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Published: October 22nd 2012
Although it feels like I have been travelling for a while, I'm actually not that experienced. For this particular trip, I felt like having a support network and so joined a work and travel company called BUNAC. I won't go into too many details here but they were really great in setting up work interviews, answering travel queries and just generally being supportive. I flew out with a mixed group of people (seven boys, 3 girls) from London Heathrow and being the only one in the group who used the self-service check-in, I was seated at the back of the plane on the 62nd out of 63 rows. The plane did have 100 free seats so I was able to move to sit with the rest of my group later on in the flight. Most airlines seem to offer similar in-flight facilities - there are the usual pillows and blankets, headsets for the built-in TV screens and various meal options for the duration of the flight.
The first part of the flight passed fairly quickly - refreshments and the first meal (chicken, rice, veg and a cookie) followed by a movie and a nap ensured that the first few hours
passed fairly uneventfully. One of the boys from the group came to the back of the plane to stretch his legs and we got chatting. I decided to move to one of the two free seats near him; though, in hindsight, I probably should have stayed where I was
The guy next to me ignored the second offering of meals from the flight staff and chose to continue drinking the complimentary miniture whiskeys instead. This led to him deciding to roll and then light a cigarette, causing panic and a small amount of chaos in our section of the plane. The flight staff politely reminded all of us that the flight was non-smoking before confiscating his lighter and moving on to soothe the worries of the thirty or so passengers who were sitting in front of us. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the flight distancing myself from him and politely ignoring the glares & comments of the other passengers. A few hours later, the pilot announced we would be landing in the next 30 minutes. I wanted to kick myself as I had voluntarily given up my window seat at the back of the plane and swapped it for a central seat next to a pyromanic at the front of the plane. I managed to catch a glimpse of Vancouver before we touched down - it seemed to be overcast & grey, with a fair amount of trees.
We scrambled to get our hand luggage and piled out of the plane, heading for passport control. It did cross my mind that there might be airport security waiting for us after the cigarette lighting incident, but fortunatly we made it through the passport control and on to Customs & Immigration. I had heard mixed reviews about the level of questioning and proofs required (funds, insurance, visa offer letter) at Customs & Immigraton so wasn't really sure what to expect. I was the only person (of our group of eleven) who received a huge amount of questioning and after my visa was issued, I put my passport away without bothering to check that the visa details were correct (as the BUNAC staff had advised us to do). Needless to say, mine was the only visa incorrectly issued and I ended up filling out a visa extension request form the following day after attending orientation with the SWAP (Students Working Abroad Program) staff.
We collected our baggage and caught the SkyTrain down to Vancouver City before making our way to the hostel. Myself and the three other girls managed to get a four-bed dorm together. We dumped our backpacks in the room and headed across the road for some food. One of Canada's famous dishes is Poutine - basically chips, gravy and cheese curds. I had always believed this to be an English dish as I've had cheesy chips and gravy on the way home from several nights out. It's a dish I've always associated with alcohol consumption and for this reason, I couldn't bring myself to order it in a restaurant in the middle of the afternoon.
The next day, after orientation, we set about sorting out bank accounts and new Canadian phone numbers. The next couple of days passed pretty quickly as we tried to adjust our new surroundings and get our bearings. Vancouver is a pretty easy city to navigate. The whole thing is laid out in a grid system and although we've been given many maps for the city, it's easy enough to find your way around without one. The city doesn't seem to be so populated - it's Canadas third largest city but it sometimes feels really empty. There are a huge amount of homeless people on the city streets - some sitting around, drinking and being abusive, and others politely asking for change. To begin with, it felt really rude to say that I had no spare change but after being asked to change some notes (whilst withdrawing them from the ATM) it became easier to refuse to give money. It seems Vancouver has such a high level of homelessness because it has a mild climate. It also has a lot of public services dedicated to feeding and housing the homeless, and because of this, giving money to individuals on the street is actually discouraged. My first impressions of Vancouver didn't really my preconceptions of what the city would be like.
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Audrey
non-member comment
New beginnings
Well it sounds as though you had quite an eventful flight over to Canada....I'm glad that you are settling in and finding your way around. Didn't realise that there was such a high proportion of homeless people in Vancouver, that sounds like it could be a bit intimidating. Enjoy your time in Canada, speak soon :-) xxx