The Strange Summer of 1985

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My late husband Peter and I were both airlines employees and we had transferred from Toronto to Vancouver to be closer to his family. I worked as a reservation agent in downtown Vancouver and Peter at YVR Vancouver International Airport.

We have always had a passion for travel and after starting our family, we took the girls with us. In an advertisement from a bicycle shop was a picture of Cannondale's “bugger” a newly developed a bike cart. It had a sturdy moulded plastic chassis with high side and the design was shaped for two children seats. It came with crossover seatbelt and the front scooped up to keep their feet tugged inside and space for a few toys and some snacks. We promptly bought one.

After towing them for few times, we decided to do something more exciting and adventures by taking them to the Loire Valley France.

We spent two weeks in July visiting Chateaus, chapels and vineyards, with afternoon cycles to the nearest pastry shop.

We stopped at playgrounds so that they could play with other children and exposing them simultaneously to French.



Our eldest daughter had started French Immersion and it made a difference when she returned to school that September.

On June 23, 1985, one month before our trip, there was an occurrence that changed airline travel forever. A radical East Indian group from Vancouver had placed a bomb in checked luggage transferred to Air India via Montreal. The passenger did not board the flight with his luggage and the bomb exploded off the coast of Ireland and all 369, mostly Canadians perished on the Air India flight. Simultaneously another explosive device was checked via Narita, Tokyo”s International Airport and exploded prematurely killing two baggage handlers and injuring others. The bomb was intended for Air India flight 301 with 177 passengers on board.

Upgraded and new security measures were imposed and unaccompanied bags no longer permitted. Other airlines such as EL AL had enforced these standards and British Airways implemented a passenger check at boarding with any no-shows or late passengers luggage offloaded. A system that is now followed worldwide.

 

On our return from France, with the bugger and the girls in tow, we still had some vacation time left. We decided to go camping in the Okanagan but after a few days found it anticlimactic after the Loire Valley. Peter came up with the idea to cycle in Japan and we packed our camper and returned to Vancouver to get ready for our trip to Japan.

Security was heavy and the new security staff went over the bugger with a fine tooth comb. Everything went well and we boarded our flight and this would be second time for the two redheads  to visit Japan.