Vancouver - June 12 to 18 - post 1

We had a nice surprise after checking in for our flight at Sydney airport – instead of flying to Vancouver, Canada via Texas (the rather longer but somewhat cheaper way!), we were offered seats on another flight which was via Los Angeles instead – so that meant a 2-3 hours shorter flight to the USA, then another shorter flight up to Vancouver, plus flying on a new A380 instead of a 747 – we also somehow got switched to nicer seats on the top level of the plane too, so we had a pretty nice flight! (Especially when compared to flying back from New Zealand on Jetstar a few days before!)

Saying goodbye

At Sydney Airport

Our gigantic plane - we sat right near the back at the top

First impression of the roads in Canada

When we got to Vancouver, we were more than a little asleep on our feet, which was possibly less than ideal for the first time driving on the right hand side of the road! But we drove uneventfully to the home of Ben and Anna (originally from Queensland) in Burnaby (city right next to Vancouver), where they were kind enough to put up with us for the next week! It was great to finally meet them both, as well as gorgeous little Finley!

We spent much of our time in Vancouver getting set up for travelling and for being able to work in Vancouver later on – exciting things like buying a van and setting it up to travel around in, and the not so exciting things like getting a Social Insurance Number (Tax File Number equivalent) and bank account, and paying for insurance for the van (ouch! More than the van itself…) – BUT we did really enjoy our time in Vancouver, although a little more time than we expected was spent trying to catch up on sleep to feel normal again!

We went to the night markets in Richmond (another adjacent city) on the Friday night with Ben & Anna & Finley – Asian markets full of a lot of delicious food and many other useful and not so useful stalls – had a great time, and it was probably our first time of being surrounded by Canadian accents!

Busker at the Richmond Markets