We began our trip with a nice surprise as we were upgraded to business class because they were over-booked. This was especially gratifying as they had been trying to tempt us for at least the last month with a 'cheap' upgrade of £425 a head which we had stoically resisted.

We had a lovely flight and, due to the vagaries of time difference, descended into Vancouver in the early afternoon only a couple of hours after we left London. After long queues at immigration and the taxi line we were eventually on our way downtown. The journey there was not exactly pretty, past cement works and rather run down shops and 60’s style buildings, but when we arrived downtown and reached our hotel at the waterfront it was a different story. It was all modern buildings, plenty of glass and modern art work.

On arrival at the Fairmont Pacific Rim we were very impressed by our welcome which was warm without being obsequious. Check-in was incredibly efficient and our room was lovely. We had great fun playing with the curtains and lights which were all worked by electronic touch pads as well as an iPad. (NB It wasn’t quite such fun in the night when there was no way to see which button to press and we kept opening the curtains instead of turning on the light!)

After a quick turnaround, by 4.30pm we were down in the hotel bar meeting Ryan, our travel rep from Canada Rail. A couple of hours and a few beers later we had swapped life histories, put the world to rights and felt very much at home. Welcome to Canada!

Simon and I went out for a wander to the water front which is only just across the road from the hotel. We watched the dozens of float planes all parked up for the night and joined all the others enjoying an evening stroll. It was a little chilly so we returned to the hotel and shared a big plate of nachos in the lobby bar, listening to live music and watching the world go by. A lovely start to our trip.