Vancouver, big city, bright lights, people, bustle, cars... sensory overload! Staring out of the taxi window at the city waking up, it was 7.00am, was very exciting after a week of grey sea!
I’m a big fan of Vancouver, it’s similar to favourite places, Cape Town, Sydney, San Francisco! It sits on an island, there’s water, marinas, boats everywhere and you can walk around it with ease.
Last time we were here we were headed for a skiing holiday at Lake Louise, the tsunami had just happened and we were all sickened by what we were seeing in Asia. We will always remember walking around Stanley Park, a peninsula that was shrouded in cloud with a bright sun burning it off. There are magical totem poles everywhere, a huge cantilever bridge emerged from the mist above us, a magical walk that we recreated having walked down the main streets. Great to see huge shops and big city living!
Our hotel, Opus, is downtown, very new, enthusiastic staff, weird room as the bathroom is at the front of the room in a bay window above the street. It’s in the Yale Town area, think Meatpacking area NYC, there are roasteries, bakeries, craft beer, designers, restaurants, technology, media everywhere, very vibey. We crossed over the inlet to an area called Mount Pleasant, extreme sports shops, bikes, breweries, for a flight of beers before heading to South Franklin, nearby, for a high street with next to no multinational brands. We could live here very easily!
We had dinner, nearby the hotel. Life on the ship has you fearing leaving it the size of a barrel, however, it’s all about portion size, which you realise on dry land. My starter, a salad was the equivalent of three courses on one plate. The main came with all sorts of stuff not mentioned on the menu. Both of us struggled to get to sleep, I think it was the consequence of a full exciting day and your digestive system going WTF!!
Leaving the next morning is the strange phenomena of entering the US before you’ve left Canada, I’ve come across this before on Bermuda. As you clear security, the sign says you are now entering the US and the security ramps up accordingly.
The rest of the trip is Rory’s 30th birthday in Long Beach, London, Bridgnorth and family and friends, not the thing of travel blogs but, a very important, enjoyable part of any trip. The prospect of returning to Cape Town is very exciting, I’ve rarely felt so enthusiastic about home as it’s the end of a trip, but, Cape Town is more of a lifestyle and one that fits us like a glove.
Highlights of the trip have been the cities, we are definitely edge of urban people, easy access to the metropolis from the leafy outskirts, and the head space that 9 days at sea provides. You do access depths of thinking and realisation that you cannot explain if you’ve not tried it. The traditions of Cunard suit us, unlikely to suit everybody but, a little suspension of reality where politics, celebrity and bulls*** become the irrelevance by circumstance, is very liberating.
Happy days!!