One of my resolutions for 2010 was to start traveling more. I am in my prime years and I figured if I don’t complete some of my traveling I want now, I will probably never do it. Consequently, I decided I would start my first travel by visiting a destination I have previously visited...its no where far away, and its not even a different country....its Western Canada specifically British Columbia, and more specifically, Victoria and Vancouver. Double V! I have a few friends up in the West and I had some time off so I figured it would be the best way to start my travels! Here’s a recap of how my trip went (BEWARE! It’s a bit lengthy):
Day 1: Toronto to Victoria
The first day of my travels to Western Canada started with a flight from Toronto to Vancouver. After an hour standby in Vancouver, I took a transfer flight to Victoria, my first destination.
After arriving in Victoria, I took a shuttle bus to downtown, yes for some odd reason Victoria International Airport is about 25 minutes away from mainland Victoria itself. The shuttle brought me downtown where I me
t my friend who was on her lunch break. She gave me instructions on how to get to her suite so I can unsettle and pack while she finished her shift work.
I took a taxi to the suite and had a nice conversation with the driver who was really nice and friendly. After arriving at her suite, a crisis presented itself. Her door, which was supposed to be open for me, was actually locked. I texted her and she told me to speak to the landlady to let me in. When I did this, her landlady was extremely bitchy and refused to let me in, claiming that she only rents the suite to my friend and since she’s not there, she won’t let me in. So...I’m in a foreign city, luggage in my hand, my friend at work for another 4 hours, stranded in a suburban neighborhood not knowing what to do. I was definitely in a pickle. My friend who was furious at the situation thought it best that I go to a nearby coffee shop and spend some time there while waiting for her to finish work. And so I went to a Subway nearby.
At the Subway, I ordered a footlong figuring it would allow me more time to “lolligag” at the restaurant. Eventually, I felt awkward staying in the restaurant, so I decided I’d make the most of my trip and explore the city on my own given that I had a few hours on my hand. In this sense, I am totally adventurous and am not afraid to venture out and explore new things...even if I looked like a total weirdo lugging a packed suitcase with me.
Exploring and walking aimlessly actually turned out to be quite an adventure allowing me to admire the beauty of Victoria. The air is extremely fresh, mountains are in distant sight, and water is marking its territory around the city. Walking with my iPod, I eventually landed myself downtown near my friend’s workplace. As she finished work, she was surprised to see that I had made it all the way downtown. We ranted about the situation and then took the bus back to her suite. Here more drama unfolded, to the point where my friend decided that she could not stay at the suite any longer. Her landlady was too invasive and would look down on her because she was young. Long story short, we checked into a hotel near downtown. What a welcome to the city eh?
After checking into the hotel and finally getting a chance to relax, we decided to go downtown and checkout a movie. We saw Remember Me starring Twilight star, Robert Pattinson. The movie was horrible, in my opinion. It had some high points, but overall, it failed to grab my interest. The theater the movie was playing at though was very vintage and had a nostalgic feel which added some redeeming factor to the horrible movie. After getting to the hotel, we watched some TV (predominantly the Family Channel, of course) and fell asleep. End of one crazy day.
Day 2: Victoria
The second day of my trip allowed me to sleep in a tad. My friend had to go to work early in the morning, so sleeping in was a very tempting option that I decided to choose. I woke up around 10:30 and head out to the McDonald’s across the hotel in hopes to get some breakfast, but unfortunately they had finished their breakfast for the day so I had to get an actual meal to start my day. I returned to the hotel and ate my food while watching some TV (Family, of course). The timezone difference (3 hours behind Toronto) did affect and trip me out sometimes as my cellphone and computer clock would often confuse me.
After satisfying my sleep and comfort needs, it was time I got up and make most of my time in Victoria. Consequently, I took a shower and since it was Friday, I 'Googled' a Mosque nearby and started my day with Friday prayers. The nice thing about relatively small cities is that everything is relatively close to everything else giving incentive to walking. I walked to the Mosque, completed my Friday prayers and decided to explore the city and take pictures...and so the tourist in me came out.
I had quite a few hours to myself so I explored the city, mostly downtown Victoria near the harbor. Downtown Victoria was very cozy. It felt like a tightly packed village. The buildings and streets preserved history and were all old fashioned. Even with new stores like Lush and The Bay, the integrity of the buildings were preserved. The harbor was breathtaking. You could see mountains in the background, boats and ferries coming and going, merchants selling paintings, jewelry, hand crafted items and people enjoying themselves doing their own thing whether it was reading a book, walking their dog, or just mesmerizing the view. This was view was definitely something you won’t find in a big city
After some more strolling, I walked back to the hotel in time for my friend. We ordered a pizza at the hotel, ate and watched some TV (Family, you already know), and then decided to head out. We decided the harbor would be the perfect place to go so we went there and spent our evening at the beautiful Victoria harbor and watched the sunset. It was very nice. When the world became dark, the city lit up with lights popping up over all the big buildings including the parliament/city hall. It looked beautiful and felt even more alive. We stayed for a bit and then went back to the hotel.
The next day we were to go to Vancouver, so we packed our bags, had some snacks, watched TV and went to sleep.
Day 3: Victoria to Vancouver
The third day of my trip was arguably the best as so much was accomplished. The day started with my friend and I checking out of the hotel and catching a bus to the Swartz Bay Ferry terminal to take the ferry to Vancouver. Unfortunately, the bus driver was a douche and wouldn’t let us on the bus because we were a bit late and weren’t standing at the stop but a few meters away from...talk about nice eh? Anyways, we had to take a taxi instead which ended up being fun as our driver tried to cater to our music needs and was making conversation. It was a fun taxi ride.
Upon reaching the ferry terminal we got our tickets and quickly boarded. It had been almost 14 years since I went on the ferry last, but everything seemed so familiar. The ferry was huge and had about 6 decks in which an arcade, gift shop, two restaurants, and much, much more was packed. It felt like we were on the boat from “The Suite Life on Deck”...as you can see, the Family channel is already influencing my blog. After browsing the ferry for a bit, we went to the Pacific Buffet. The buffet was all you can eat and had so many items. It was brunch time so the variety was huge including a salad bar, a desert bar (including chewy cookies, cheesecake, and so much more), and then the main items which went from breakfast stuff like eggs, and french toast to lunch and entree items like tarragon chicken and rice. Oh and did I mention that soft drinks, milk, and juice was included in the buffet? It was amazing. My friend and I stuffed ourselves and forced our stomachs to eat...eat...and eat some more. Granted, we did feel bloated right after. After the buffet, we lounged around in the ferry, sang some Ke$ha, yes you read right, and then played hide and seek. Yes, we are very childish. Oh, and I must add the scenery on the ferry was amazing; the water, the mountains, the fresh air...something you can’t find in Toronto.
When the ferry arrived in Vancouver, my good friend from Vancouver picked us up with her sister. After making a stopover at the mall to pick something up (and meeting some drunken hoes at 2 in the afternoon) we went to her house and freshened up. I’m not going to lie, her house was pretty epic. After freshening up at her place we went downtown via the Skytrain. Did you know the Skytrain has no driver? If your answer was yes, you’re irrelevant, but if you answered no, I KNOW RIGHT, ISN’T THAT SO CRAZY?? It took me a while to wrap my head around that, and once I did, I began to enjoy the ride. It was a cool alternate to a subway (Toronto) and had some really scenic views of the mountains. After arriving downtown my Vancouver friend became a tour guide and took us around town. We saw the 2010 olympic cauldron, went to Live City (and met the Stanley Cup), and browsed downtown for a bit. After we tired out, we got picked up, did some grocery and came back home.
After getting home, we decided to go technologic and went on Chatroullette. If you guys are unfamiliar with Chatroullette, its like a chat (obviously) site, but you also get to see who you are talking to with webcam, so its pretty neat (despite occasional sausage fests). Chatroullette took over the rest of our night. We took a dinner break and then decided to watch Bandslam. However, Chatrolutte took over as my Vancouver friend was on the site throughout the duration of the movie, and then after the movie we all joined her. After tiring out from the super long day, I eventually decided it would be best to call it a night...to bed it was!
Day 4: Vancouver
Because day three was very long, and kept us awake ‘till the early am, we all slept in ‘till the early pm. When we eventually did get up, we had breakfast and then started getting ready to go out.
Our first destination was the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Like the ferry, I hadn’t been here in 14 years, but upon arrival everything was so familiar. As cheesy as it sounds, I could see my 6 year old self taking pictures with the totem poles. 14 years later, the types of pictures being taken were totally different. Mother nature decided to go against us and pour rain us throughout our Capilano adventure. Despite this, it was a lot of fun. The scenery, the nature, the environment, everything about the Capilano Suspension Bridge was breathtaking. My Vancouver friend was acting like a 12 year old and started doing all the adventures and collecting stamps for ever check point she came to as described in the map/adventure guide, my other friend was meeting her ancestors all “heyhowareya”, and I was taking pictures. It was pretty awesome. We ended up staying at the Capilano for quite a bit and when it was time for us to go I didn’t really want to leave but we were running out of time. The funny thing is, the moment we got out of the park, the rain stopped. My 12 year old acting friend’s mission was completed as she got her “I Made It” certificate as we left. My other friend and I got one as well. We’re so cool!!
All that hiking got us hungry so we went to this place called Joey Tomatoes. It was a pretty cool restaurant and had some awesome menu choices. Our server was pretty cool as she gave us all some free dessert samples. It was like souffle with ice cream? Something like that, but it was really good. It definitely “hit the spot” as one would say. After dinner, I got a chance to drive back to my friend’s house (in her car of course) and the ride was awesome simply because Bad Romance was played on the radio. On the way home, we stopped by this park by my friend’s house. What was special about this park? Hmm, i don’t know, JUST THAT THEY SHOT TWILIGHT THERE (well a few scenes of it). No, I’m not a huge Twilight fan, actually I’m not a fan at all, but it was cool to see the set and I got super nationalistic and “patriotic” because it was filmed in Canada.
The rest of the evening had an interesting turn. We went back to my friends and packed our bags. My friend’s parents were to come home that night so my other friend and I had to go check into a hotel for the night. We checked into the Howard Johnson downtown Vancouver and chilled over there for a while. Unfortunately, they didn’t have Family on their TV. After some persuading, I convinced my friend to check out Vancouver nightlife, so I got ready and we went club hopping. Because it was a Sunday most clubs were pretty low profile and no big events were happening. We went to Roxy Bar first and then went to Republic where they were having a Reggae night. They played some GaGa (YES!) but for the most part it was just mediocre. We didn’t stay at either too long and eventually just went back to the hotel and went to sleep...tomorrow would be a day of major traveling.
Day 5: Vancouver to Victoria to Calgary to Toronto
The final day of my amazing trip was all about travel. I started off my day checking out of the Howard Johnson and saying goodbye to my friend who was going back to her home in Calgary. She was taking the Greyhound back. I had a long journey as well; I was catching my flight from Victoria, which would stop by in Calgary (what a coincidence) before landing in Toronto. To get to Victoria I had to take the ferry again, which I was really excited about.
Although I was originally going to get a ride from my friend’s sister to the Ferry terminal, I thought I would just take the Skytrain and bus all the way there. It was a good way to finish my travel I thought and a great way to see some other parts of the city. Alas, I said bye to my friend via text and via FB to her sister and started my journey to the Ferry terminal. It wasn’t that bad actually; I took the Skytrain for about 40 minutes and then had to transfer onto a bus, which took about another 40 minutes. I arrived right in time to catch the ferry at the terminal.
The ferry ride was amazing as per usual, and it wasn’t busy this time. SCORE! I got tickets for the buffet once again, and stayed there for the remainder of the ride. While indulging in the buffet, I also caught up on some missed episodes of Desperate Housewives. Between the drama on the show, the mouthwatering food, the breathtaking scenery outside, and the thrill of being on a boat, I was in heaven. I could stay on the ferry forever and live happily ever after....but of course life is not a fairytale and while thinking this, we had arrived to Swartz Bay Terminal in Victoria. The rest of the story isn’t that interesting; I took a cab to Victoria International Airport where I stayed for a few hours. The flight to Calgary wasn’t bad. After arriving in Calgary, I had a stop over for two hours, and then caught my red eye flight back to Toronto (which I surprisingly liked...I think night travel is the best method of travel for me).
Overall, my trip was outstandingly brilliant and (insert a million complementing adjectives here). Getting to travel to West was an amazing experience as it always is. A few people asked me why I would go to Western Canada again as opposed to traveling somewhere new or the U.S.. I only had one answer; “you haven’t seen Western Canada have you?”
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