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Published: September 15th 2014
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First Episode: Calgary Tuesday morning 8:05h my trip started in Kiel in a rush... (not my fault ;-) ...the taxi was early...) but I was at Hamburg Airport 2.5 hours before take off... that must have been a first - the backpack ended up with19kg and I had a "not so small" piece of hand luggage in addition... so this means "no shopping" or "getting rid of some of my old stuff soon"! I made the mistake - or maybe it was good I prepared myself - to check the weather forecast the night before leaving...and couldn't believe what I was seeing... CALGARY max. 2°C and SNOW!!! In my head I had planned sunny days around 20 degress...(which would have been more normal for Calgary...and they will be back to it in the coming days...well, no use for me but I am happy for all other travellers coming to Calgary).
On the upside I had some time to recover from the jetlag which I unfortunately had and took it slowly and stayed more time in the hostel than originally planned.
What did I do in Calgary?
. My first task after 10 hours flight from Frankfurt to Calgary
(overall it took me good 21 hours door to door) was to apply for my working holiday visa (I had to be very patient, but was lucky compared to others, as I did not have any connecting flight that I could miss) and I am now allowed to work in Canada until 8th of September 2015. Unfortunately not as a stripper or hostess (yes, they really told me that!) - but I guess I will be able to rework my original plan ;-)
- I received my SIN, the social insurance number (that was pretty easy and fast! Thumbs up for Canadian administration)
- I did not manage to get a bank account (thumbs down for Canadian banks ;-) ) this will only work once I am staying minimum 2 weeks in one place so that they can send me the card - ok, so BennoBus and I will have to find an address for some weeks next year...
- I walked around; downtown is relatively small - for what I can say, Calgary is not the most interesting city in the world, but it has some nice buildings, a tower and a nice riverside and on a
clear sunny day (which I did not reaaaaally have...) you can see the rockies in the distance.
- Calgary Zoo - well, a zoo is a zoo and you can always debate whether one should support it or not. In Calgary zoo there are some really nice areas (not only the ones with animals) and I especially liked the Penguines - they were quite cool and it was possible to get reaaaally close to them (I was told that some of them actually jump out of the plunge quite often!). In summer 2013 Calgary has suffered from a big flood which affected the zoo quite a lot, so some "not so nice" areas might be linked to this - but it seems that a lot of work is ongoing to improve the zoo.
- Calgary Heritage Park - the Heritage Park is a nice outdoor location some kilometers south of downtown with historical buildings from all over Western Canada - and employees are dressed like in old days and driving around in old cars. In addition it also has an old steam train and a paddle steamer (Raddampfer). The weather was finally really nice on my afternoon in
the park and I ALMOST felt like a guest in the Western Canada of 1900 ;-)
- I started learning how to travel alone :-) and how to make new Facebook friends. Hello to Emma, Sarah, Cindy, Bernie, Kristy, Sarah, Sophie, Dee...
Some notes for those who plan travelling to Calgary on a budget:
- the C-Train is free in downtown
- Bus 300 goes from the airport to downtown for 8.50 CAD (the other direction costs only 3 CAD)
- with the International Hostel card (or the German DJH card) you receive 50% discount in the zoo (...25% on Greyhound buses...10% discount on HI Hostels etc.)
- Calgary Tourist Info (at Calgary Tower) has some vouchers, e.g. 2 for 1 for the Heritage Park (normal entry around 26 CAD)
- in general the (entry) fees seem quite high; just an example: rent a kayak... 36 CAD (approx.25 EUR) per boat per hour, rent a bike for a day...can cost you 45 CAD (prices in Banff)
- HI Calgary City Centre is a good place to stay. It is of course a hostel, not a hotel - but it was confirmed by
other guests that it was one of the better hostels on their trip
Next episode coming soon: Banff Nationalpark (where I arrived today)
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