Robbin’s Journey

The trip to the Vancouver airport was included in our tour. We were scheduled randomly by the Princess excursion desk for a 8:30AM departure time to the YVR. Our flight was at 1:40PM. We were in red group 3. After an early breakfast, we waited for our group to be called.

The bus driver welcomed us etc. and we were off. The bus driver did not go over any “emergency exits” or safety protocols. I immediately noticed this as our tour driver, Doug, always reviewed these items. Plus we had ridden over 800 miles through Alaska, and every single time we had a new motorcoach, Doug would point out and go over all of the emergency exits, etc. Even the “schoolbus” tour driver, Glenn, in Denali Park, went over all the safety protocols!

As I noticed the airport bus driver’s lack of safety protocols, I decided to reread the directions for opening the emergency exit window, where I was seated in approximately the 8th row on the passenger side.

Of course on the bus with Doug on the tour, I had sat in the seats with the emergency window exits many, many times and I had read the directions previously. Plus Doug always explained how to open all of the emergency exits. Still I read the window directions again.

We are riding along in the bus down Cambie Street on our 30 minute ride to YVR. Suddenly I smell this horrible secent similar to burning rubber but not quite. About 1-2 minutes later, a woman in the rear of the bus shouts in a clear voice “pull over, the bus is on fire!” She had to repeat it to get the driver’s attention. I look back and brown smoke is filling the rear most interior of the bus. I could not see any flames.

I opened the emergency window exit. It did take a few tries but I got it opened. However, the drop appears to be at least 10 feet. There’s nothing to climb down on, on the exterior of the bus! The edge of the window frame is thin and won’t be easy to hold on to. I’m scared if I attempt to turn around as I go out the window I might lose my balance and land head first on the sidewalk. I decide to wait and exit through the front along with everyone else. At least I got some outside air into the bus. Barry won’t remember this portion as everything is happening in the blink of an eye.

Next, we are standing up as is everyone. We are waiting to exit, however, the people at the front don’t appear to be moving. I can’t understand why they aren’t moving. There’s a person shouting “get off the bus, the bus is on fire.” Still people at the front aren’t moving. The shout is repeated. Finally I can see people exiting the bus. Thankfully, everyone was calm and waited their turn to exit.

Everyone is able to exit safely. Yes!

It turns out that people weren’t moving at first because they were trying to get their stuff! We had happen to pull over near a metro station entrance. The fire department comes. We are mostly standing around the corner of a building attempting to get away from the smoke.

Eventually, the passengers are able to use the washroom inside the Tim Horton’s restaurant. We were also offered a place to sit inside another business. I sat. Barry stood on the sidewalk. .

I am fairly fit person. I do yoga, Pilates or walk or something else every day. Yet I wasn’t fit enough to go out the window. Of course, I was still battling COVID at the time and not at my best. I would really like to see toeholds or something similar underneath the exit windows. I would like to think, I would have gone out the window in a New York minute if there had been flames.

Thank you for joining me on this extraordinary journey through Alaska’s vast and beautiful lands. The land tour was what I was most looking forward to and it was amazing. So much wildlife and incredible vistas. Our group of 38 travelers have become 38 friends. Our cruise was sidelined by COVID, however, I have cruised through Alaska four times previously. But after the bus fire, I am grateful for everything.

My next adventure begins 9/27/23 as we have a memorial cruise to Hawaii for two cruise companions. I look forward to journeying with you again.

No rain, no rainbows!