Tag Archives: travel

Canada – Days 7 & 8: Peak-to-Peak, bears and On The Lash.

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Like a lot of places on earth, Whistler comes alive even more at the weekends. There are more families around and the play park is covered in kids and watchful parents.

No, I let Jo play on it on her own.

Whistler get busy... busier.

We were supposed to start our day with a jeep trek up one of the mountains for a spot of bear-seeing and a waffle breakfast, but the guides didn’t turn up. I can’t think why on a Saturday morning in a village with 7 night clubs…

Instead we had breakfast – and again I find myself baffled as to why the Canadians have their bacon cooked to within an inch of being completely inedible! Luckily, we then stumbled across a little gold mine.

A sweet old lady had set up a row of tables, and – with the help of some others – had covered the tops in a variety of books for sale.

Sounds simple so far, but a lot of these books were brand new. I asked her how much they were and she simply said all she needed was a small donation of any amount for her chosen charity.

I couldn’t believe it! So, after scooping up a load of Agatha Christies’ for my mum I bought myself The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and an Alec Guiness biography.

After depositing our treasure trove back in our room we headed for one of the mountains and a trip on the Peak-To-Peak Gondola.

Up In The Clouds

The gondola runs on three cables and   holds world records for the longest free span between ropeway towers—3.03 kilometres (1.88 miles) and highest point above the ground—436 metres, or 1,430 feet. And the view is very impressive.

On our first journey below us were nothing but clouds, but on the way back they parted completely to give us a perfect view of the woods and trees below, and it’s bizarre looking down on such majestic trees in something other than  plane!

Jo has a bear behind.

Almost three miles later and we’d arrived at Blackcomb Mountain. There were already a few people there, marveling at a wild baby bear seemingly grazing on grass unaware of everyone taking photos. One foreign young man hopped over the fence and stood all of two feet away from the animal for a picture.

I asked a girl working on the gondola if the bear was tame and she looked confused.

“There’s a bear in a pen out there with a guy stood next to it taking photos.” I said.

She almost swore: “That’s no pen, it’s just an old fence, and there’s no tame bears around here anywhere. If that idiot is trying to take photos then just wait until mama bear returns.”

With that I guess I could have warned the man… but instead I got my camera ready in an attempt to make some big bucks.

One un-mauled man later and we were back on the gondola and off to our hotel room to get ready for our first night out in Canada, on the Whistler Club Crawl.

It’s a night of club-after-club and bar-after-bar where we meet some great new friends from Ireland, Washington and all over the US and Canada. Plus I think there were even a couple of Aussies in there as well!

It’s a long night for all… for all except Jo, who I have to walk home early, pausing often for her to puke her ring.

Class in another country, that girl.

Day 8 is a bit of a write-off and involves lots of hangovers, struggling to get out of bed, and watching everything and anything on tv.

We finally get our asses up and stumble to Earls restaurant – a sports themed bar showing baseball and NFL on all of it’s 6 screens. I watch the Eagles beat the 49ers 27-24 just as our chef brings out the food he has cooked himself for us, which I thought was a really nice touch.

Then it’s back off to bed. I’m getting too old for all this partying!!

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Canada – Day 6: Rainbow Park/Lodge and Whistler Olympics

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Early rise, a quick phone call to Bam, breakfast, and then we’re off on a drive to the nearby town of Pemberton.

Pemberton. Home of... a gas station.

There’s not really much to say about Pemberton other than it took us two minutes to look around and I went to the loo in a petrol station… and that was it. Oh, and I took a photo of a library.

Luckily we’re in one of the most picturesque places on earth, so a short drive took us to Rainbow Lodge, situated on the south side of Alta Lake. Standing on a jetty looking across the calm water westwards at the buildings on the far side, and the mist covered Whistler Highlands provides a great sense of tranquility, even with the lack of sun. Whistler must be one of the only places on the planet where overcast skies and low clouds enhance the experience.

Could have done with some snow, though.

A family of locals on bikes joined us on the jetty and helped us take a photo before telling us that there were usually bears in the area, and that they had seen four of them the previous morning! I almost let the thought of a Quest for Bears overtake my Quest for Twinkies… but Twinkies wouldn’t eat my ass. In fact, quite the opposite.

We informed them that we were taking a slow route up to the Whistler Olympic Park and they then told us that last time they were up there they saw several bears!

The Bear Hunt was on!

I coulda been a contender!

We had a quick look around some old cabins adorned with old photos that were situated by the jetty we had been conversing on, and the pictures revealed that Rainbow Park used to be Rainbow Lodge – a place where people lived and traded and the three old log cabins used to be their homes. It was a fascinating look at lives in the area 90 years ago and the photos really bought events to life. I’m a sucker for history.

The Whistler Olympic Park was just as interesting if only because I’d watched so much of the Winter Olympics on tv back home earlier in the year. It did look a lot different minus the thousands of people and snow…

It was still interesting to see the ski-jump, biathlon site, and the cross-country skiing track. It was a self-guided tour and all you needed to do to gain entry was give the young man on the gate a ‘suggested’ donation. I slipped him five bucks… partly for entry and partly out of pity as it didn’t look like he got to see many people through-out his day!

A big day beckons tomorrow, so it’s the cinema again (to see ‘The Town‘), followed by food and an early night.

(NB: The Town was nothing new but very well done.)

(NB2: I’m halfway thru the cookie dough roll.)

(NB3: Jo made up a word – bargainest.)

Canada – Day Five – Walking into a Nissan Infinity Advert

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And finally my body clock has adjusted and I awake at 8am instead of 3am. The previous evening was the first night I’d made it past 9pm as well!

Our room at the Marketplace Hotel is basic but comfortable, and opening the blinds onto

The Olympic Rings over the building site

the balcony reveals the splendid view of a building site, for a second making me think we’d ended up in Torremolinos before realising it’s 6 degrees outside and I can see snow-capped mountains everywhere.

The building site isn’t an overly bad thing, as I get to see some big trucks up close and also get an idea of what the new Olympic Square might end up looking like. The 2010 Winter Olympics put Whistler solidly on the map (even more so than before) and the works outside are a continuation of this legacy.

A quick watch of ResortTV and (with a cold-filling Jo) we’re ready to take a wander around the village/site… which is a lot bigger than I originally thought.

There are a plethora of shops in the village which cater for absolutely every need. There’s a cigar shop (kudos on the $20 Junior Monte Cristo I enjoyed) which will make them while you wait; countless conveniences and supermarkets; LOADS of stores selling warm winter gear; a hat store where you can get your own hat adorned with anything you fancy; several nightclubs; several food places which also moonlight as clubs/pubs; a spa; a jewelry store;  books shops; gift shops; two phone shops; an accountants (!); a medical centre (obviously); a post office; and even a lingerie shop… although I can’t imagine many ladies skiing in their camisoles.

And in the middle of all these shops and stores, and medical centres and bars, we walk into a throng of people which immediately makes me slow my walk. There’s something false about them that I can’t put my finger on…

And then a voice yelled: “CUT!”

Yep, we’d walked straight into an advert being filmed for the new Nissan Infiniti. It was surreal, walking into a crowd of beautiful people (luckily I fit in perfectly… Jo, on the other hand…) who kept walking, looking up at nothing, smiling and twirling, and then resuming their original standing point. Apparently the snow would be added later.

I don’t think I’m breaching any confidentiality rules by showing you what I filmed of it:

We have a good walk and scout around and make a plan of action for our next few days in Whistler… but today will start with a mean old bison burger in the Citta Bistro (not a million miles away from a beef burger, but gives you an arse to rival Chris Ettritchs’), a relaxing afternoon in a book shop/internet cafe before retiring to the hotel room to read the local/national newspapers (ie The Globe and Mail). It’s a habit I’ve always enjoyed, although when I was in Rome I didn’t get much sense out of the Italian newspaper…

The Twinkie search continues, but without luck – apart from finding a Baby Ruth (thanks to the Goonies film I’d always wondered what these were like!). I did also find a roll of cookie dough! Unheard of in the UK! And today I started to devour it… I got quarter of the way thru before Jo dragged me to the cinema (did I mention that there was also one of those?) to finally get round to watching Inception… which was great!

Canada – Day Five: Thru Stanley Park to Whistler

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Victoria on Vancouver Island reminds me very much of the Isle of Wight – a beautiful area peppered with tourism hotspots. Plus it’s on an island… in case you missed that point.

Back thru Vancouver

Another large and healthy breakfast at Marketa’s introduces us to more people from around the world; this time Birmingham, UK and a foreign woman who I couldn’t fathom where she originated from. I can usually tell after a few lines of speech roughly where someone is from on the planet, but this woman mystified me. She sat with the Swiss couple who were still staying, and spoke to them in French, but her mother tongue eluded me, although I’m fairly sure she was European… which is probably why she could speak French, Jode.

A half hour drive back to the ferry (once more aboard the Spirit of Vancouver) and then we’re heading thru the city of Vancouver again, to it’s northwest corner and a place called Stanley Park.

Downtown VC from Stanley Park

Now, whenever I mentioned that I was about to holiday in Canada, a couple of people told me that I should go to Stanley Park – and they were right to recommend it.

Opened in 1888, it sits on 404 hectacres of land and is bigger than New York’s Central Park but a lot smaller than London’s Richmond Park, but Richmond doesn’t have the sights that this place does. As you walk around you get a panoramic scope of downtown Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean that surrounds the park.

Covered in approximately half a million trees (and there were some big bastards there, too!) Stanley Park receives roughly 8 million visitors a year. While we were there during the end of season in early October, the place was still covered with people, and lots of joggers and cyclists using the 8.8km seawall.

The famous totems at Stanley Park

Stanlay Park is also home to the Vancouver Aquarium, and if you read my previous blog about the Undersea Gardens, then believe me when I tell you that the Aquarium pisses on the Garden from a great, great height.

Opened in 1956, the Aquarium is a self-supporting, non-profit organisation set in the heart of Stanley Park and is a centre for animal rehabilitation, marine research and conservation. The entrance to the AquariumIt’s animal occupants include Pacific White-sided dolphins, beluga whales, 300 species of fish, 30,000 invertebrates, 56 species of amphibians and reptiles, and around 60 mammals and birds!

The variety of animals on display was awesome, particularly the more lively ones such as the dolphins and whales, but a giant octopus was also very impressive – especially as it had stuck itself to the glass! Cue lots of people taking pictures of each other with their heads surrounded by tentacles!

After watching the baluga show we entered a cinematic room which promised a 4D experience. Wearing 3d glasses we sat down to watch a BBC Planet earth programme about the local sealife and were subjected to sprays of water, rumbling seats, blasts of air, and finally a poke in the back just as a 3D barracuda leapt from the screen – provoking a yell of ‘MOTHER FUCKER’ from me… followed by complete silence as every parent and child cast their iron gazes at me… and there were a lot of people around my sorry ass…

Jumping in the SUV we set off for Whistler and were treated to close up views of mountains, bays, trees and rocks before stopping at a mini-village half-way up the mountains in the middle of nowhere. It was home to one of the neatest looking supermarkets I’ve ever seen; but, alas, no twinkies… the search continues…A baluga whale

Whistler is beautiful, as suggested by the drive there, but the actual resort itself is perfectly picturesque. A shame it wasn’t covered in snow when we arrived, but there are plenty of postcards and pictures around to show you how stunning it looks most of the year.

Situated in the Southern Pacific ranges of the Coast Mountains, BC, it has a permenant population of just under 10,000 people which swells often due to all of the workers who travel in every day to work there. Two million people a year visit Whistler, and – once we’d had a minor panic about being locked out of our hotel room before we’d even got in – we became another two of those visitors.

Canada – Day Two…

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…and we’re sat at a ferry terminal waiting to go to an island.

No, we haven’t taken a massive wrong turn and ended up in Portsmouth to go back to the Isle of Wight (still confused the fuck out of Jo), but we’re actually at a ferry port in Tsawwassen, British Columbia, and we’re heading for Vancouver Island.

Entering the Gulf Islands towards Vancouver Island.

The ferry port is massive and – as far as I can tell – it has three docks for ferries; one to Nanaimo, one to the Gulf Islands (including Vancouver Island), and then a multitude of different routes to several different ports in BC. The cost of our trip is $75 (one way) for both of us and the SUV. That’s approximately £40 for a 1 hour 45 minute ferry journey in comfort on a massive boat. Take note Wightlink Ferries!

Once on the boat, for the first time in my life I feel myself becoming a snob.

A ferry snob.

The Spirit of Vancouver is 167.5m long, weighs 18,747.44 tonnes, and travels at a speed of 19.5knots (roughly) using 21,394bhp! It carries 470 cars and has a passenger and crew capacity of 2100, and to entertain all these people there are shops, cafes, a kids area with tv and toys and a private lounge for those wishing to pay $12 to sit up front and receive a complimentary paper and meal. It also took us all of 15mins to fully load the ferry and leave for Swartz Bay, making a mockery of the IOW’s services.

The journey lasts almost two hours, but the scenery is such that it flies past and you’re left wanting to go around the islands again. Crossing the Georgia Strait you can see the Gulf Islands through the mist ahead, and as you approach you can see heavily tree-lined hills which often rise to impressive heights.As the Spirit of Vancouver passes between the islands of Galliano and Mayne a bay opens up before us and the Pender and Salt Spring Islands’ present themselves.

Seals occasionally break the surface of the water, and my attention becomes caught between trying to spot them and gazing at some of the houses that peek through the trees and dot the shorelines of each island. (I urge you to check this one out – 1601 Treasure Crescent, $949,000).

A fishing trawler breezes past us and I can see several oil tankers in another bay, and I find myself completely unsurprised when I overhear someone nearby me comment that people who live in the Gulf Islands very seldom move to another city or area. The views are spectacular.

We disembark at Swartz Bay and it’s a 25mile drive south to Victoria.
It takes us almost an hour to get there through the traffic, and at the end of the hold-up we see a very glum-looking man watching his car being towed away as a policeman writes him a ticket.

Our first task in Victoria is to find somewhere to stay (we’re so unorganised), and the pamphlet Jo picked up on the boat recommended a place called Marketa’s B&B. We found it on Superior Street with very little trouble and were soon booked in.

Marketa was very friendly and it turned out she used to live 50miles away from us in the UK, along the coast in Brighton! And I feel that there must be an honoury mention for the guests’ lounge, complete with old style tv and VHS player surrounded by old tapes! Very vintage and rustic!

Vintage.

After putting our luggage in our room we strolled into town (which took under 5mins), but as it was late in the day everything was in the process of closing so we scouted around and loosely planned out our next day’s activities.

We found an old bank converted into a Scottish-themed bar… so that’s fish and chips in a Scottish pub, while booked into a B&B owned by a woman from Brighton. Who says the world isn’t a small place?

Inside the Bard and Banker

I feel I should mention the barmaids of the Bard and Banker. They wear kilts and most of them look like they’re auditioning for Hooters. It’s now my favourite bar in the world. Shame it’s 4500miles away!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my body clock is completely fritzed so I gotta hit the sack.

But only after I’ve jumped in the rooms’ jacuzzi!

Jacuzzi in the house! Or rather, room.

Canada – Day One

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Booked back in january the holiday in October seemed to take forever to arrive, until the final couple of weeks and then we couldn’t get ready quick enough. I say ‘we’, but Jo was packed back in March. And i packed on the morning we left.

During the drive to the boat while we were still on the island I turned to Jo to make sure that we had the $2600 we had budgeted for.

“No,” she says “We only have the $2000 I told you about.”

The vein in my head throbs and my arse starts to ache.

Luckily, we managed to get to the airport without too many mishaps.

“For the last month we’ve been working out what we need for accommodation, food, etc” I seethe, “and we’ve ascertained that $2600 is what we need!”

(Looking back I probably shouldn’t have used the word ‘ascertained’. She probably thought I was swearing at her in Spanish).

Like any losing politican I demand a recount.

There’s $2600. I allow her this one mistake and let her stay in the car.

Hey, I’m not mean – $2000 would’ve been enough. I could have sent her a lot of postcards with that amount!

On the boat we exit the car and Jo walks out in front of a Tesco lorry. She obviously didn’t see the 40 foot, 40 tonne vehicle… and all this has happened BEFORE we’ve even left the island!

A short drive to Farnborough in Jo’s top-of-the-range Fiesta (it’s even got a rear wiper!) and we arrive at a longtime family friends – Liam and Pauline. We’ve known them so long they’re auntie and uncle by association!

Three hours of sleep (that feels like 5 mins) and we’re saying our goodbyes to Liam as he drops us at Gatwick’s South Terminal.

Tickets, luggage, check-in, a Tour of Duty (Free), a cold-but-satisfying breakfast in The Bridge, an hour wait (in which Jo suffers wind of Chris Ettritch sized proportion) and then we’re ready to board.

One of those machines fuelled by the collective will of those on board to stay in the air.

Cruising at 37,921 feet and flying up past Glasgow, The Faroe Islands and over Iceland at a speed of over 600mph, it will take us over 9 and a half hours to fly the 4500miles. Luckily I bought my own headphones and the onboard radio station is playing a David Bowie medley whichs suits my needs just fine.

I had tried to watch Kickass beforehand, but the flight company decided that there will be no violence or swearing in ANY of the films they are showing. I got five minutes into Kickass before I shook my head and aborted the attempt. Next time you see that (brilliant) film just imagine watching it with no swearing or violence and you’ll see what i mean. It’s like porn without any nudity.

I’d once heard that the best way to combat jet-lag was to not eat on the flight. I don’t know who told me that, but if I (or you) see them then tell them they are. Very. Fucking. Wrong. If I thought ten minutes of a kick-ass-less Kickass was hard then so was turning down the food that appeared a couple of hours in. The smell of cooked chicken and veg filled the cabin and I almost caved, but upon seeing the small plastic tray and lifeless box of accompanying cheese and crackers I smiled politely and handed it back.

“Wise move” said the male (and surprisingly not gay) steward.

I looked at him quizzically.

“You won’t be needing any imodium.” he said.

*                                                        *                                                  *

To give you some idea of how big the second largest country in the world is (if you didn’t already know), we were suddenly above Canada half-way through our flight, which meant we still had another 4+ hours before we reached the west coast and Vancouver.

Looking down at what i first thought were clouds turned out to be vast plains of ice – breathtaking and beautiful. Clouds did then obscure the view until a couple of hours out from VC herself. Fields and unkempt wild land peppered with lakes and rivers and then endless stretches of road unravelled below us slowly. Perfect conditions allowed me to see any cars or vehicles traversing the straight, orderly highways – and there didn’t appear to be many vehicles at all… a far cry from the horrid, twisted, battered roads of the Isle of Wight festooned with elderly drivers!

As we then flew over the Rockies I attempted to get Jo to look at their majesty, but she was too busy trying to figure out why the onboard radio was playing C&C Music Factory when it clearly stated ‘Music From The 80s’.

I left the marvelling at nature to myself.

*                                                    *                                                        *

What’s the best way to get used to driving a car in a country that drives on the opposite side of the road to your own?

Get in it straight away and drive out of the airport 30mins after landing!

Just a quick tip to anyone travelling out that way and intend on hiring a car. DON’T hire it when you book your flight. The car rental cost me £310 and when I asked to upgrade it to a 4wd model I was told it would be a further £300.

When I got to Vancouver and offered to upgrade it cost me $210… roughly £150 – half of what I would’ve paid in the UK!

An hour of driving around VC in our Ford Escape (complete with Sirius Satellite Radio – always tuned to a hip hop or NFL station!) and we’ve already discovered that Vancouver is a bright and vibrant city. It’s a Sunday and there are people everywhere, both tourists and locals, walking through the streets and packing the shops and beach, despite the lack of any immediate sun.

Vancouver City

We also learnt that Jo has (and should never, ever again) read a map.

After several… nay, many wrong turns we ended up at the first hotel we passed – a Best Western one with a sports bar attached to it. Perfect for this evenings Giants & Bears game.

While sat in the bar, watching my beloved Bears lose, I sit with my pen, pad and a pitcher of Bud to summarise what I have seen of VC this day.

It truly is a multi-cultural city, as are many developed cities the world over, but Vancouver seems to have a massive Chinese/Japanese community as reflected by the ammount of Asian shops which number as many as the local stores.

Despite it’s mixed-race core, the Canadians appear fiercely proud of their nationality and clothes are adorned with the maple leaf badge or buttons, and almost every shop and home has a flag or sticker somewhere on its’ premises.

Vancouvians are also very polite. We were sat in a restaurant where a waitress asked a customer if they would like dessert. They declined, and stopped the waitress as she was walking away to thank her for asking!

I also saw only one church on our travels… but a shit load of sex shops. And I mean frickin loads. An indication of todays society, perhaps?

Bars, food shopes and mini-marts occupy most roads and streets and it’s during this discovery that i remember always having wanted to try a Twinkie. I know it’s American but we’re hardly a million miles away and a lot of the sweets and candy are the same in both countries.

We try several shops but to no avail. If you’ve ever seen Woody Harrelson’s plight in Zombieland you will feel my anguish.

Meanwhile, sat in Chequers – the sports bar under the hotel  – I’m amused that I’m the only person watching the American Football on the tvs. An englishman in North America in a packed sports bar is the only guy watching the NFL game!

To be fair, everyone is watching three oung men playing in an alcove opposite the tv. They’re very talented guys with great voices, but a penchant for talking waaay too much between songs. And I’m sure one of their mums’ is sat in the front row watching (and interacting) with them.

But they were good, the staff were friendly and as helpful as the rest of the natives, the food throughout the city has been spot-on and all that was left was for me to finish watching my beloved Bears.

They lost.