July 5, 2005
New Travel Plans: Heading Off To Vancouver
and Victoria, BC
Well, I finally did it. I took a bunch of Airmiles and booked a
flight yesterday to Vancouver. I'll be out in beautiful British
Columbia from August 3 to 8 to cover the Canada-US Servas Conference
and to explore and report on my West Coast adventure first-hand.
In all the almost 19 years that I've been in Canada, I have never
made it out to the West Coast yet, so I am really excited. Some
of my absolutely favourite landscapes can be found where the sea
meets the mountains, and from everything I have heard, Vancouver
has it all. It has one of the most scenic locations in the world
where the Rocky Mountains converge dramatically with the Pacific
Ocean.
It'll be a very compressed trip since I'll head straight from the
airport in a bus to the ferry docks to cross over to Vancouver Island
where I'll meet meet my associate Clare in Victoria. Victoria is
known as the "City of Gardens" and with the mildest climate
in Canada, Victoria offers visitors a natural beauty that lasts
year round. Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia located
on Vancouver Island and offers visitors a touch of old English architecture.
I'll spend about a day and a half in Victoria and return back on
Friday to the mainland to cover some events that are part of the
US-Canada Servas Conference. Servas
is a non-profit organization, an "international host and traveler
network of peace builders" that fosters peace through travel.
The motto of this year's joint US-Canadian conference is "Servas
- Making The Connection". It has been my own personal experience,
particularly through living in Toronto - one of the most multicultural
cities in the world, that exposure to and interaction with different
cultures is the most effective way to break down barriers and prejudices,
in effect paving the way for a more peaceful co-existence.
While in Vancouver I will naturally explore the city. I am planning
to discover the city in two half-day bicycling tours to get a good
lay of the land. In talking to the people at Tourism Vancouver yesterday
they recommended that I get in touch with a small company called
Spokes
Bicycle Rentals. I had a nice chat with Phil from the rental
company who will assist me in developing the routes for my bicycling
adventures so I get to see all the major sights in the city as well
as Vancouver's beautiful waterfront, including the famous Lion's
Gate Bridge and Stanley Park.
My good friend Shauna, a native of Vancouver, gave me some tips
a while ago, and she recommended that I head up to the top of Grouse
Mountain, the Peak of Vancouver. Vancouver is one of
those extremely fortunate cities that actually has a real ski mountain
right next to the city. In addition to skiiing, snowboarding and
other winter-time delights, Grouse Mountain also offers opportunities
for hiking, mountainbiking, wildlife watching and other outdoor
activities. And apparently it has delicious dining options right
at the top of the mountain which can conveniently be reached by
cable car. So that sounds like a place I'll need to check out for
sure.
It's hard to contain my excitement at this point, I have been dreaming
of heading off to the West Coast for a long time now, and now this
dream is coming within tangible reach. All I can hope for is some
decent weather that will allow me to explore Vancouver and Victoria
and sample some of its unique delights in the short time that I'll
have there.
Useful Books for Travel to Vancouver, Victoria and British
Columbia
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