Downtown; tramps, crack and the best city in the world.

ryden — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:48:00 GMT

After we left the Delta, we decided to hole up in a hostel. After finding two that seemed reasonable, we decided to hit the cheapest first.

So we got there. For $60 a week, it seemed perfect. Sure, the area was rough but how long were we staying there? 2 weeks? A month? I think we could handle it.

We were wrong.

We got into the building which was incredibly run down. Nevermind, we don't care. We did care that everyone looked incredibly hungover and like a typical crack addict (this area of town, Hastings, had lots of them). Also, there were adverts on the noticeboard about stolen laptops. We think it was karma or some other divine force which saved us when they didn't have the facilities to pay on card. So we left abruptly in search of a cash machine.

At this point we were continually harassed by a myriad of tramps and decided to try the other hostel. Just to clarify, we are very open minded and try to help others along our way. However, we're in a new city 6,000 miles from home. We're very cautious to say the least.

That changed considerably with the discovery of three places; Samesun Vancouver, Megabite pizza and Granville Island.

The Samesun Hostel was definitely the place to go. In the centre of Downtown Vancouver on Granville Street, there was a bar/restaurant in the building, a kitchen and lounge area and three floors of rooms with either 4 or 6 beds or private rooms which are a bit more expensive. The rates change depending on the time of year but a week would cost around $170. Every night there were $5 dinner specials and if you wanted to go somewhere else, it was all just around the corner. If I were visiting Vancouver, I'd stay there again (www.samesun.com).

Megabite pizza is pretty self explanatory. They serve pizza, I love pizza. Many convenient locations. End of.

And Granville Island. A great place to visit just over the Granville Bridge. It has a brewery and a market where live music and other entertainment takes place everyday. You can hire boats and paddle out into the harbour or visit the Hangout Place, the only hammock shop I've visited more than once. The hammocks we bought came in very handy in our later adventure, Vargas Island of Terror.

In a nustshell, we spent a month in Vancouver. We researched cars and ski resorts and spent most days exploring the city. Stanley Park is a great place to go skate or just walk around. There's raccoons all over the shop as well.

From Vancouver we went West to Vancouver Island.

Photos: Canada

ryden — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:08:00 GMT

Arrival

ryden — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:58:00 GMT

September 11th 2009.

After a severely delayed flight from Manchester Airport, we arrived in Vancouver. Expecting the weather to be much like England, though less mserable, we were ready for a sultry 10 degrees. We were wrong. it was T-shirt weather and very much summer. We'd been set up for two nights at the Delta hotel at Vancouver Airport. After locating a local bar, we decided to do what we did best; drink.

This is my first trip to Canada. I've been to the US before but this place is totally different. For one, the paranoia is non-existent. everyone seems really happy. The first stereotype of North America I encountered was the bar itself, The Flying Beaver. 10 screens with 10 different sports, wings and ribs and varieties of beers in jugs. This was the dream I'd seen in so many films.

After smashing through a pizza and a couple of beers, we retired to our room. It was difficult to grasp the currecny and exchange rates at first but now (and this is late February) I'm very much at home.

And that's how we felt straight away. Home.

Canada...

Downtown; tramps, crack and the best city in the world.

Photos: Canada

Arrival