All Booked!

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We've finally booked all the hotels, car hire and even train tickets and hotel for the airport trip out and back home. The full itinerary is:



Evening Tues 10th May - Travel by train (1st class - thought we'd treat ourselves!) down to Gatwick and stay over in the airport Travelodge.



Wednesday 11th May - Fly from Gatwick to Vancouver with Westjet 12.55pm arriving in Vancouver at 3.40pm. We pick up a Ford Escape car rental once we've picked up our luggage and head off on a drive to our first hotel an hour away in Horseshoe Bay at the aptly named Horseshoe Bay Motel.



Thursday 12th May - We leave the motel and head across to Bowen Island on the car ferry. Bowen Island is a small island just off the coast and the car ferry goes across the Howe Sound which has really good views. We are staying here for two nights in an apartment with its own sauna and fabulous views across the sound. We plan to drive round the island and hopefully do a couple of hikes as there are some good walking routes on the island with some nice little eclectic restaurants and coffee shops. The island is also bear free so it will be our only chance to do some hiking without fear!



Friday 13th May - More sight seeing round the island.



Saturday 14th May - Take the car ferry back to the mainland and drive up to Whistler which is a couple of hours away. On the way I've noticed there is a craft beer brewery which does their own brews so a short stop off here might be on the cards as well as lots of photos and scenery hopefully. We stay in Whistler for three nights at the Summit Lodge.



Sunday 15th May - Whistler



Monday 16th May - Whistler



Tuesday 17th May - We leave Whistler and head on up towards Jasper staying firstly at the Cariboo Lodge in a small town called Clinton. The town literally has a couple of restaurants, a petrol station and a couple of shops.



Wednesday 18th May - We leave Clinton heading further up towards Jasper stopping at The Glacier Mountain Lodge in a little town called Blue River.



Thursday 19th May - We leave the lodge and drive to Jasper staying for a couple of nights at the Jasper Marmot Lodge.



Friday 20th May - Jasper



Saturday 21st May - We leave Jasper and travel down the famous Icefields Parkway staying at the Glacier View Inn. This road is famous worldwide and is known as one of the most spectacular scenic routes in the world. The Glacier View Inn is a hotel right on the edge of the Athabasca Glacier where we can take one of the trips out onto the glacier where we will be able to walk around and see the flowing glacier water.



Sunday 22nd May - We leave the Glacier View Inn and travel down to the Lake Louise area where we will take a detour to the Emerald Lake staying at the lodge there. The pictures of the lake are amazing and very blue. We won't know until we get their whether the lakes will still be iced over or partially melted. Either way as it's surrounded by mountains the scenery will be beautiful.



Monday 23rd May - In the morning we travel from Emerald Lake down to Banff staying at the Banff Park Lodge.



Tuesday 24th May - An earlyish start awaits as we drive from Banff to Calgary, drop the car off ready to fly across to Toronto.The flight leaves Calgary at 12.25pm arriving in Toronto around 6.10pm, again flying with Westjet. Once we land we pick up another car rental and drive a few mins outside Toronto to the outskirts staying at the Sandman Hotel Oakville.



Wedsnesday 25th May - Early morning we will then drive down to Niagara Falls staying in the Embassy Suites hotel with a view of the falls. We will stay here for three nights before driving back to Toronto.



Thursday 26th May - Niagara Falls



Friday 27th May - Niagara Falls



Saturday 28th May - We will have a leisurely drive back from Niagara Falls to Toronto dropping the car off before catching the Westjet flight home leaving Toronto at 9.05pm and landing at London Gatwick on Sunday 29th May approx 9.25am.




Sunday 29th May - Arrive Gatwick 9.25am and catch the train back home.




Now we've got the stops sorted out we can begin properly planning where we are going to visit in between the stops and the activites we want to do. Steph's very keen on all the things which have heights involved - Zip wire, Peak 2 Peak Gondola and god knows what else. I don't know how I get myself into these situations where I feel I'm always trying to conquer my fear of heights!




Something that we have already booked is hiring e skooters in Niagara On The Lake on 27th May. They are electric bikes that look like scooters and look really good fun to get around in. The hire place is going to kindly pick us up from our hotel in Niagara Falls and take us 30mins up to Niagara On The Lake before giving us a quick lesson on how to operate the scooters before we set off for the day around the town. Steph's already sussed out that there are lots of wineries around the town so no guessing where we will end up for a couple of taster sessions. The scooters are actually classed as bikes so whilst it's not classed as drinking and driving we won't be stupid. Then we'll get dropped off back at our hotel in Niagara Falls in the evening.

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