A trip on the “Canada Line” and a lesson in observation

I was in the Vancouver area for a travel bloggers convention (TBEX) and was staying just south of town at a friend’s place in Richmond. I decided the easiest way to get to/from the convention center each day would be to take the SkyTrain, the “Canada Line” to be specific.

While riding the train I witnessed a guy with a bike in tow, racing through the station platform toward one of the cars—as he was approaching, the warning bell signaled that the doors would be closing. With a good ten feet to go, the man with the bike lunged forward through the train doors. The closing doors just caught the back wheel of the bike, causing the man’s momentum to go awry. The man fell to his knees and found himself in the lap of a seated male passenger. It was the funniest damn thing! Oh do I wish I would have had my camera rolling.

As the journey from Richmond to the Waterfront station continued, a young (slightly sketchy looking) man entered the train at one of the stops and sat next to me. At the very next station, another man got on the train and stood in the middle of the car and grabbed hold of a passenger stability pole. It was obvious that this man had some sort of disability (MS maybe). Since there were no available seats left, I was considering offering the man mine, but in the seconds I took to think about it, the young man next to me already got up and offered his seat. This action by the young man restored my diminishing faith in young people. OMG, I think I’m beginning to sound like my father.

The reason I pen these stories is due in part to a workshop I attended at the TBEX convention…one of the comments from a speaker resonated with me, “be observant and you’ll find a story everywhere you go/travel.” I think by being observant you also remember the details, and it’s those details that make the “story.”