The last days of Canada
CANADA | Wednesday, 27 August 2008 | Views [194]
A couple of days into my trip in Canada, my couchsurfing host told me he was taking a trip with some friends to Whistler, B.C. It's a few hours away, and it's the main site for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I figured I'd make it a world tour of recent Olympic cities and tag along.
I'm not exactly sure why a trip to the mountains was necessary. We arrived in the afternoon, checked into a hotel, and had dinner. Then, we went to the liquor store and stocked up. Then, we drank. Then, we went to a bar (where I watched the men's basketball team almost lose to Spain???). Then, we went to sleep. Then, we woke up and got breakfast. Then, we drove back.
I don't think I need to point out that all of those things could have been accomplished in Vancouver...but whatever.
The next day my friend Hagen arrived from Norway, way too jetlagged to be interested in much fun. But it was definitely nice to see him and catch up. We spent the next few days just walking around and seeing things.
One day, after searching for a cell phone for hours on end, we decided to take the advice of the fifth tourist agency that we went in and take a ferry ride to a little island near Vancouver. In order to do this, we had to take the subway. In order to take the subway, one is supposed to purchase a ticket. In order to purchase a ticket, one should be able to find a ticket counter.
However, two native English speakers in a country that also speaks English natively (for the most part) couldn't figure it out. Eventually, we just got on the train and decided we'd plead ignorance if something happened. But nothing did. We didn't pay because we simply couldn't figure out how. And it was amazing to me that the two of us managed to get around Beijing together, but we couldn't figure out Vancouver.
Tags: canada, couchsurfing
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