VANCOUVER

PT.2

HIKING. DRINKING. WINNING!

My decision to move to the hostel in town made my life exponentially better and it wasn't long before i had met some excellent people.. Maja, Sevens, the infamous Jon Scott and i soon settled into a money saving routine of  hiking, searching for wifi and playing cards... lot's and lot's of cards. Luckily we all enjoy playing cards so this was nothing but a constant source of enjoyment.  I don't want to tot up how many hours of card playing occurred but it must have stretched into days over the course of two weeks. 

Another bonus of the hostel is that they ran some great tours of the city and the canyon's that lie just outside of the city. This is the really amazing thing about Vancouver, you can catch a bus and in 30 mins you can be in the middle of a un populated forest. Lynn Canyon and the Capilano Valley are both great places to hike and the Hi Hostels in Vancouver run a tour to both with Erik... he is basically the most amazing Danish, 73 yr old man i have ever met. The tours are around 9 hours and take you all over and on ever type of transport. Ferry's, buses, trains and your own two feet take you all over. The pictures below are from the Capilano Valley and the pics from Vancouver PT.1 are from Lynn Canyon. I enjoyed both equally and both hikes have a suspension brigade to walk over though as Christmas was coming the Capilano suspension bridge and surrounding park had been decorated with thousands of lights which made it 100% magical... 

I did take some trips of my own including one or two cycle rides around Stanley Park and a kayaking trip from Granville island up to kitsilano with my friend Amanda which was cold but amazing. The sight of me rolling out of the kayak onto the dock was also pretty amazing... so elegant! 

In total i spent three weeks in Vancouver and made some great friends. I hope i get to return in the summer as i can imagine it gets better and better with the improving weather!

The new plan that i had hatched meant Toronto was the next stop and although the price of the bus journey was appealing the thought of spending three solid days on a bus was not so to the air i took.

THE INFAMOUS TOUR GUIDE ERIK

A LITTLE SALMON SPOTTING... HUNGER FOR THE HATCHING

HALLOWEEN

I feared for my actual soul at one point.

I was intrigued to see how big the Canadians would go for Halloween and they didn't disappoint. I went to several haunting events over the week, the first was a living souls parade. I felt just like i was in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, standing in a school field listening to mexican brass bands and costume watching all the family's. Some people had gone to real lengths with their outfits. Basically all i wanted was a fire show of some sort so my friend and i waited and waited and waited for one and finally around 11pm we got one. It was excellent and well worth the wait. BONUS we got free hot chocolate from Jesus (well the salvation army but same difference). 

Halloween round two was WAY tackier and way boozier. I joined a group from the hostel and went to what i can only describe as a really really cold night out in Magaluf! Every woman looked like a tranny and everyman was trying to get with that tranny while getting as wasted as possible... LOL! They played every bad English song know to man and there was a Gun's & Roses tribute band. All in all it was AMAZINGLY BAD. 

The Irish girls i was with drank me under the table so i at 3am i bought some suitably gross food and headed home. 

VANCOUVER PT.1

Living for the mountains.

After a very drunken and excitable time in Seattle i made my way across the boarder into Canada and to Vancouver. It is a little strange to be writing this 4 weeks after the fact as I'm sure i felt differently but my memory remembers things as being very strange. I crossed the border by bus and unfortunately was bombarded by the Canadian pessimism from every angle. This was alarming to say the least but i steadily made my way to my room in renfrew-collingwood and unpacked my things for the weeks ahead. 

The first day was a beautiful one; the autumn colours certainly weren't disappointing and the sky was a true blue. I made a list of things to be done and set about the day, the highlight of this was buying a sweet 2 wheeled ride from the local 2nd hand shop. Vancouver is a great place to cycle as long as you want the firmest thighs this side of the Atlantic. There are hills everywhere and i spent much of my first week sweating it out peddling up and down them with determination.

As much as i would like this blog post to be a happy one i have to say my first week in Vancouver was a tough one. After initially arriving i got the fear, i got the fear BAD. Everything seems so clear before you begin and then once you are in it you have no idea what you are doing. I felt very isolated in the apartment and a sweaty cold wasn't helping. Following a particularly embarrassing incident at the bank where i cried at a cash register i forced myself to make a list of everything i wanted from this trip and how i was going to achieve it. Here is some of that list:

1. See a whale
2. Hike a mountain
3. Bike through Stanley Park
4. Kayak in the ocean
5. Enjoy a day of doing absolutely nothing 
6. Swim in as many places as possible
7. Meet someone amazing
8. See something you have never seen before
9. Be inspired
10. Read more books

After much deliberation i realised i shouldn't be trying to recreate my life in London and actually what i really wanted was to travel as much as possible and not stop in one place. So i threw my old plan out of the window, stopped my box of belongings from leaving the UK, sold my bike, gave notice on my room and booked a flight to Toronto. 

I emailed everyone i knew who lived anywhere near where i was going and started planning. As soon as i made this decision i felt 100% better. I was still nervous about my decision but looking back i can officially say it was the right one. I don't know what will be happening in the next few months but i am excited to find out. 

Back to Vancouver i had decided to move into a hostel and start having some fun so on the sunday after i arrived i made my way into town to meet a friend for lunch and move my stuff. It was a thousand times better and i made some excellent friends. Now that that is done i can tell you some of the GREAT things about Vancouver in Part.2!

SEATTLE

She was short and sweet.

When i went to write this blog i realised i have very very few photo's of Seattle... This is due to two reasons, the first being that i was only there for 2 days and the second is that i spent 1 of those days either drinking, drunk or hungover. Saying that i really enjoyed what i did see of Seattle, i was delighted to be in a cold city and i liked the grimy part of town my hostel was in. 

Seattle wasn't initially on the cards but due to my train journey of dreams Becca and i had hatched a re union plan of exciting proportions. We spent 90% of our time in some of Seattle's 'best' gay bars drinking very VERY strong drinks, talking to very overexcited American's about England and our accents. It was GREAT!

There was also pizza eating, accidentally physical harm, late night walking, late night talking, long bus time waiting and for me a cold cold 4am walk home. 

The next day i did manage to drag myself to lunch with two lovely people from my hostel and spent a couple of hours in the SAM (Seattle's Art Museum) watching the documentary 'Herb & Dorothy' which i really enjoyed and would like to finish soon. There was time for a final farewell tea which both Becca and I complained about, the English love to complain about tea, and before i knew it it was time to go.

Such sad times... but it had been an excellent weekend.

PORTLANDIA

She is as pretty as a picture and smells just as good... 

I headed straight to the tiniest and most charming hostel and it really felt like i was at camp. All of the wooden beds were setup with disney character bedding and hand drawn pictures decorated the rooms. It suited Portland perfectly.

Portland is a truly beautiful corner of the world and the autumn leaves where everywhere. I was lucky enough to have even more great weather and i tried to be outside as much as possible. This did end up with me getting VERY lost in Washington Park (they say park we would say forest) and having to hike out after contemplating building a shelter and hunting for dinner. 

I packed in some culture with half of my day spend in Powell's books which is GIANT, the largest independent book store in America FACT, and contains more than you could ever read in a lifetime. I also managed to see the film 'Concussion', with Robin Weigert from Sons of Anarchy,  which i have been trying to illegally download for weeks and it so happened to be on at a tiny theatre in downtown. Annoyingly it wasn't as good as i hoped but i liked it's arty cinematography anyhow...

I would also like to congratulate Portland for all round excellent signage! Every font i saw i loved from tiny notices to big adverts, quirky coffee shops and cool boutiques the signage was top notch. (for any one who loves signs as much as i do i will be writing a post dedicated to the subject YAY!).

I only spent two days in Portland as i had managed to change my train ticket to visit my train buddy in Seattle before we both left the States. But i would say it was a perfect amount of time. I missed out on hitting the strip club's but i hear from some good friends that they are well worth a visit.