Hi there! I took a much needed vacation to Vancouver earlier this month and wanted to share some snapshots from the trip. We split up our time between Whistler and mostly exploring Vancouver. Btw, April apparently is a really affordable time of year to visit. Our direct flights were about $200/RT from LAX! What a great excuse to explore this beautiful city.
Whistler is about a 90 minute drive from the city and the drive getting there is GORGEOUS! Having lived in SoCal most my life, I’ve never seen so much greenery or water for that matter. Compared to our drought-stricken state there was water trickling down the side of the mountain. O_O Can we import some of the water to our arid climate?! I digress… we made stops along the way and visited two suspension bridges (Capilano and Lynn Canyon), which I highly recommend!
We spent a full day skiing/snowboarding in Whistler which was an adventure for me since it was only my second time ever! I was so concerned with nailing down the basics (thanks to my patient teacher & friends) that I didn’t take the gondola to the top of Blackcomb! =( Just means I need to make another trip there. Btw, the water and air is so different up there!
It’s so interesting that Whistler draws visitors and seasonal employees from around-the-world! We met other Americans, Polish instructor, Aussies, etc., and everyone was super nice. Who wouldn’t be happy to live/work/visit Whistler?
The Food. Chinese, Indian, American, Japanese-Canadian, Canadian. We enjoyed it all, 5 meals/day. The standouts include Vij’s Indian and Peaceful for Chinese food, although fresh seafood from Granville Island Public Market is a very close 3rd. Below, Vij’s lamb popsicles in a curry sauce and Peaceful’s dan dan noodles. Below that is poutine from Fritz’s (poutine is gravy and cheese curds over fries) and steamed dungeness crab (from Nova Scotia).
Sometimes the most memorable travel experiences are the ones you didn’t plan/anticipate! Haha.. we took a 30-min seaplane ride above the city and enjoyed an aerial view of the city, both urban/modern and breathtakingly green!
For lodging, we rented an airbnb condo in the heart of downtown (w/a corner view of Stanley Park) which was perfect for our party of 5 that was very affordable and convenient option. Not only was our flight inexpensive, the exchange rate was in our favor (about $1 US = $1.20 CD) which helped too!
I’m blessed to have both the luxury of time and company of travel buddies to enjoy a great city like Vancouver and all it has to offer. Hope you enjoyed my YVR travelogue and have an upcoming summer vacation to look forward to 🙂
honey & limes 