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11 hours ago, arab_joe said:

A few years back I did a Victoria day trip from Seattle (I'm sure there are similar trips from Vancouver), and although it was a long/expensive day, seeing whales in the wild is a magical experience.  It was absolutely brilliant and I would recommend to anyone.

Oh yeah, if you can afford it it's worth doing but I think it's £100+ a go. However, it's a good five or six hour trip and you'll see a lot of other wildlife too. The main companies usually offer a free trip if you don't see any whales - just don't do what we did and do it at the end of your holiday, meaning a free trip would have been useless.

Me and my brother usually visit a North American city every year and quite often we do the same stuff - go up the tallest building for the view, do a boat trip along the water front etc. The good thing with Vancouver is it has that but it also has different stuff like whale watching and going up Grouse Mountain, which is like having the Cairngorms within 10 miles of the centre of Glasgow.

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20 hours ago, The Minertaur said:

Think we are having 3 days in Vancouver before driving to Banff and then onwards to Calgary.  If you could create my an itinerary for Vancouver then that would be great :lol: :P 

Vancouver to Calgary is 11 hours without stopping.  It is spectacular scenery so obviously you will be stopping from time to time.

I thought Salmon Arm was a nice little place about halfway between.  Kamloops is also nice.

On the way there are some unusual bridges across the road covered in trees and grass.  These are to allow the wildlife to cross.

If you plan to do any hillwalking then remember there are bears.  In some places you must walk in groups of 4 or more - it is the law and it is enforced.  These areas are signposted.

Banff and Lake Louise are in a national park that charges a tourist tax.  The toll booths are located on the highway and you get a sticker to put on your windscreen (a.k.a. windshield in Canada).

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21 hours ago, The Minertaur said:

I'll be sure to avoid Chinatown:lol:  

Best restaurants in Vancouver?

The only thing that I can liken it to is the Walking Dead ride at Universal Studios.  I wish I was exaggerating.  

I'm not much of a foodie, but from memory I enjoyed the drink/dinner scene in Yaletown more than by the waterfront (as waterfront was mobbed with cruise boat tourists).

14 hours ago, Mon_The_Fife said:

If you’re going to Lake Louise, you will need to head all the way up the Parkway to Jasper. The road is by far the most scenic I’ve ever driven on with plenty stops on the way including ‘near jams’.

This.

1 hour ago, Fullerene said:

If you plan to do any hillwalking then remember there are bears.  In some places you must walk in groups of 4 or more - it is the law and it is enforced.  These areas are signposted.

You should also be able to rent/buy bear spray in any of the main National Parks, which if nothing else will make you feel safer (even if you aren't).

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Did the Rocky Mountaineer train a year or so back. Started in Vancouver, ended up in Calgary. Absolutely stunning journey. Made a complete 100 page photobook from the one holiday. Someone posted asking about things to do in Calgary - hope some of this helps. We had been to Vancouver before, as well as Montreal and Toronto. This was our first time in Calgary, and we like it even more than its bigger counterparts. Our hotel was downtown, near the Calgary Tower, worth going up. Stephen Avenue is great for restaurants and bars. There’s a big modern shopping mall on Stephen Avenue which is worth a visit - the top floor has an indoor botanical garden. The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was great, so was the tram system that took us out to the zoo to see the pandas. Walking around Calgary is really easy. A good walk is to go up from downtown, cross over the Peace Bridge, turn right, walk along the riverfront and back into downtown. Good photo opps. Also good photo opps’ at Olympic Plaza. We went out to Stampede Park and had a look around the Saddledome Stadium, home of the Calgary Flames ice hockey team. If I get a chance, will dig out some photos. Hope this is at least semi-useful to whoever was going to Calgary.

Edited by pozbaird
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On 17/02/2020 at 09:40, arab_joe said:

I don't know if I am being whooshed, but in Vancouver's Chinatown last summer I literally saw a man inject heroin then pass out standing upright in the middle of the pavement, needle still in arm. 

It was the worst neighbourhood I have ever been in (and it seems that I am not the only one: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g154943-d155843-Reviews-Vancouver_ChinaTown-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html)...

Wasn't a whoosh, had a great night out there. Made friends with some locals and we went for some food then a bar with a great band, seemed so on the night anyway. Definitely edgy but refreshing after plastic Gastown. This was 25/30 years ago so it might have gone downhill since then, and Gastown might have improved. Seemed a bit like New York in 70's films, I loved it.

P.S. Might have helped that I was young, immortal and fearless back then. :lol:

Edited by welshbairn
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 21/02/2020 at 02:04, Fullerene said:

X Files was filmed in Vancouver so you need to watch out for aliens, UFOs and other unexplained  phenomenon.

It's called the Downtown Eastside district of Vancouver 

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  • 1 month later...
On 02/03/2020 at 20:23, Torpar said:

It's called the Downtown Eastside district of Vancouver 

The Police museum is in that district , well worth a visit as long as you dont get mugged on the way there. 

East Hastings is an amazing street, massive buildings with so much wealth and then 2 blocks along is a dive and full of drug dealers.

 

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Has anyone else driven the Trans Canada highway?

I did this in 2008, from Island to Island , mile zero is in Victoria in BC and the other end point is in St John's Newfoundland. 

We picked up our hire car at the airport in Vancouver and dropped it off at the airport in Toronto so did not get a one way drop off fee.

Our route was Victoria to Vancouver , over to Calgary then up to Edmonton where we joined the northern part of the road (There are two sections in the west) down to Regina and then over to Winnipeg , Ottawa , before Quebec City then over to St Johns (14 days Island to Island) At that point the hire car was closer to Scotland than BC

We then returned west via Montreal and then Toronto with a day spare so went to Niagara (Blackpool with a waterfall) 

Obviously visited lots of places in between the major cities 

Perhaps the most different of those is Drumheller which is off the main road between Calgary and Edmonton. its where the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is based and the whole town is covered in Dinosaurs from road sings to a 86ft Dinosaur in the centre of town.

We had no plan, knew our return flight date and just winged it. if there was nothing to see (The middle) we went for it but some days drove as little as 200m , other days 600 and then stayed places for a couple of days.  The only thing set in stone was we had to either be on Newfoundland 7 days before our return flight or turn back west. 

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1 hour ago, realmadrid said:

Has anyone else driven the Trans Canada highway?

I did this in 2008, from Island to Island , mile zero is in Victoria in BC and the other end point is in St John's Newfoundland. 

We picked up our hire car at the airport in Vancouver and dropped it off at the airport in Toronto so did not get a one way drop off fee.

Our route was Victoria to Vancouver , over to Calgary then up to Edmonton where we joined the northern part of the road (There are two sections in the west) down to Regina and then over to Winnipeg , Ottawa , before Quebec City then over to St Johns (14 days Island to Island) At that point the hire car was closer to Scotland than BC

We then returned west via Montreal and then Toronto with a day spare so went to Niagara (Blackpool with a waterfall) 

Obviously visited lots of places in between the major cities 

Perhaps the most different of those is Drumheller which is off the main road between Calgary and Edmonton. its where the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is based and the whole town is covered in Dinosaurs from road sings to a 86ft Dinosaur in the centre of town.

We had no plan, knew our return flight date and just winged it. if there was nothing to see (The middle) we went for it but some days drove as little as 200m , other days 600 and then stayed places for a couple of days.  The only thing set in stone was we had to either be on Newfoundland 7 days before our return flight or turn back west. 

Fair play, you've been to eight more provinces than I have so far! Same as my Canadian wife. We've talked about visiting a friend of hers in Vancouver but never actually got round to it. I'd also love to visit Atlantic Canada and the territories. The Prairie provinces I think I could take or leave, though I looked into moving to Regina for work but I'm put off a little by the thought of a Saskatchewan winter, a Southern Ontario one I can handle at least. When I first moved over here on my 12 month work permit I had a half arsed idea of working in Toronto for 10 months, saving my money and spending the last two months visiting Atlantic Canada but I soon realised living in Toronto and saving anything is a struggle,. My wife and I are now expecting a daughter in September so travel plans, apart from a trip to Scotland maybe, are off the table for the foreseeable future.

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I was born here but have yet to go west of Ontario in Canada lol so good job doing that sort of trip. When iw ent to Newfoundland I met a guy who was doing the 4 corners of North America on his Motorcycle.  He started in VIctoria and had gone to Newfoundland.  After that he was heading south to Key West before going across to California and back to BC where he lived

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4 hours ago, realmadrid said:

Has anyone else driven the Trans Canada highway?

I did this in 2008, from Island to Island , mile zero is in Victoria in BC and the other end point is in St John's Newfoundland. 

We picked up our hire car at the airport in Vancouver and dropped it off at the airport in Toronto so did not get a one way drop off fee.

Our route was Victoria to Vancouver , over to Calgary then up to Edmonton where we joined the northern part of the road (There are two sections in the west) down to Regina and then over to Winnipeg , Ottawa , before Quebec City then over to St Johns (14 days Island to Island) At that point the hire car was closer to Scotland than BC

We then returned west via Montreal and then Toronto with a day spare so went to Niagara (Blackpool with a waterfall) 

Obviously visited lots of places in between the major cities 

Perhaps the most different of those is Drumheller which is off the main road between Calgary and Edmonton. its where the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is based and the whole town is covered in Dinosaurs from road sings to a 86ft Dinosaur in the centre of town.

We had no plan, knew our return flight date and just winged it. if there was nothing to see (The middle) we went for it but some days drove as little as 200m , other days 600 and then stayed places for a couple of days.  The only thing set in stone was we had to either be on Newfoundland 7 days before our return flight or turn back west. 

My fiancee is quite keen on going to Canada on our honeymoon next year. Between us we've been to the bigger places like Toronto, Vancouver etc but the Trans Canada highway sounds like it might be just the job (I've no problem with going to Toronto again for a few days!). Will have a look and maybe suggest it. Would a fortnight or so be enough or would three weeks be more realistic?

Edited by Stu
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On 01/05/2020 at 16:37, Stu said:

My fiancee is quite keen on going to Canada on our honeymoon next year. Between us we've been to the bigger places like Toronto, Vancouver etc but the Trans Canada highway sounds like it might be just the job (I've no problem with going to Toronto again for a few days!). Will have a look and maybe suggest it. Would a fortnight or so be enough or would three weeks be more realistic?

Fantastic idea , you would maybe need to do a bit more planning than we did to make it a romantic trip (if thats what you want) as we just stayed in motels where ever we decided to call it a day for the night. After a week we could guess the price for a room outside as it was standard all along the route. Some places looked worse in the morning than they did in the dark but every small village along the route is set up for people traveliing East to West or West to East.  

it would be possible to do part of the route although we liked the Victoria to Calgary stretch and most with the middle not being much to see (You get used to seeing as far as you can in every direction after a couple of day, with everything being flat and the road in a very straight line) 

I would say 3 week and as you can see from the map below , there is not just one route

if you do go Island to Island its worth pointing out that while you just turn up in BC to get on a ferry you need to book in the East. We got lucky in that with 15 minutes to go they fill the ferry with those that are waiting. it was a Thursday and the first available spot was the following Tuesday , despite there being a ferry every 3 hours during the day. The joys of the St John's Jazz festival. 

TransCanadaHWY.png

You can therefore pick your own city stops. 

The road numbers also change as you move from province to province but you always know you are on the route by this symbol below.

Trans-Canada Highway 16 Sign (Colonsay Rural Municipality, Saskatchewan)

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 years later...
On 01/05/2020 at 16:37, Stu said:

My fiancee is quite keen on going to Canada on our honeymoon next year. Between us we've been to the bigger places like Toronto, Vancouver etc but the Trans Canada highway sounds like it might be just the job (I've no problem with going to Toronto again for a few days!). Will have a look and maybe suggest it. Would a fortnight or so be enough or would three weeks be more realistic?

Ah the fucking naivety of thinking in May 2020 everything would be back to normal a year later.

Finally thinking of having our proper honeymoon (two years late) and going to Canada. Five nights in Montreal and five nights in Quebec City looks like it might be an option - anyone any thoughts? Is the drive between the two particularly exciting/scenic?

 

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19 hours ago, Stu said:

Ah the fucking naivety of thinking in May 2020 everything would be back to normal a year later.

Finally thinking of having our proper honeymoon (two years late) and going to Canada. Five nights in Montreal and five nights in Quebec City looks like it might be an option - anyone any thoughts? Is the drive between the two particularly exciting/scenic?

 

I see you've already been to Vancouver and I've never been to Eastern Canada, but for a scenic adventure I've always fancied a drive from Vancouver up to the Yukon or maybe Alaska or the Northwest Territories. Only got as far as Northern BC. You'd probably want more than a fortnight though, unless you could leave the car up there and fly back..

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On 03/03/2023 at 17:38, Stu said:

Ah the fucking naivety of thinking in May 2020 everything would be back to normal a year later.

Finally thinking of having our proper honeymoon (two years late) and going to Canada. Five nights in Montreal and five nights in Quebec City looks like it might be an option - anyone any thoughts? Is the drive between the two particularly exciting/scenic?

 

Despite her previously having said she fancies going to both of them, my wife has now decided it's actually a driving holiday around Nova Scotia she'd prefer. You'd think I'd be used to this after nearly two years of marriage...

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