Roadtrip

As mentioned in previous posts, we were going to do a little roadtrip during the midterm break. We, that’s 8 people travelling in two cars, travelling to Seattle first, and then head up north to Vancouver for some days. So we started last Saturday morning around 8 and drove via the Coquahila Pass to the US-Border where we waited to obtain our Visa. The drive was pretty scenic, nothing but the road and us. That’s the way driving is fun! However, the US-Customs had a little problem with my passport, as I did not give back the Waiver Form of my last US-Visa, they told me I was in trouble. But the smile on their face told me that trouble, wasn’t trouble, it simply should not happen again if I ever wanted to get in the US again. So we left, all happy being in the land of the free. And guess what we did first: we went to the next McDonalds and got ourselves some French fries.

After that we proceeded to Seattle, where we checked into our Hostel and went for a little walk downtown before we had dinner. The next day consisted mostly of Sight Seeing in Seattle, we got to see most of downtown, got on a tower to take some shots from above and took a ferry ride to enjoy the view on downtown Seattle from a little further away. Awesome view, awesome pictures.

The Hostel we stayed in was pretty artsy, there were artists working there, and all rooms have been designed by local artists. So art all around in the hostel, as well as in the whole city.

Monday was shopping day. Shopping day means, all the girls go spend their time in shops, where as the boys spend their money in the same place, but only need a quarter of the girls time, to spend at least double of their money. I’ve got myself some shorts, t-shirts, Polo-shirts and a new watch. While we headed back to Seattle a little bit earlier than the rest, we got to go to Jimmy Hendrix Grave, as well as Kurt Cobains House. Sadly it was already dark, so we could not really take good pictures, but it was inspiring as well as creepy to visit these places.

Tuesday we headed up to Vancouver and made a little stopover at the Boeing factory. We did a short tour where we got to see the assembly lines of airplanes like the 747 or the new 787. The production of a 747 takes only 3 days. Furthermore, it’s all built in only one building! Actually it’s the worlds largest building that we have been into. A sheer indescribable size.

As we arrived in Vancouver, we checked in and did a little Stanley Park Trip by car. As the daylight slowly faded away it reminded me of why I love and missed this city so much. It’s an indescribable feeling, how beautiful this place on earth is.

On Wednesday Mathias, Stefanie and me drove up to Whistler, where Mathias and I went skiing. Quite an expensive idea, proved to be not too bad though. Temperatures felt like -20 on the top, and I was told that it actually was that cold. The wind blew the last bit of warmth into the cold snowy landscape. Although freezing and knowing about the insane amount of money we spent for a couple of hours we really enjoyed the rides. And as this world really is a small place, I met Jessy, a friend from back home, who spend the last month in Whistler in a language school. Strange to meet people that you know from a place half the world away. After defrosting with the help of some coffee we drove back down to Vancouver.

Thursday consisted of sightseeing, as it was another very sunny but cold day. I walked all the way from 14^th Ave to Waterfront and passed by at my former school and other places I used to hang out or pass by. Later on I met up with Mohammed, who I knew from two years ago, when we used to hang out at Kitsilano Beach and have BBQ’s and Volleyball matches. That was a magnificent time, so we ended up having a little lunch on Granville Island and walked over to Kits Beach afterwards. Was awesome going though all these memories again and see how people developed in the last two years. Although we hadn’t met in one and a half years it felt as if we last met the day before. It was after dinner when I decided that I won’t go back to Kamloops with the others on Friday, so I booked two more nights at the Samesun Backpackers. Met some people while watching the Canucks game at the Beaver (Hostel-Bar) who made that decision even easier to me. Friday was study-driven. I got up on time, got the car for the others, and headed down to a coffee shop and started doing what needed to be done. Later I met up with Victoria and Lauren for dinner at the Beaver where I met some people from the night before as well as some new ones. In general all people at hostels are very open minded and just up for a good time. Everyone’s in the same situation, probably travelling on their own, exploring the world, keen to get to know your story and ready to tell their own. I originally wanted to have a good night beer and head to bed afterwards in order to be capable to study the day after. However, we ended up at the Irish Pub right besides the Hostel, and having one drink after the other. We were just up for a good time, and although I just met most of these guys like 2 hours ago, we were having a party as if we knew each other for a lifetime.

As every night has it’s morning after, I wish this night hadn’t. First I missed breakfast, second my head felt like exploding. As I didn’t go out the entire week before I couldn’t blame myself for having a good time. The experience wouldn’t have been the same without that night. However, I got myself going to the Greyhound station to get my ticket for Sunday night and went to some Italian bistro afterwards where I had some breakfast (toast, fried eggs and bacon) and carried on with studying. Later I teamed up with some people at the Hostel to get some pasta for dinner. It started snowing in the meantime, just indescribable the way the city looked like. Made me feel like Christmas day in New York, although I’ve never been there. Everyone was peaceful and behaving a little crazy throwing snowballs. After dinner and watching the Canucks game at the Beaver (they lost 3-1 against Boston) we wanted to go to the Cambie Pub. However, we didn’t get far, as there was a huge party going on on Granville Street! It turned out that it was exactly one year ago when Sidney Crosby scored the game winner in overtime against the US at the final game of the Olympic hockey tournament. I never experienced something like that before! Everyone was singing, shouting, partying, dancing, and after a loud “Yeah Canada!” and a high five everyone was best friends with anyone. Never assume Canadians don’t know how to celebrate! After like one hour on the street we decided to finally go to the Cambie Pub where we had a couple of cold ones. However, I didn’t stay too long and made my way though snowy downtown back to the backpackers.

I got up on time Sunday morning, had a quick shower and went for breakfast. Checked out of my room at 11 and went to a coffeeshop where I studied for a couple of hours before I had to get my backpack and leave for the Greyhound station. The trip back to Loopstown was quite a wild one, with the road covered with snow, what gave us a 45 minutes delay. But I finally made it back to my place around 12:30 am, just about early enough to get some sleep. Vancouver & Seattle: I will be back!