Roadtrip Part Four: Vancouver Island

It was a cloudy and fresh Saturday morning in San Francisco, when I got up as early as 6.30 to pack my belongings and head to the Airport. I took a flight to Vancouver where Marianne and Lauren picked me up with their car of choice („he“ was called Randy) and we headed down to Tsawwassen to take the ferry for Nanaimo.

After a rainy night in Nanaimo we decided to rather head all across the Island to Ucluelet as there was not much to be seen in Nanaimo anyway. The ride was boring and uncomfortable, as the fog and the rain dismissed any hope of a beautiful view on the landscape and the road was narrow and winding.

We stayed in „Ukee“ for two nights, pretty much just chilling out and walking some trails, before finally the sun set in and we headed over to Tofino. We did a little boat trip to some hot springs where we chilled out some hours before heading back into town in order to check out the local attraction: Toony Tuesday. This basically means that you get a pint of tapped beer for 2 Dollars. I think a more detailed review of the night would be slightly inappropriate for this blog.

Chilling on a beach was our program for Wednesday, and it’s pretty unexpected seeing such beautiful beaches in Canada. We certainly enjoyed some hours in the sun, although the wind was rather chilly. The sunset in Tofino was another breathtaking moment, simply indescribably beautiful. I tried to capture it with my camera. The intonation here was certainly on the word “tried”, as it’s almost impossible, considering my 200$ camera and lack of know-how when it comes to photography.

Sadly we had to leave Tofino the next morning and we headed back all across the island, passed Nanaimo, and drove down further south to the capital City of British Columbia – Victoria. As we enjoyed sunshine and cloudlessness the entire ride appeared to be way more exciting than a couple of days ago.

Victoria is a smaller city than what you would expect from a capital city, but nevertheless lovely and beautiful. The parliament building, which is Victorias main attraction and lighted by night, has a comfy lawn in front of it, where we quite frequently indulged in some napping. A perfect place to chill out and we could learn much about BCs history by taking a walk through the halls of the Parliament.

However, every good story has an end, and so did ours. We got up early, headed to Swartz Bay and took the ferry back to Tsawwassen, where we had to bring back Randy before heading up to Vancouver Downtown.

Roadtrip Part Three: San Francisco, CA

My train left Eugene on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Trains, although a little bit more expensive than buses, are definitely the right means of transport if you want to see some of the countryside and travel comfortably. Surely a plane would have been faster, but more expensive. The 12 hours ride down to San Francisco provided me with some very picturesque landsides, a plugin adapter for my laptop to watch a movie or two, enough legroom to actually stretch my legs as well as nobody seated next to me so I could turn my aisle into something that felt like a bed. Not bad for 68$, and as the train speeded through the night I saved a night at the hostel, what would have cost me around 33$.

I arrived in SF fully reenergized early in the morning, just about right to have some breakfast at my home for the week, the Green Tortoise, and get to explore the city afterwards. I didn’t do any previous research about what to see, the only thing I knew about was the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and that it was the steepest city in North America, a fact that would be proven soon enough.

While browsing through the city I accidently bumped into Lombard Street.

The Hostel is quite lively, nice and clean. It’s packed with backpackers, travelling around the world. Pretty exciting listening to all their stories and hear where they’re coming from and going to. There’s always some action going on, but if you don’t feel like partying or socializing, there’s always a place to relax and read a book.

I met up with some guys I knew from the SameSun Hostel in Vancouver on Monday, in order to bike over to the Golden Gate Bridge. Fascinating views you get on this world famous bridge. After that we followed the coastline all along to the Golden Gate Park. The Coastline as well, was simply breathtaking. Feeling the wind, hearing the waves, smelling the sea, it all just blows your mind away from the now and then, into a world of equality, peace and unrestricted freedom. A very powerful feeling indeed.

Golden Gate Park wasn’t too special, it’s just a recreational area for the people of San Francisco, and nothing very special, unless you’re considering moving to the area. As I always consider moving to where I currently am and imagine what life would be like, this park would definitely be a huge advantage for SF. We eventually tried to make our way back to Fishermans Wharf in order to bring back our bikes, and that’s exactly the point where you really get to feel the steepness of the city. It killed me. Back at the hostel I went to bed immediately after taking a short shower.

The trip to Alcatraz was a little more comfortable, but nevertheless exciting. Only a short Boattrip from Pier 33, the Island itself is a National Park. I took the Audio Tour and got to hear stories about life on the “Rock” and see the actual cells and premises the inmates lived in. Quite inspiring and definitely a warning to stay on the legal side of life.

The rest of the time I basically just strolled around in the city, went for coffee and lunch wherever it looked lovely. I did a walking trip all across the city, what took me a little more than one hour one way, but was definitely worth it, as I discovered places such as Alamo Place and Ashbury & Haight, which is the center of “Hippy San Francisco”.

I went into Amoeba Records, a huge recordstore that probably had every single record you could imagine. Simply huge and unseen in Switzerland.

San Francisco’s vibe is not met by any other city I went to, the entire setting with cable cars, steep hills, the seaside, downtown and all the attractions, little bars, clubs, corner stores really makes it something special.

Roadtrip Part Two: Highway 101

I got up early in the morning and tried to find the rental station. Not an easy task, as it was in Springfield and not in Eugene itself. However, as always there were helpful people around all the time, so I eventually found it. I rushed up the Interstate 5 to get to my first point I wanted to visit on the coast, Newport. Upon arrival, the magnificent view made me having my lunch on a bench. Although the sun was shining, a cold breeze made me freeze quite a bit, so I decided to take some snapshots and move on, all the way down Highway 101. I pretty much stopped at every occasion (that means more or less every 5-10 minutes) to take some more pictures of this incredible landscape.

Sun, waves, wind, rocks, that’s what I saw the entire day. I didn’t really realize how time and mile after mile passed by.

After driving for around 10 hours that day I arrived in Gold Beach, Oregon. I checked into my room at the Motel 6 and felt incredible having such a huge bed in such a huge room with my own washroom and TV and a fridge. I already got so used to be sharing a room this seemed like a dream to me. I went to take some pictures of the sunset before enjoying the luxuries my room provided me.

I got up late the next morning, and headed further down the coast to Crescent City, California. This was my last stop on the coast, from now on I would be heading inland and back up north, as I needed to be back in Eugene for the night. I drove up the Redwood Highway and stopped by at the Jedediah Smith Redwood National Park, where I walked a short trail through the woods. The trees were as big as nothing else I’ve seen before, incredible and breathtaking.

I went on further inland on the Redwood Highway, which apparently is a very scenic drive. Same as the day before, I didn’t realize how time passed and all of a sudden I was back on the I-5. Driving wasn’t actually tiring me, as I kept on looking out for all the beautiful things besides the Highway. I was so excited about all the things I discovered I could have driven back to Canada or down to Mexico that day, however, I eventually passed by Eugene again and I decided that the gas price is a little too high for such adventures.

I slept at the same hostel again and got up late the next morning, in order to have a lazy day in Eugene. I first went to get my train ticket for San Francisco and had brunch at a place called “Morning Glory” next. Interpret it as you want, but I dearly enjoyed a “Morning Medley”. As the train that day would have cost me 60$ more than the day after, I decided to stay one more night. I didn’t really do too much but enjoying the hostel. It was a small but very friendly one, with some people just staying for a night, others living there for months. It was like a little family and lead to some very interesting conversations.

The next day I went to a music festival, together with some Americans I met at the hostel. Was interesting to see some local bands and made me wanna grab a guitar as well and rock out.

If you want to check out further Pictures, check out the following Link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150178388254588.321074.649714587&l=88c83d2cbe

Roadtrip Part One: Kamloops, BC - Eugene, OR

Leaving is never easy. Especially when everyone is leaving into another direction and you know it’s for good. So we went to the Greyhound Station, some going to Vancouver, some staying in Kamloops for some more days. When the driver announced the boarding call for our Bus we finally had to say goodbye to everyone, unknowing whether we’ll ever meet again. After boarding the bus and seeing Kamloops slowly sliding away we all had enough time to recap the past four months we spent together. As we arrived in Vancouver the sadness has flown away, replaced by excitement about all the adventures that were still to come.

I spent an entire day in Vancouver organizing the first part of my trip, before heading back to the hostel where I met up with two of my roommates to get some food and beer. We went to Yaletown for dinner and to see the Canucks game. They played well, but eventually lost after Over Time. After another drink at the hostel bar I went to bed, as I had to catch an early bus to Seattle the next morning.

At the US Boarder everyone had to get off the bus, take their entire luggage with them and try to convince the official they were no terrorists. Not always an easy job. Terry, a guy from Manchester who was on his way to New York joined me for the rest of the ride. We had a very engaging and interesting discussion about human psychology, travelling, religions, politics and humans in general. It made me realize that I was all on my own from now on for the rest of my journey, an amazing but nevertheless frightening thought. What if something went wrong? I’m pretty sure I would be well off, as I had a plan of what I wanted to do and felt comfortable meeting new people and making places like a hostel bed my home, even if it was just for a short night.

We soon arrived in Seattle where I walked all the way to the City Hostel, where we already stayed on our short Roadtrip in February. It’s an amazing place and Matt, one of the receptionists even remembered me and asked how everyone else was. I truly felt home. I went for some snapshots soon after, before heading out for a couple of beer with Leo, who was one of my Roommates. We went to Seattle’s Hard Rock Café, where we discovered such amazing things as an acoustic guitar of Kurt Cobain and many more things. Mental to see these personal belongings of your life’s heroes.

I got up around 6.30 the next morning in order to catch the Greyhound to Portland. After boarding the bus I decided to use Amtrak busses and trains only in the future. The bus was packed with people you wouldn’t really enjoy spending your time with. It was obvious why these people were choosing the cheapest way to get around. Some looked as if they were sleeping on the street for days, if not weeks. Not the best advertisement for America. However, after arriving in Portland I got to see a truly different country. I went for a walk in some of Portland’s Parks, and I was stunned by the friendliness of people. Everyone was saying hello while passing by and asking whether I needed help, what I was looking for and where I was from. And in spite of Canada I didn’t hear the sentence “Oh and how is life in Sweden” once! At least not yet.

Portland is a really nice city, not too big, not too small. It’s got a huge University Campus that is part of Downtown. The boardwalks are all clean and fucked up people are hardly anywhere to be seen in the Downtown area (you’ll find them around the Greyhound station). After a day of walking and seeing things I accidently bumped into my personal paradise: the Powell Book Store. It’s supposed to be Americas (or the worlds?!) biggest independent Bookstore. I literally could find anything I ever was dreaming of for very reasonable prices (I want to avoid using the word cheap when it comes to books). You guessed right, I bought as many books as I could carry, and wondered how I’m going to make it all fit into my luggage. Obviously I spent the rest of the night reading.

As mentioned before I choose to travel with Amtrak to Eugene. Arriving at the train station at around 8pm I wanted to walk to the Hostel. Luckily the Avenues weren’t named but numbered, so I simply had to find out which direction to go. However, the entire area got a little messier and more frightening the closer I got to the Hostel. Everything kind of appeared fucked up, but hey, that’s the way I had chosen to go, so I stopped worrying and complaining and watching out for the good of everything.