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.
