Travel Forum / Destinations / USA and Canada / August 2005

Hello, all.  Just a short note to let everyone
know about our Vancouver trip.

First, I especially like to thank Geoff G. and
everyone else who gave very good suggestions on
what to see and do.

Customs was a breeze both ways, no more than 20
min.  Flights from Toledo to Chicago to Vancouver
and back were all on time, miraculously, as we had
a 35 minute connection time in Chicago on the
return flight.

We made only one mistake, and that was staying at
the Best Western in Burnaby.  We won't stay there
again.  One lady in particular at the front desk
was especially clueless as to what she was doing.
 We arrived at 2:00 and were told we couldn't
check in until 3:00.  So we went to a restaurant
and came back after 3:00.  About 45 min. later,
after said lady played around with her computer,
she said they didn't have the kitchenette we
reserved, due to other travelers who had checked
in early.  They finally decided to upgrade us to a
suite at no extra charge, but even that wasn't
ready yet.  We could at least get our luggage in
the room and make the required phone calls home to
let everyone know we had arrived safely.  Other
problems included a blown fuse, after which the
hairdryer didn't work and we never did get a
replacement.  Thank goodness it was the last
morning.  My sister's roommate called a few times
one day while we were out, and the clueless lady
at the front desk kept telling him our phone was
busy.  And the remote control for TV didn't work.

The weather was perfect.  Every day, it was around
75 and mostly sunny.

Getting around was incredibly easy and fun.  We
just bought day passes for $8.00, which are good
for the Sky Train, all busses, and the ferry to
Lonsdale Quay.  This allowed us to explore, and
get lost, to our heart's content.  The first major
discovery we made was we didn't have enough time
to do all that we wanted.  Being 3 hours behind
Ohio time, we were exhausted when we got there and
when we finally got checked in, it was already
after 7:00 home time.  So we just walked down to
Metrotown mall and walked around.

In the three whole days we had, we did get to
Lonsdale Quay, Gastown, Stanley Park, Granville
Island, and Victoria.  Stanley Park has free
trolleys that stop at several popular points.
Victoria took the whole day.  We opted for the
Pacific Coach day trip, which included the BC
Ferry trip.  Very much worth the price, IMO.
Spectacular scenery on the ferry.  We just
wandered around downtown Victoria for about 4-5
hours.

All the people we met were extremely helpful and
friendly, especially the transit folks.  Vancouver
has a very diverse cultural mix.

We had a wonderful trip and are already planning
on going back next year, possibly to include the
Campbell River area on Vancouver Island.  A very
nice cyber friend who lives in that area met us
for dinner one evening.  His sister lives just
outside Vancouver, so he stayed with her for the
week, met up with us, and we had dinner at Earl's,
which was pretty good.  We also ate at The Docks
and Sammy Peppers on Granville Island, both good.

What we wanted to do and missed - Grouse Mountain,
Chinatown, the seawall walk, any of the gardens,
more of False Creek area, more BC Ferry trips,
more of Stanley Park, more of downtown in general.

Okay, so this wasn't as brief as intended.  There
was just so much to see and do :-)

Marsha/Ohio