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I feel like I need to recount our whole Vancouver trip here in order to save it for posterity. Right? Here goes.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 4
The day’s travel went like this: Drive 1 hour 45 minutes to Cold Spring, my favorite Metro North station. Ride the train for 1 hour 20 minutes to Grand Central Station. Walk 8 blocks to the E train at 51st and Lexington, and take that express to JFK Airport, which takes about 40 minutes, but only includes about 6 stops. Take awesome AirTrain monorail to JFK in 10 minutes. At this point in the day (7PM) security was a breeze, which meant spending about 2 hours waiting for the plane to board.
A note on the subway ride: The worst mother in existence was on our train. I didn’t think people like this really existed, but there she was, by turns screaming at/scaring her kids and ignoring them by listening to an iPod. When one finished a water bottle, she threw it out the subway door. It’s like she was literally daring someone to say something to her. “Yeah, I’m the worst mother. What’chu gonna do about it??”
We flew Cathay Pacific, the great economy flight (you’ll see later why I qualify here it with “economy”) I’ve ever flown. Direct flight from JFK to YVR in just over 5 hours. This was the first time I’ve ever been on a flight with televisions in the seat, and I can see the appeal. I didn’t know if I’d use it, but boy did I use it. I watched Michael Palin’s Brazil (a travel doc), Super Trio Maximus (a Chinese game show I didn’t strictly understand but still watched to the end), Laugh India Laugh (an Indian stand-up comic cavalcade I also couldn’t understand, and that had the worst laugh track ever), another Chinese game show with celebrity impersonators that I had to turn off almost immediately once they started with a child in brownface doing a Michael Jackson impression, and Fake Or Fortune, a BBC show that tries to determine the authenticity of a painting in each episode, which I slept through. I also listened to the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu album Nanda which I currently am loving.
And the food? Come on. It was good! Kudos to Cathay Pacific. After landing at 1 AM Pacific time, we took a cab to the nearby Hampton Inn and slept.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 4
Enjoyed the free breakfast, and took the SkyTrain to our downtown Vancouver hotel, the Hyatt Regency. Had to wait a bit to check in, so we walked around Gastown and Chinatown and had Japadogs at a park (I guess you’d call it) by Canada Place. The Japadogs were creative and good, but salty. The Regency room was fine, and thanks again to Frequent Flyer miles and points, I am a Hyatt Diamond member or something, which means I get free wi-fi. The thrill of cable television and big well-made beds always results in much napping. I think later we ate at a Ukranian restaurant on Denman Street.
From the ground in Vancouver, it’s not an especially beautiful city. The buildings seem to date to the mid-20th century at the latest, so there are a lot of tall, glass office and apartment buildings and not much in the way of architectural splendor, if you will. But the programming, as they say, was great. Interesting stores and restaurants all over, not an empty storefront in sight. Even the ever-present homeless people are nice by Canadian standards. One even pointed out the correct door to use as I tried to apparently break into a Tim Hortons one morning.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 5
Visited the UBC Museum of Anthrolpolgy this afternoon. It took a subway and a bus to get there, but whatever. This was my first encounter with the lack of fare collection on Vancouver buses. I knew about the subway honor system, but didn’t expect it to go for the buses, too. Some people pay, some people just hop through the back door. For what its worth, I did try to pay every time on the bus, but the lack of change and being unable to accept bills actually made it hard to pay at all sometimes.
The UBC campus is where I started to see the beauty that everyone talks about Vancouver possessing. It’s not the buildings, it’s the backdrop. The mountains, the water, the sailboats in the harbors, the parks. Ah, I get it.
The museum is top-notch, and contains so much you would not see on the east coast. Namely, those totem poles.
The real focus should be on the collections rooms which contain items and clothing from around the world, but mostly Native People from the northwest. Drawer after drawer after huge drawer full of fascinating stuff.
Situated next to a model of the Last Supper is The Last Supper of Lucifer.
On the way back, we walked through Granville Island, a neighborhood and accompanying island near downtown which seems to be a perfect example of urban revitalization. It’s all old corrugated iron encased buildings turned into markets, restaurants, art shops and galleries. Basically there is enough for drive a huge amount of tourist dollars, but also places for local people to give it a day-to-day liveliness. I felt the money being ripped from my hands as I walked around the public market. Smoked fish mongers, fudge shoppes, bakers, Italian deli setups. I was helpless against it. That was supper that night.
MONDAY OCTOBER 6
Started with a winding walk around Stanley Park to get to the Vancouver Aquarium. Stanley Park definitely deserves more exploring, but at 1,000 acres, it would take more than an afternoon to really see it all. As a New Englander used to Olmstead parks in most major cities, Stanley Park was fascinating to me because it’s basically wilderness. Outside of the few buildings like the aquarium, it’s just running wild out there, which is amazing considering its proximity to downtown.
You remember the famous hands-holding otters from the video. Well, I think one of them is no longer with us, but the other one is still there in Vancouver, floating around his tank with his ball and Shamwow rag thing. The holding hands thing is not uncommon, since aside from holding them, we learned a mother will tie a child otter to itself using seaweed, ingeniously.
Two other young otters playing:
Also, dolphins jumped.
TUESDAY OCTOBER 7
Another long travel day that started with a convenient express bus from downtown 40 minutes to the Horseshoe Bay ferry. Decent ferry ride for a little over an hour to Nanaimo, home of the bar. We walked the 1.5 miles to get our rental car, on a waterfront walkway that seemed to start and stop at will until you got closer to downtown. Finish that walkway, Nanaimo! Don’t you want ferry-goers to walk downtown?
We rented a Jetta, which was fine. The girl at Budget asked me if I was an artist because I have a very angular signature with lots of straight lines. Well, no, but thank you for noticing! I haven’t been able to write cursive for years, so instead of actually writing my name out legibly, I’ve tried to make my signature unique, but also easy for me to scribble.
Then it was a drive to Tofino, three hours away, which after getting off the main route 19, was one of most beautiful drives I’ve ever done. There are mountain peaks that rival the Rocky Mountains. Eventually a nice spot for a photo came up at Kennedy Lake so I stopped for a minute.
We also stopped at Little Qualicum Falls, which is hard to get a good photo of because it's straight down.
Tofino is at the very end of Route 4, through Pacific Rim Provincial Park. Our sleeping place was Pacific Sands Resort, a nice place that has its own beach. We had a suite with a kitchen, a balcony and all that. It was NICE. Like, complimentary wine bottle nice. So we played on the beach, which by the way was the first time in my life I’ve seen the Pacific Ocean. This here is a real west coast sunset, not that bullshit you see on the east coast.
Oh yeah, supposedly you’ll read that Vancouver sits on the Pacific Ocean, but I don’t think so. I didn’t count that as the Pacific Ocean. Vancouver Island shuts that whole thing down by sitting out there and blocking everything. As far as I’m concerned, Vancouver sits on an inlet or some shit. An ocean is endless, not some fucking bullshit that extends a couple miles and then ends at an island.
Balcony view:
Crazy driftwood like I've never seen before.
Tofino has a real hippie surfer vibe, which, having never been to the west coast, I’ve never really experienced before. Tuesday night we ate at a sushi bar and there was a cannabis leaf decorating the rolls. Especially in this shoulder season, the town seems mostly occupied by tan, bodacious dudes and chicks who spend most of their days hanging ten (surfing), chilling out (chilling out), and drinking coffee (tending to their dreadlocks). Ah, but there I go exaggerating again! I love Tofino. And I envy those people who can make a living out there. Here's the view from downtown Tofino.
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 8
Spent all day hitting all of the spots in the Pacific Rim’s Long Beach unit, exploring the beaches, hiking through rainforests, spotting lighthouses, always keeping an eye out for whales and their sea brethren. Since this was probably the best day of the trip, it made me realize I must be one of these “eco-tourists” they keep talking about.
Dinner was a simple take-out pizza from Red Can Gourmet. Nice!
THURSDAY OCTOBER 9
I wish I could’ve stayed in the Tofino area longer, but now was the time to return the rental car to Nanaimo. Leftover pizza for breakfast. We stopped at another park on the way back because there were petroglyphs. They were carved into the rock face, strangely right above the water line of the lake. So someone had to sit in a canoe and carve it, I guess.
Remember that last part.
Got back to Nanaimo, and grabbed a quick lunch of tomato soup at 2 Chefs Café before bringing the car back. I have to remember what a good deal soup is at restaurants. It’s cheap and usually pretty good. The Budget shuttle driver JB took us to the ferry terminal so we could pick up the… wait for it… bus. You thought it was going to be a ferry, didn’t you? We waited for the ferry passengers to deboard, then took our shuttle bus to Victoria.
It was getting dark when we got there. So we checked into our hotel, the Empress. If you know anything about Victoria, you probably know this hotel. It’s world-famous, historic, huge, and notoriously expensive, but I picked up a very good deal on some no-name travel website.
Play with us, Danny.
Victoria was a magic place. Canada’s senior citizens were proudly sharing sidewalk space with gutter punks. In a café, a couple played dark synthpop for a crowd consisting of one old guy smiling and bobbing his head to the music. On the street, a dude played a banjo and a couple danced a jig. I insisted on eating at The Guild because their specials board listed sweetbreads. It’s rare I find sweetbreads anywhere, so I have to take advantage of it when I see it. They were delicious, but so fried as to be unrecognizable. I want to taste those glands!
FRIDAY OCTOBER 10
Early morning breakfast from Tom’s Deli. Then it was off to Fisherman’s Wharf to pick up a whale-watching tour. I was hoping to see killer whales, but wasn’t betting on it. Orcas leave the north side of the island by early September and only show up sporadically in the Salish Sea in October before heading out into warmer water until next season. We did not see any orcas, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Our tour operator, Eagle Wing, had an incredibly fast boat:
Wherever a report came in of whales, we sped right over. So we ended up seeing several humpback whales, many sea lions, some of which chased and played in the water, though most sat their lazy fat asses on Race Rock.
Somebody needs a bigger camera.
It wasn’t a cold day, but after traveling at such a speed, it really gets to you, and you see how those gigantic jackets come in useful. Also, the boat house village was neat.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 11
Another early morning breakfast of croissants. There were tons of people coming to Victoria today, surprisingly not to celebrate Alice Munro, but for the marathon, or the 5k, or whatever road race they were doing. There was a huge gathering in front of the parliament, with a speaker yelling stuff through the PA, but it was all so noisy and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was a protest rally or just people getting pumped up for the marathon. “No more pipelines!!! Y’all ready to run??”
We had a late night flight this day but had enough time to spend most of the day in Victoria. We went to the renowned Royal BC Museum, which was truly great. Many more totem poles and lots of artifacts from Native Peoples. And just like the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, one floor contains a Canada Land, full of reconstructed buildings you can explore.
They also had a awfully interesting current exhibit on the Race to the End of the Earth, the race to the south bole between two teams from England and Norway. You get to track their progress, see their real tools and clothing, read about their setbacks and basically pick a team to root for. As soon as I read that Norway took dozens of sled dogs while England decided to take ten horses, well, I was Team Norway. Not only did England lose, but the last dudes coming back actually died. Yay Norway! It was a incredibly well done exhibit.
We headed back to the Empress (next door the museum) got our stuff and headed off to the bus depot (also next door!). So began the trek home. The Pacific Coach bus luckily drives you to Saanich, drives directly on the ferry, departs from the ferry, then you transfer to a new bus that brings you to the airport. Otherwise, getting from Victoria to the airport is a whole thing, but this made it much easier.
This ferry ride was much more scenic than the one to Nanaimo. I was stunned that more people weren’t sitting outside, but then if you live around here, you see this scenery all the time. We saw more humpback whales, which the captain pointed out on the PA. Once those inside folks got outside though, those whales were long gone. That’s why you sit outside, people!
It's views like that that could've inspired the Canadian Group of Seven painters.
After arriving at the airport, we were able to hang out in the First Class lounge.
Wait, what? That’s right. Through some stealthy use of frequent flyer miles, I was able to get us business class seats on Cathay Pacific back to JFK as part of a ticket to Switzerland for next May. This was my first time flying anything other than coach.
The first benefit upon checking in is that lounge. Away from all the riff-raff, it was nice and quiet, full of free food, wine, and, it being a Canadian airport, Molsons. This was all luxurious enough, but it kicked up a notch once the flight was called. We waltzed down the elevator, down the concourse to our gate to see the legions of economy passengers waiting in line. They were waiting for us in business class to board first. Yes, excuse me, but I was halfway into a Molsons, you know. You’re just going to have to wait to board, filthy animals.
It was then that I got a jolt of what it must feel like to be rich. “I’m better than these people. Why else would they be treating me so royally?” It was a feeling that would repeat many times over the course of the flight. Why did I deserve such special attention and a seat that reclines fully into a bed? I must be special.
Upon sitting down, you are immediately offered champagne. Like, the guy is blocking the aisle of coach passengers while he offers you champagne. Then comes the hot towels. Then more refreshments, and a table cloth for your little slide out table. Then come the tiny bowls of warmed almonds, and the food and wine menus. I had the salmon and the German Riesling. Cheese and fruit for dessert. Everyone addresses you by name. And the purser (a new term I’ve learned) brings around a box of Godiva chocolates and asks if you want one. “Have as many as you like,” she says. Meanwhile, I’ve got my legs propped up, watching another episode of Michael Palin’s Brazil.
What the fuck is going on? I mean, this is no joke. It really was like what I imagined, and this was only Business Blass. Caitlin figured that ahead of us in First Class, they must put the food directly in your mouth.
You’ve heard of First World problems? How about First Class problems? When were landing, I had not stowed away my food and wine menu. When they put the breaks on, my menu slid forward, I put up my hand to stop it and it gave me a papercut! Owie! Wine menu hurt me! I should write them a letter. Maybe they’ll give me more frequent flyer miles!
RECOMMENDATIONS:
EBags Weekender - I bought a brand new, super-nice backpack for this trip and future trips, and I highly recommend it. It is ingeniously designed, with easy- and hard-to-access pockets for everything from passports to laptops to dirty clothes. It can hold a LOT, and still go in as overhead baggage. And despite the weight, it was comfortable to wear. I could probably use this as my solo luggage for up to a week.
Granville Island - Get your eat on, skip the ferry downtown, and instead walk the very busy bridge over the top of the island for the best views.
Pacific Sand Resort - I'd go back there in a second.
Royal BC Museum - Probably better than the Museum of Anthropology by a hair, plus it’s easier to get to.
BC Ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen - Preferably at sunset for the best lighting. At $15, I would recommend this as a sightseeing cruise, with transportation being a side benefit.
Cathay Pacific - Coach was pretty great on this airline and leaves the American domestic airlines in the dust. A recommendation of Business Class is also a no-brainer.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 4
The day’s travel went like this: Drive 1 hour 45 minutes to Cold Spring, my favorite Metro North station. Ride the train for 1 hour 20 minutes to Grand Central Station. Walk 8 blocks to the E train at 51st and Lexington, and take that express to JFK Airport, which takes about 40 minutes, but only includes about 6 stops. Take awesome AirTrain monorail to JFK in 10 minutes. At this point in the day (7PM) security was a breeze, which meant spending about 2 hours waiting for the plane to board.
A note on the subway ride: The worst mother in existence was on our train. I didn’t think people like this really existed, but there she was, by turns screaming at/scaring her kids and ignoring them by listening to an iPod. When one finished a water bottle, she threw it out the subway door. It’s like she was literally daring someone to say something to her. “Yeah, I’m the worst mother. What’chu gonna do about it??”
We flew Cathay Pacific, the great economy flight (you’ll see later why I qualify here it with “economy”) I’ve ever flown. Direct flight from JFK to YVR in just over 5 hours. This was the first time I’ve ever been on a flight with televisions in the seat, and I can see the appeal. I didn’t know if I’d use it, but boy did I use it. I watched Michael Palin’s Brazil (a travel doc), Super Trio Maximus (a Chinese game show I didn’t strictly understand but still watched to the end), Laugh India Laugh (an Indian stand-up comic cavalcade I also couldn’t understand, and that had the worst laugh track ever), another Chinese game show with celebrity impersonators that I had to turn off almost immediately once they started with a child in brownface doing a Michael Jackson impression, and Fake Or Fortune, a BBC show that tries to determine the authenticity of a painting in each episode, which I slept through. I also listened to the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu album Nanda which I currently am loving.
Click to viewAnd the food? Come on. It was good! Kudos to Cathay Pacific. After landing at 1 AM Pacific time, we took a cab to the nearby Hampton Inn and slept.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 4
Enjoyed the free breakfast, and took the SkyTrain to our downtown Vancouver hotel, the Hyatt Regency. Had to wait a bit to check in, so we walked around Gastown and Chinatown and had Japadogs at a park (I guess you’d call it) by Canada Place. The Japadogs were creative and good, but salty. The Regency room was fine, and thanks again to Frequent Flyer miles and points, I am a Hyatt Diamond member or something, which means I get free wi-fi. The thrill of cable television and big well-made beds always results in much napping. I think later we ate at a Ukranian restaurant on Denman Street.
From the ground in Vancouver, it’s not an especially beautiful city. The buildings seem to date to the mid-20th century at the latest, so there are a lot of tall, glass office and apartment buildings and not much in the way of architectural splendor, if you will. But the programming, as they say, was great. Interesting stores and restaurants all over, not an empty storefront in sight. Even the ever-present homeless people are nice by Canadian standards. One even pointed out the correct door to use as I tried to apparently break into a Tim Hortons one morning.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 5
Visited the UBC Museum of Anthrolpolgy this afternoon. It took a subway and a bus to get there, but whatever. This was my first encounter with the lack of fare collection on Vancouver buses. I knew about the subway honor system, but didn’t expect it to go for the buses, too. Some people pay, some people just hop through the back door. For what its worth, I did try to pay every time on the bus, but the lack of change and being unable to accept bills actually made it hard to pay at all sometimes.
The UBC campus is where I started to see the beauty that everyone talks about Vancouver possessing. It’s not the buildings, it’s the backdrop. The mountains, the water, the sailboats in the harbors, the parks. Ah, I get it.
The museum is top-notch, and contains so much you would not see on the east coast. Namely, those totem poles.
The real focus should be on the collections rooms which contain items and clothing from around the world, but mostly Native People from the northwest. Drawer after drawer after huge drawer full of fascinating stuff.
Situated next to a model of the Last Supper is The Last Supper of Lucifer.
On the way back, we walked through Granville Island, a neighborhood and accompanying island near downtown which seems to be a perfect example of urban revitalization. It’s all old corrugated iron encased buildings turned into markets, restaurants, art shops and galleries. Basically there is enough for drive a huge amount of tourist dollars, but also places for local people to give it a day-to-day liveliness. I felt the money being ripped from my hands as I walked around the public market. Smoked fish mongers, fudge shoppes, bakers, Italian deli setups. I was helpless against it. That was supper that night.
MONDAY OCTOBER 6
Started with a winding walk around Stanley Park to get to the Vancouver Aquarium. Stanley Park definitely deserves more exploring, but at 1,000 acres, it would take more than an afternoon to really see it all. As a New Englander used to Olmstead parks in most major cities, Stanley Park was fascinating to me because it’s basically wilderness. Outside of the few buildings like the aquarium, it’s just running wild out there, which is amazing considering its proximity to downtown.
You remember the famous hands-holding otters from the video. Well, I think one of them is no longer with us, but the other one is still there in Vancouver, floating around his tank with his ball and Shamwow rag thing. The holding hands thing is not uncommon, since aside from holding them, we learned a mother will tie a child otter to itself using seaweed, ingeniously.
Two other young otters playing:
Also, dolphins jumped.
TUESDAY OCTOBER 7
Another long travel day that started with a convenient express bus from downtown 40 minutes to the Horseshoe Bay ferry. Decent ferry ride for a little over an hour to Nanaimo, home of the bar. We walked the 1.5 miles to get our rental car, on a waterfront walkway that seemed to start and stop at will until you got closer to downtown. Finish that walkway, Nanaimo! Don’t you want ferry-goers to walk downtown?
We rented a Jetta, which was fine. The girl at Budget asked me if I was an artist because I have a very angular signature with lots of straight lines. Well, no, but thank you for noticing! I haven’t been able to write cursive for years, so instead of actually writing my name out legibly, I’ve tried to make my signature unique, but also easy for me to scribble.
Then it was a drive to Tofino, three hours away, which after getting off the main route 19, was one of most beautiful drives I’ve ever done. There are mountain peaks that rival the Rocky Mountains. Eventually a nice spot for a photo came up at Kennedy Lake so I stopped for a minute.
We also stopped at Little Qualicum Falls, which is hard to get a good photo of because it's straight down.
Tofino is at the very end of Route 4, through Pacific Rim Provincial Park. Our sleeping place was Pacific Sands Resort, a nice place that has its own beach. We had a suite with a kitchen, a balcony and all that. It was NICE. Like, complimentary wine bottle nice. So we played on the beach, which by the way was the first time in my life I’ve seen the Pacific Ocean. This here is a real west coast sunset, not that bullshit you see on the east coast.
Oh yeah, supposedly you’ll read that Vancouver sits on the Pacific Ocean, but I don’t think so. I didn’t count that as the Pacific Ocean. Vancouver Island shuts that whole thing down by sitting out there and blocking everything. As far as I’m concerned, Vancouver sits on an inlet or some shit. An ocean is endless, not some fucking bullshit that extends a couple miles and then ends at an island.
Balcony view:
Crazy driftwood like I've never seen before.
Tofino has a real hippie surfer vibe, which, having never been to the west coast, I’ve never really experienced before. Tuesday night we ate at a sushi bar and there was a cannabis leaf decorating the rolls. Especially in this shoulder season, the town seems mostly occupied by tan, bodacious dudes and chicks who spend most of their days hanging ten (surfing), chilling out (chilling out), and drinking coffee (tending to their dreadlocks). Ah, but there I go exaggerating again! I love Tofino. And I envy those people who can make a living out there. Here's the view from downtown Tofino.
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 8
Spent all day hitting all of the spots in the Pacific Rim’s Long Beach unit, exploring the beaches, hiking through rainforests, spotting lighthouses, always keeping an eye out for whales and their sea brethren. Since this was probably the best day of the trip, it made me realize I must be one of these “eco-tourists” they keep talking about.
Dinner was a simple take-out pizza from Red Can Gourmet. Nice!
THURSDAY OCTOBER 9
I wish I could’ve stayed in the Tofino area longer, but now was the time to return the rental car to Nanaimo. Leftover pizza for breakfast. We stopped at another park on the way back because there were petroglyphs. They were carved into the rock face, strangely right above the water line of the lake. So someone had to sit in a canoe and carve it, I guess.
Remember that last part.
Got back to Nanaimo, and grabbed a quick lunch of tomato soup at 2 Chefs Café before bringing the car back. I have to remember what a good deal soup is at restaurants. It’s cheap and usually pretty good. The Budget shuttle driver JB took us to the ferry terminal so we could pick up the… wait for it… bus. You thought it was going to be a ferry, didn’t you? We waited for the ferry passengers to deboard, then took our shuttle bus to Victoria.
It was getting dark when we got there. So we checked into our hotel, the Empress. If you know anything about Victoria, you probably know this hotel. It’s world-famous, historic, huge, and notoriously expensive, but I picked up a very good deal on some no-name travel website.
Play with us, Danny.
Victoria was a magic place. Canada’s senior citizens were proudly sharing sidewalk space with gutter punks. In a café, a couple played dark synthpop for a crowd consisting of one old guy smiling and bobbing his head to the music. On the street, a dude played a banjo and a couple danced a jig. I insisted on eating at The Guild because their specials board listed sweetbreads. It’s rare I find sweetbreads anywhere, so I have to take advantage of it when I see it. They were delicious, but so fried as to be unrecognizable. I want to taste those glands!
FRIDAY OCTOBER 10
Early morning breakfast from Tom’s Deli. Then it was off to Fisherman’s Wharf to pick up a whale-watching tour. I was hoping to see killer whales, but wasn’t betting on it. Orcas leave the north side of the island by early September and only show up sporadically in the Salish Sea in October before heading out into warmer water until next season. We did not see any orcas, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Our tour operator, Eagle Wing, had an incredibly fast boat:
Wherever a report came in of whales, we sped right over. So we ended up seeing several humpback whales, many sea lions, some of which chased and played in the water, though most sat their lazy fat asses on Race Rock.
Somebody needs a bigger camera.
It wasn’t a cold day, but after traveling at such a speed, it really gets to you, and you see how those gigantic jackets come in useful. Also, the boat house village was neat.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 11
Another early morning breakfast of croissants. There were tons of people coming to Victoria today, surprisingly not to celebrate Alice Munro, but for the marathon, or the 5k, or whatever road race they were doing. There was a huge gathering in front of the parliament, with a speaker yelling stuff through the PA, but it was all so noisy and I honestly couldn’t tell if it was a protest rally or just people getting pumped up for the marathon. “No more pipelines!!! Y’all ready to run??”
We had a late night flight this day but had enough time to spend most of the day in Victoria. We went to the renowned Royal BC Museum, which was truly great. Many more totem poles and lots of artifacts from Native Peoples. And just like the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, one floor contains a Canada Land, full of reconstructed buildings you can explore.
They also had a awfully interesting current exhibit on the Race to the End of the Earth, the race to the south bole between two teams from England and Norway. You get to track their progress, see their real tools and clothing, read about their setbacks and basically pick a team to root for. As soon as I read that Norway took dozens of sled dogs while England decided to take ten horses, well, I was Team Norway. Not only did England lose, but the last dudes coming back actually died. Yay Norway! It was a incredibly well done exhibit.
We headed back to the Empress (next door the museum) got our stuff and headed off to the bus depot (also next door!). So began the trek home. The Pacific Coach bus luckily drives you to Saanich, drives directly on the ferry, departs from the ferry, then you transfer to a new bus that brings you to the airport. Otherwise, getting from Victoria to the airport is a whole thing, but this made it much easier.
This ferry ride was much more scenic than the one to Nanaimo. I was stunned that more people weren’t sitting outside, but then if you live around here, you see this scenery all the time. We saw more humpback whales, which the captain pointed out on the PA. Once those inside folks got outside though, those whales were long gone. That’s why you sit outside, people!
It's views like that that could've inspired the Canadian Group of Seven painters.
After arriving at the airport, we were able to hang out in the First Class lounge.
Wait, what? That’s right. Through some stealthy use of frequent flyer miles, I was able to get us business class seats on Cathay Pacific back to JFK as part of a ticket to Switzerland for next May. This was my first time flying anything other than coach.
The first benefit upon checking in is that lounge. Away from all the riff-raff, it was nice and quiet, full of free food, wine, and, it being a Canadian airport, Molsons. This was all luxurious enough, but it kicked up a notch once the flight was called. We waltzed down the elevator, down the concourse to our gate to see the legions of economy passengers waiting in line. They were waiting for us in business class to board first. Yes, excuse me, but I was halfway into a Molsons, you know. You’re just going to have to wait to board, filthy animals.
It was then that I got a jolt of what it must feel like to be rich. “I’m better than these people. Why else would they be treating me so royally?” It was a feeling that would repeat many times over the course of the flight. Why did I deserve such special attention and a seat that reclines fully into a bed? I must be special.
Upon sitting down, you are immediately offered champagne. Like, the guy is blocking the aisle of coach passengers while he offers you champagne. Then comes the hot towels. Then more refreshments, and a table cloth for your little slide out table. Then come the tiny bowls of warmed almonds, and the food and wine menus. I had the salmon and the German Riesling. Cheese and fruit for dessert. Everyone addresses you by name. And the purser (a new term I’ve learned) brings around a box of Godiva chocolates and asks if you want one. “Have as many as you like,” she says. Meanwhile, I’ve got my legs propped up, watching another episode of Michael Palin’s Brazil.
What the fuck is going on? I mean, this is no joke. It really was like what I imagined, and this was only Business Blass. Caitlin figured that ahead of us in First Class, they must put the food directly in your mouth.
You’ve heard of First World problems? How about First Class problems? When were landing, I had not stowed away my food and wine menu. When they put the breaks on, my menu slid forward, I put up my hand to stop it and it gave me a papercut! Owie! Wine menu hurt me! I should write them a letter. Maybe they’ll give me more frequent flyer miles!
RECOMMENDATIONS:
EBags Weekender - I bought a brand new, super-nice backpack for this trip and future trips, and I highly recommend it. It is ingeniously designed, with easy- and hard-to-access pockets for everything from passports to laptops to dirty clothes. It can hold a LOT, and still go in as overhead baggage. And despite the weight, it was comfortable to wear. I could probably use this as my solo luggage for up to a week.
Granville Island - Get your eat on, skip the ferry downtown, and instead walk the very busy bridge over the top of the island for the best views.
Pacific Sand Resort - I'd go back there in a second.
Royal BC Museum - Probably better than the Museum of Anthropology by a hair, plus it’s easier to get to.
BC Ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen - Preferably at sunset for the best lighting. At $15, I would recommend this as a sightseeing cruise, with transportation being a side benefit.
Cathay Pacific - Coach was pretty great on this airline and leaves the American domestic airlines in the dust. A recommendation of Business Class is also a no-brainer.