We always had the problem of when we were going to head to North America, if we spent too long in South America (and possibly central America) then we would miss the Canadian summer and it would be a long wait for the winter to pass. We decided that after Bolivia we would visit Peru then head to Canada or the USA. However, after 3 weeks in Bolivia at altitude I was still struggling with my breathing and Donna had a constant very runny and bleeding nose. Continuing to Copacabana (Bolivia not Brazil) and then to Cuzco / Macchu Picchu we weren't going to go any lower so we couldn't see things improving health wise. It was a difficult decision but we opted to skip Peru & Machu Picchu and fly to Vancouver, Canada. Getting to Vancouver was a stressful 24 hours. The first flight to Bogota was delayed by 2 and a quarter hours - that meant we would miss our 2nd flight. Our second flight we were told would be late by 30 minutes so we had just enough time to transfer. Our 2nd flight to Mexico City was actually delayed by 2.5 hours. That meant 1.5 hours to transfer to our last flight. The problem was we were changing airlines and had to go through passport control, baggage collection, customs then check in all over again. We ran through the airport to find the Air Canada check in desks - no queue, thank goodness. We made it. Our last flight left late but arrived on time. Welcome to Canada. Taxi to the homestay Inn that I had booked that I thought was an inn / hotel but it was a private house with bedrooms rented out. No problem it was clean. We slept well. In the morning we set off on foot and found a 7-11 to buy some breakfast. Taxi to a car rental place to pick up our small car. The small car wasn't available so we were upgraded to a Jeep Wrangler. Small by American standards but a monster for us and automatic (we have only ever driven manual) and they drive on the wrong side of the road. Donna drove - very brave! We headed to Surrey, almost an hour south of Vancouver to our Airbnb booking - a private apartment belonging to an air stewardess. We had the place to ourselves plus a balcony - very posh. We had 6 days booked here and in that time, we hoped to buy a home on wheels to tour North America in. The options - Campervans (classes A, B or C), truck campers, truck camper pop ups or if you want to buy a pick up and tow then Trailers, Airstreams, teardrops, 5th wheels, pop up trailers or trailer tents! A lot of these are huge and very, very long. We had 6 days to achieve our objective and now on day 5 we are close to our goal but we haven't seen any of the tourist sites, we haven't had time to relax. If this is a tedious read that's because it has been a tedious (and stressful) time. Day 1 (Friday) hire car and find our digs, supermarket, lots of internet searching for a vehicle. Day 2 (Saturday) - headed into Vancouver to a used RV dealer. When we left Bolivia they had at least 4 class C (the smallest) RV's for sale. Most dealers only have units a few years old and they cost a fortune. This dealer has older units but inspected, serviced with warranty and he does all the registration, insurance, etc on site - so an easy option. All 4 were sold! He sold 2 of them the day before, one of them to someone in Switzerland arriving in a months' time - they bought online in full without even seeing the RV. He had no more available, maybe it was a blessing in disguise because even the class C's at 24 foot long seemed huge to drive. Back to the internet. Day 3 - Sunday - in the morning we viewed a private sale of a 19 foot camper - what a crate (pics online looked good) - it was a no. Back to the internet. Then Donna found several VW camper van hire companies - the rental prices were very reasonable (we looked at RV rental prices - sky high). The other plusses were a nice size to drive, insurance, breakdown all done by the rental company and we wouldn't have the problem of selling a vehicle at the end of our road trip. Emailed enquiries off (on a Sunday), wish we had found these on Friday. Later in the day we viewed a private sale - truck camper (pick up with a small camper unit on the back). It was a Ford F350 (big pick up) and quite large camper unit. Great condition, not cheap. We may have done the deal there and then but now we wanted to know about the VW option. Returned to our digs and we had an answer, VW van available for 3 months (we may extend), full speed ahead. Day 4 (Monday) - emails back and forth with the VW guy. The vehicle was on Vancouver Island so we couldn't view it until we picked it up. The guy wanted cash on collection for a 3-month rental. Very difficult extracting info from him. Checked on line and we found horrendous reviews about the company and the vehicles (unsafe). We cancelled, back to square 1. We frantically tried to arrange a same day viewing of another truck camper that we had dismissed as it didn't have a loo or an oven (just a porta potty and a 3-ring hob). We viewed, we decided, we made a deposit (cheaper and shorter than yesterdays truck camper). Next problem we had enquired in the morning at 2 banks about arranging a bankers' draught / money order. Both banks said it was impossible without a Canadian account! We discussed payment with the seller. I could arrange an online transfer but that might not clear until Monday next week! The guy really wanted cash and this was going to be the quickest. The only thing we could do was withdraw our maximum daily limit from all our accounts each day until we reached the required amount. We couldn't do this in time to leave Thursday morning, but reckoned we could have the cash by Friday. Went straight to an ATM to start withdrawing. Day 5 (Tuesday) managed to extend our digs stay by one night but couldn't extend our car hire online! We went in search of 'The Milepost' - the RV bible for touring Alaska and West Canada, unsuccessful but we managed to reserve a copy at a shop in Richmond to collect tomorrow. We managed to get for the camper outdoor chairs, bedding, kettle, and so on. Back to the ATM's for more cash. Day 6 (Wednesday) drove to the car hire place in Richmond - what a waste of time. We could cancel our hire and lose what we had paid for the next 24 hours and drive away with a new hire agreement until Friday or we could come back tomorrow when the rental expired and start again. We decided to return tomorrow. Found the bookshop and bought our copy of 'The milepost'. After a British style fish & chips for lunch we were off to a 'no frills' supermarket to start stocking up our camper. Just like Aldi you can't get everything you need so then we headed to Walmart then the ATM again. So far, we have just driven, surfed the net and shopped and it is all getting a bit tedious. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will have enough cash to pay for the truck camper, so Friday the plan is to pay for it, arrange the ownership transfer, register, insure, take out breakdown cover and head for the hills (fingers crossed). We might then manage to take some photos!