This flight is absolutely stunning.
The scenery out of the window is just beautiful.
Alright, so airborne from Cranbrook heading back to Vancouver.
I am amazed.
[Lift] Ground Floor.
[Valet] How was your stay?
[Noel] Alright, well I'm not finished yet. I'm here 'til Saturday.
[Valet] Just heading out for the day. [Noel] Just heading out for the day, yeah.
I'll be back tonight.
Thank you, see you later, thank you.
Good morning. [Driver] Good morning sir.
[Noel] Vancouver Airport please.
[Noel] Can I just get a black coffee, please?
Thank you.
Right, we're at Vancouver, and we're in the South Terminal today
which is home to all of the little local
airlines they have here in this part of the world.
And, that's exactly why we're here.
We're flying on one of those local airlines today
on a tiny little turboprop aeroplane.
But first.
Oh, man alive. Coffee.
[Noel] Thank you.
Alright, so we're flying today with an airline called Pacific Coastal Airlines.
They are regional airline here in British Columbia
calling themselves BC's airline
they fly little hops all around the state of BC
and today we're going to be getting a ride on one of their Beech 1900s
over to a place called Cranbrook Rocky Mountains Airport
which is going to be pretty cool. I'm looking forward to this one.
[Noel] Hello
[Flight crew] Alright, thanks guys just follow me inside the white lines here
I don't know why we're parked all the way over there
but it is a little bit of a walk to get there.
[Flight crew] Thanks, welcome on board. [Noel] Thank you.
Alright, good morning. [Pilot] Morning.
[PA] In preparation to takeoff please ensure your seatbelts are fastened
pass it through the middle clasp of the buckle until it clicks
pull up on the strap to secure it use the button on the left to pull it apart
carry on baggage should be stowed under the seat in front of you
please refrain from using electronic devices during takeoff and landing
any device that sends or receives a signal should be
turned off or in airplane mode for the duration of the flight.
[Engines get up to speed]
Our first flight today then takes us East
crossing the Rocky Mountains into Cranbrook.
Flight time today was one hour and seven minutes
cruising at 21,000 feet.
Right, so I have relocated to the sofa seat
here at the back.
It's almost like a private jet isn't it?
When you've got your little sofa to sit on and lounge out on.
Three seats now across the back to myself. Pretty cool.
I thought I would sit on this side as well because the approach into Cranbrook
apparently is quite a pretty approach
and this is the side you'll want to be on, so that's where I am.
Can I just say this flight is absolutely stunning.
The scenery out of the window is just beautiful.
As we cross the Rocky Mountains. I don't know why I expected anything less.
But, honestly...
I am amazed at how beautiful this scenery is out here,
these Rocky Mountains are just gorgeous, we've got lakes, we've got mountains,
just amazing, just look at that.
That's Lower Arrow Lake
and some big Rocky Mountains at the side of it.
Stunning.
[Noel] Thanks very much. Cheers, see you later.
Thank you very much. [Crew] Thank you.
Welcome to the Canadian Rockies International Airport
here in Cranbrook, British Columbia.
Right over on the Eastern side of BC.
What an amazing flight that was. Over the Rocky Mountains.
So unbelievably cool and so beautiful and scenic
the whole flight.
I mean that was worth it alone, wasn't it?
Just for the views on that flight.
Let alone the ride on the Beech 1900 at the same time.
I've got a few hours here now, and then we're going to be heading
back to Vancouver again with Pacific Coastal
but this time on a Saab 340
operating under their WestJet franchise
which is something that they do here
Pacific Coastal operate flights for WestJet.
So, we're going to be taking a ride with them a bit later on.
But I'm going to go for a bit of a wander I think, and have a look around.
Before we get back here and come back in to the airport for our ride back to Vancouver.
You know when somewhere is just that quiet that when you stop...
there's just pure silence.
And all you can here is your heartbeat and your breath
and a bit of ringing in your ears, maybe?
That's what it's like here, it's incredible.
We're like, an hour's flight out of Vancouver
and it is the most serene, peaceful place I have been yet
on this trip. Including, even in the North of Quebec
when I was up there, there was still people milling around
there's quad bikes milling around and stuff.
Here...
just silence.
It's just amazing.
Such an incredible place.
I would love to spend a bit more time in this part of Canada.
Its just proper nice.
It's a shame I have just got a few hours here
really, because...
I could spend a long time here I think.
Just being quiet and just spending time chilling and that.
It's quite nice.
And we're only a few minutes walk from the airport as well
that's the crazy thing here.
Right, enough sitting on my arse doing nothing.
I've got a plane to catch. Let's head back inside.
You know as I mentioned earlier Pacific Coastal not only operate
flights in their own name, they also operate flights for WestJet as well
and this afternoon's flight is one of the flights they're operating
under the WestJet brand
back to Vancouver.
So, I am looking forward to seeing the differences on the WestJet service
compared to on the Pacific Coastal one.
Just waiting to get through security now,
the plane's on its way in from Calgary, I think.
So, it should be here soon.
Now, this is a good departure gate isn't it?
Look at this.
It's like an actual lounge, that you get at a lot of airports,
there isn't a lounge here, but the departure gate is really comfy.
There's little desk areas to work, and stuff.
This comfy area here.
I like this airport a lot, and they're all so friendly as well.
But, we will be leaving this place very soon
and heading back to Vancouver.
Right, the plane's here, and it's actually in the Pacific Coastal livery
a lot of them they have are just in the WestJet branding
but this one, even though it's operating for WestJet
it's still in the Pacific Coastal branding on the plane,
which is pretty cool.
Getting on board soon heading back to the West coast.
[Noel] Hello [Clerk] Hi.
[Noel] There we go, got there in the end.
Okay, thank you.
[Flight crew] Welcome sir. [Noel] Hello. Thank you.
[Engines get up to speed]
My flight back to Vancouver then, took us back West again
cruising at 22,000 feet.
Flight time today 1 hour 43 minutes.
Alright, so airborne from Cranbrook heading back to Vancouver
on the Saab 340.
It's been a while since I've been on a Saab.
They are such cool little planes.
The departure from Cranbrook's really interesting
I never thought about this but it's surrounded by mountains.
So, we took off from the South, made a left 180 to go all the way North
for quite a long while until we got really high up
and now we're heading back down towards Cranbrook again
to then get on our way to Vancouver
now that we've reached the altitude and are above the mountain tops.
Which is pretty cool.
Quite a nice departure, as well.
It's a bit more cloudy this way, than it was this morning.
And, apparently we've got quite a headwind
which means it's going to take us an hour and forty
to get back to Vancouver, so a nice long old flight
on the old Saab 340.
So, there's really not much of a view today
as we head further West to Vancouver
there is, however, a snacks service and drinks service on this flight
which we didn't have this morning,
presumably because we've got a flight attendant on this one
in terms of the actual service itself, apart from the aircraft being
painted in Pacific Coastal colours you probably wouldn't even tell
that it was a Pacific Coastal plane and crew that you're operating
the cabin crew, the flight attendant,
he's wearing the full WestJet uniform
the safety card's well they all say WestJet on them as well.
There's nothing really to indicate that it's not a WestJet service.
Which is quite cool.
And I suppose if you were on an aircraft that did have
the WestJet livery on it, you wouldn't even know that
from walking on the plane either.
But, it's what a lot of airlines do in this part of the world.
With their whole operating for different airlines.
Which is pretty cool.
I wish we could see something out of this window. That's my only complaint.
So, apparently we've started our descent down into Vancouver now.
Which you wouldn't tell by looking out the window.
It's the only issue I find with turboprops
I love turboprops, I love flying on them
but on days like this,
half the time you end up not even breaking out into the sunshine above
you just spend an hour, an hour and a half sitting in the cloud.
You don't get to see anything. You don't even get to see the sunshine.
But that's okay. It's alright.
Still cool to be able to ride on a Saab 340.
There's less and less of them around
and they still keep going on, they're like old tanks
they just carry on and fly for donkeys' years.
So the fact that we can still ride on them today is pretty cool
and it certainly beats your standard, run of the mill 737s
and A320s and stuff. To be able to ride on something cool like this.
Anyway, heading down into Vancouver now we're landing very very soon.
My round trip to Cranbrook today then
cost me just under £200 or around about $275
The WestJet sector was pretty much the same price as the
sector booked direct through Pacific Coastal
this works out to a cost of 30p per mile.
Now this is interesting isn't it,
the first time that I've ever got off a plane
into a tent. (laughs)
That's properly sus.
I guess it solves a problem, doesn't it?
How to keep people dry when you're on the remote stands.
And they've got heaters as well, I can feel the heat.
That's so cool.
As always, I'd like to say a big thanks to my Patreons.
You can join them at the link on the screen now
for access to my Whatsapp group, live weekly Zoom calls with me
and much more.
[Noel uses the Force]
[PA bells ring] The next train to depart is for Waterfront.
Urgh, the weather's proper minging here in Vancouver today.
But, back in Vancouver, I figured I'd take the train
I'd never actually tried it before and the freeway was absolutely rammed
they were looking at an hour.
Twenty minutes from the airport, it's literally next to my hotel.
Which is pretty decent.
But, anyway, let me know what you thought to Pacific Coastal
down in the comments, I really enjoyed that.
A really nice little day out over to Cranbrook.
Beautiful, beautiful place, now we're in the opposite of Cranbrook.
A really busy, bustling city.
Full of all the noises of a major city, like Vancouver is.
Compared to the peace and serenity of Cranbrook.
But anyway, not to worry.
Let me know what you thought to Pacific Coastal down in the comments below.
And in the meantime as always, thank you so much for watching.
Take care.
And I'll see you on the next one.
Bye for now.