Today the post is a combined effort for the past today and yesterday. I arrived in Vancouver around 8 pm yesterday, after a full on travel day. With two flights, three airports and a train to finally reach the hotel.
I left Brisbane at around 10 am, with a 12.5-hour flight to Los Angeles. With an eight hour stopover in Los Angeles, I spent a little money and took advantage of one of the airport lounges. Finally another 2.5-hour flight to Vancouver. I had plans for a shuttle bus here, but that got messed up when customs wanted to check my luggage and travel plans. So end up taking the train from the airport to the city, and walking the rest of the way to the hotel.
Vancouver First Impressions
The first thing that I found to be good in Vancouver is Starbucks and Free Wifi. The hotel I am staying at charges for Wifi, so I am glad for the fact that there is a Starbucks at least on almost every second corner. Sure beats having to pay for a mobile broadband card. It just means that I don’t get to use the internet in my hotel room, but that is alright.
The second thing that I notice in Vancouver is that coffee is considerably cheaper. Well, I drink hot chocolate over coffee. However, it is still less expensive. What I paid for a large hot choc at the airport before leaving Brisbane (AU$4.90) I get one here that seems almost half as big again for CA$3.26. Cheaper.
I have found one thing that is quite annoying, though. It is almost impossible to buy a mobile phone here without signing up to a contract. I say almost based on the fact that I have not looked particularly carefully. It may be impossible because when I asked at one shop, the response “I would have a lot of trouble finding one.” So just going to survive without a phone while here. I still have my mobile phone for an emergency, but that will be expensive if I use it.
Vancouver Sightseeing
Finally not to disappoint I have some photos from my walking around today (which was quite extensive). Although much in shops and what I found to be mostly buildings as well. I will show you the view from the hotel before I leave. I am hoping for a clear afternoon to get a good photo of the view. It was overcast today and a bit rainy, and I arrived a little late yesterday.
So I came across two interesting sites today, one was the Olympic Cauldron and the Other Digital Orca. Both are near the Vancouver Convention Center and quite a mark on the landscape.
I will leave it there for this evening as it is getting late here in Vancouver. So time to get to bed and ensure I am well rested for a big day tomorrow.
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