a nearby eatery called the Lawry's Carvery followed by a short stroll thru LA Live, an entertainment district that looks like our Maple Leafs Square coupled with Yorkville.  Very cool and only 2 blocks away.   Looks like we’ll be visiting this area a lot.

more pics of Day 1 are here