Hey! Finally managed to
settle down with some wifi to write this out. I am officially in
Canada - I can tell because I'm sat in McDonalds and the drink is
LITERALLY twice the size of one back home (with free refills) and my
staple double cheeseburger is actually delicious. I'm not sure
British Maccy-D's will ever be the same...
So this is just a practise journal entry for my travels. I'm going to keep a proper journal over the course of my stay here, and will be uploading regularly, so stay tuned!
Okay, so some good
times and bad times. First the bad times, 'cause I want to get them
out of the way.
Forty Hour Day
Turns out that deciding
to stay awake overnight at the airport and then sleep on the plane
wasn't as great a plan as I thought. I think I'm now forty hours into
my day, haha. But yeah, only managed to get a wink of sleep on the
plane, so I'm real groggy and moody and looking forward to crashing at the
hostel.
The journey was
overwhelmingly uneventful. There was nothing to do at the airport, so
I just kind of hung around trying to keep busy - reading a book or
wandering around. I was too tired and bored to get into anything,
which is a little ironic.
And then customs was an
unexpected pain in the ass (feel free to rip into that, Clare). I was
in there for an hour waiting and justifying that my couple of weeks'
trip was just that. But eventually the guy let me through. He wasn't
in a very good mood though.
However, that's the end
of the bad times! For now, at least.
The Important Bit - Beautiful City
Good times roll! Like I
said, the McDonalds is twice as great for half the price (zero
exaggeration on either count), and that's really the main thing I
think we should take away from all of this.
Besides that though...
Vancouver is gorgeous! From the moment I got off the plane - putting
Customs behind us - I was taken in by the beauty. It's a lovely day
as well. The Sun came out just as we were coming in for a landing,
giving me a fantastic view of the entire city.
Jumped on the skyrail
(never thought I'd get to say that outside of a sci-fi novel) as soon
as I got out of the station, making my way into the city centre. I
don't think I'll be staying here long - probably going to make my way
around and find the cheapest place to stay. Lodging is pretty cheap
by the way, though the listings I got from the UK were a bit misleading. Even
so, I'm looking at $30 a night (which I think is about £18).
I've taken some pictures and will Facebook them in a bit (when I can get this SD card working). Next stop though is to check in at the nearest Hostel, get showered and cleaned up and decide on a plan for the night. Spoiler alert: It's going to involve me sleeping. Like, a lot.
Random Pleasantness
First thing to note is
that no-one has said 'Ay' at all thus far (I guess the trip is still
young though). Second thing, the city isn't as busy as I expected
(it's downright comfortable). Third, the people here seem really
bloody nice.
Example. They have pigeons here in Canada too. I kid you not, one bloke here saw a pigeon on the street in front of him, actually went out of his way, said "Excuse me, little buddy, comin' through!" and moved his luggage in a wide berth around it. That has made my forty hour
day. That and the McDonalds of course (I'm sure I'll get over that
eventually. But... half price, double volume and goodness).
Oh! I met a lovely
couple on the plane - Craig and Judith - who were just coming back
home to Canada from a holiday in Europe. They gave me a whole bunch
of places to put on my 'to check out' list. The first Canadian folks
I met and they were really friendly (not weirdly so, just normal
friendly), as fortold.
I think I'm going to
have a good time here. I'll do a bigger journal tomorrow, tonight is
sleep time. Thanks for reading all! I'll keep you in the loop! (And
feel free to hit me up on Facebook)
* * *
Any interesting stories
about your first time travelling (or any trip to Vancouver)? Things
to watch out for? Let me know in the comments section below!
No comments:
Post a Comment