Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
April 29, 2019
A 5:40am train from Sunderland to Manchester airport was never going to be fun. It was even less fun when I slept through my alarms and only woke when Dani was ringing me to say that she was in the taxi headed to Mike’s house to pick me up and would be about 20 minutes. The quickest shower and coffee of my life later and I was stood outside waiting for her to turn up and the next adventure to begin.
The flight was long and boring with no sleep but a few hours stop over in Keflavic Airport in Iceland to hear accents that sounded somewhere between Fargo and an episode of Fortitude, the massive ice fields of the Western arctic and spectacular views as we flew in low over the mountain peaks of the Rockies broke the monotony. 23 hours after getting on a train in Sunderland we touched down in Vancouver, Canada.
We were a little wary of what to expect at border control. Don’t get me wrong this is Canada we are headed into not some country having a brutal civil war but we have read many reports of several hours interrogation to prove your going to leave and not try to stay in the country.. At both Manchester and Iceland everyone on the flight was questioned by some sort of security around their trip to Canada. “Why are you going?” “How long are you staying” “Where are you staying” etc and given the fact unlike a two-week holiday we only have a one way ticket and no forward transport out of the country I thought we would be a prime target for being taken away into a room for several hours to be grilled about our stay. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We had our ETA all sorted that you need to enter anyway if your from the UK. It’s for certain select countries who don’t need a Visa to enter and can stay for up to 6 months which is cool. We did the usual passport scans and answered a few basic questions on a touch screen. Passed a desk where people who usually check your passport just waved us through and then just as we reached the last little gate and could see the exit sign we were stopped by a border guard who started to ask us questions. “How long are you staying?”……..”Between 3 and 6 months”…..”are you here for business or pleasure?” …….”We’re backpacking and buying a camper van, pleasure”…..”How much cash do you have with you?”……..”Like $500″…..”Ok, thanks, enjoy your stay”. That seemed so far from what I had read. “Yeah dude, might stay for 6 months, have only $500 in my pocket, that should see us through right?” it was so painless entering, it makes you wonder what kind of info these countries share via the checks your ETA application does. But hey we breezed into Canada so no complaints.
We wandered outside the airport and looked for the smoking area. Easy enough to find and as we stood there I noticed a sign highlighting the smoking etiquette at this particular location. Yep, you can smoke cigarettes here, you would expect that at a smoking area. Can’t smoke cannabis here, I would expect that as well as its the entrance to the airport. As you probably know they recently legalised weed in Canada but I doubted you could smoke it legally at public places like the airport. Then I read further down the sign and discovered that yeah it was fine to smoke at the airport, not here thank you very much but please use our facilities on levels 1 and 3 if you wish to partake in a last-minute pre-flight smoke. Reading since I have found out you are also allowed to carry 3 grams with you on domestic flights within Canada. At this early stage I realised that Vancouver and ourselves were going to get along just fine. Five minutes later I realised it was also going to be an expensive experience as we were suddenly £20 lighter having paid for the Skytrain tickets to the nearest stop to our digs. That expensive experience will become a very common theme as you will soon find out.
The Skytrain ride to our digs involved one connection and about an hours journey in total. It glides along the elevated tracks at a rapid pace and once on our way it was clear to see that Vancouver is an amazing modern metropolis. Our driver-less high-speed shuttle snaked its way through sleek modern architecture that stretched for miles. It was around 15 miles on the Skytrain to our stop and we didn’t see any signs of ‘poor’ less affluent areas anywhere. I’m sure they exist in Vancouver but this initial experience gave us the impression that there is a lot of money in Vancouver.
Our digs is a small room in the suburbs from Airbnb, staying with an Indian guy named Vish and his family and the most timid tiny dog you’ll ever meet. It was the cheapest place we could find at about £30 a night and it seemed canny enough so we dropped our bags off straight away and went in search of food as our flights didn’t include any meals. That’s the price you pay for getting the cheapest flights possible and we were starving at this point. We did a quick check on Google maps for restaurants and places to eat nearby and we hopped back on the skytrain for another couple of stops to an area that seemed to have a lot of food options. It was about 10pm when we got there and hardly anywhere was left open. We grabbed a pizza slice and our first taste of Canadian Poutine which was really good and filling and then we headed back to our digs to get some well needed sleep.
The next day we headed off to a place called Bon’s for breakfast. We had read about how amazing and cheap it was and it didn’t disappoint. £3 gets you sausage, potatoes, eggs and toast along with unlimited coffee. It was great and easily the best value food we have found so far, if you’re in Vancouver you need to check this place out it’s amazing. Despite the great value breakfast we did need to spend more money on another day ticket for the Skytrain as we are so far from most things. This time we were £15 lighter for the privilege of riding into town on the metal snake. With breakfast sorted we hopped back on and got off down town for a look around.
Vancouver is impressive. It’s clean and well laid out. All the buildings and infrastructure are thoughtfully designed, well maintained and nothing looks run down and in a state of disrepair, the city is gleaming. We grabbed a couple of pints at what was supposed to be one of the cheapest bars around. $5 a pint which works out about £2.80 but once they had put tax and service and god knows what else on it came to $14.50 for the two of us, not the $10 we were expecting.. This is one of my pet hates when traveling. Countries were the tax is added on top of the advertised price you see. Come on Canada sort it out. If I have like a dollar left in my pocket I want to know what I can get with it, without having to do some sort of mathematical gymnastics to know how much I really have once the tax is on. With our expensive beers drunk we went on a random wander to see what else we could find. Sure enough we soon came across our first Marijuana dispensary. We spotted a couple of places similar to the coffee shops in Holland where there are nice cosy social rooms where you can enjoy your wares. After speaking to a guy in one of them he pointed us across the road to a shop with no signs or store front, just frosted glass so that you can’t see in. You buy your produce in there and then pop back over the road to where you can enjoy it. This was great and as well as being very good quality smoke it was also very cheap compared to Holland. The quality was unbelievable.
Now it wasn’t massively late at this point, maybe 9:30pm but we could not find anywhere open for food. Everywhere was shut for the night. We hopped back on the Skytrain and kept our eyes open for anywhere that looked open. Eventually we spotted a station with a couple of places still open and serving. The usual suspect chain type places such as Subway etc. If New York is the city that never sleeps then Vancouver seems to be the city that never wakes, or maybe it wakes very early and goes to bed early every night, I’m not quite sure. Once it’s past around 9pm everywhere seems to close up bar the odd pub and liquor store that stays open until 11pm. It’s been a valuable lesson learned that you need to eat early here or you’ll only be left with the option of over priced chain food. I was surprised as I imagined somewhere as big as Vancouver would be more of a 24 hour city.
The next day we needed to get out and do something. We have spoken with a guy here via email around buying a camper van but it’s going to take a few days to sort out so we may as well make the most of our short time in the city. We rented a couple of bikes and went off on a ride around Stanley park, a lovely park just next to the downtown area that is very popular with the locals as well as tourists. It was a nice ride out and a lovely day for it. The park is busy with many people cycling round or on roller-blades or skateboards. So many people seem to skate here just for transport which is great to see. You’ll be walking down a street, big trucks driving past, buses everywhere then people just skating alongside them as part of the traffic. Compared to home this seems to be normal practice here and skaters seem to have an equal use of the road alongside motor vehicles. Nobody complains and it’s just part of life here. I like that.
Overall it’s been an interesting start to the trip. Vancouver seems like a great city. Everyone seems really friendly and helpful. I’ve also noticed they have a lot of tramps and beggars here however they are a different class to the ones we have at home. They don’t hassle you at all but they do mutter to themselves a lot! Every street we go down there is some sort of crazy character muttering away to themselves or dancing with an imaginary friend. I’m not sure what the drug of choice is here for these people but grief they don’t half gibber away to themselves, it’s noticeable everywhere. We passed a guy begging who had his little pot out in front of him and his little hand drawn cardboard sign that simply said “Weed fund”. I gave the guy a dollar. I figured well at least he’s being honest and we were happy to give towards his worthy cause. My feet are ruined with blisters now as we have covered some serious mileage on foot having a look round the place. I’m sure they’ll settle down.
As the title of this first entry suggests Vancouver feels like the Singapore of the West. It’s sleek and modern and sexy but it can easily swallow all your money in a short space of time. It may not sound that expensive when your on a short holiday but when you’re back-packing for a length of time somewhere like here can drain your funds fast if you don’t move on quickly. £30 a night on accommodation, £15 on Skytrain passes to get around the place. Maybe £15 for a meal for two at the cheapest places we can find. Do that twice a day and throw in a cheap breakfast at Tim Horton’s (Canda’s equivalent of Greggs) or McDonald’s and you’re looking at maybe £35 a day just for food. A pint each at the end of the day at £5 a pop and you’re looking at spending at least £90 a day and that’s without doing any extras such as renting a bike or entrance to a museum or something, £90 a day is huge, that lasts us at least 5 days in Asia.
We need to move on from here and we need to move quickly. We came to Canada to explore the great outdoors. See the wildlife and the amazing scenery that’s on offer not to have a party in the city so hopefully we get a camper van sorted soon. Jim a bloke we have spoken with online about vans for a while now has pointed us in the direction of a couple with a camper for sale and we are going to take a look at it tomorrow and take it for a test drive. If that one isn’t any good we will be able to pick up one of his own vans in a day or two so hopefully we make some quick progress otherwise the whole Canada trip could seriously dent our travel funds. That said we always seem to pull things together somehow and everything just works itself out. I know it feels great to be back on the road again, we are desperate to head off in the camper van and go and get lost somewhere. This trip should be a blast.
One thought on “Singapore of the West”
I always hated that tax after sale crap…And that’s all I ever knew for 32 years… 😉