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VANCOUVER, BC
By Catherine
Ayers
Photos by the author.
You’ve probably heard about
how beautiful Vancouver is. Mountains and beaches, skiing and sunbathing,
and a huge, lush, green park. It’s not only the scenery that
makes Vancouver one of the most amazing cities in the World. The
people will really blow you away. Everyone is so friendly, especially
shop assistants, waiters etc. They love British people, and really
will go out of their way to help. The only danger is that after
a couple of weeks being smiled at and greeted enthusiastically as
soon as you cross the threshold of any shop or café, you
will begin to wonder why anyone would want to leave.
When working in a chocolate shop in
the centre of downtown Vancouver, I spent many an hour consoling
disillusioned Brits whose flight home was the following day.
‘Don’t worry,’ I’d
tell them, ‘after 3 months, you start to miss England….
a bit.’ Failing to convince them, I’d usually give them
some free chocolate and send them on their unpatriotic way.
I could tell you dozens of endearing anecdotes
about the lovely, trusting, slightly crazy inhabitants of Vancouver,
but I will simply give you some advice and hope you go there to
meet them yourself. It is a great place for travellers, partly because
so many travellers go there. You will get to meet people from all
over the world, and once you’ve stayed in a hostel and gotten
yourself onto the travellers network, you’re by default friends
with all of them.
There are loads of cheap things to do in Vancouver. Stanley Park,
which is just next to downtown Vancouver, is perfect for cycling
or rollerblading around, or just lazing in with a picnic. In the
city there are many places to visit, from vintage clothing shops
to art galleries. The main tourist street, Robson Street, has an
amazing atmosphere. In the summer, even the chocolate and ice cream
shops (free samples a-plenty) are open until midnight. If you want
to spend a bit of money, then there are attractions nearby, including
Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain, and if you want to
go a bit further, Whistler ski resort isn’t too far away (not
by Canadian standards anyway).
One thing to be warned about before you visit Canada, is the taxes.
Tax isn’t included in prices, and can be up to 14.5%, so just
make sure this doesn’t catch you out. That’s the only
bad thing I can think of to tell you about the place. Go to Vancouver.
It’s a long way away, but you’ll absolutely love it.
You can ski, get a tan, eat cheap food and buy cheap clothes and
CDs. With all of the cheapness, it’s very student-traveller
friendly.
Travel and Accommodation Advice
• Flights to Vancouver are, unfortunately,
pretty expensive. They seem to vary from around £450.00,
but you might be able to get something cheaper if you try.
• Greyhound buses can take you all
over North America, and the passes are quite reasonable. A
fifteen day student pass for Canada costs £196 during
the summer, and believe me you will get your money’s
worth.
• Transport around Vancouver is pretty
efficient. They have reliable buses which cost around $2 per
trip, and the Skytrain, which is good but there aren’t
many lines yet, is also around $2 a ticket. Downtown Vancouver
is small enough to walk around, for travellers who want to
see the place and save money.
• I recommend the HI Hostel in the
West end of Downtown (1114 Burnaby Street). It’s right
near a very cheap internet café, and
it’s also very near a Denny’s Diner which serve
such huge breakfasts for a mere $8, that it will feed a peasant
traveller like ourselves for most of the day.
• The other hostel I would recommend is Global
Village hostel, which is on Granville Street (1018).
Granville Street is rather dodgy, in that walking down it
without being offered drugs is rather a challenge. However,
the hostel is very friendly, more so than the HI, due to its
layout. I suggest that if your priority is to meet people
rather than to sleep in fantastic conditions, then Global
Village is the place for you.
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