Blogs from Canada, North America - page 1452

Hey guys!! We landed in Vancouver, bikes and all, on the 15th, after pulling an all-nighter to finish packing and readying the apartment for our sublet tenants. We had our first taste of Indian-style scams before we even left Pearson!! Gary and Sharon dropped us off at Air Canada departures (thanks for the lift!) and we were immediately targeted by a porter to carry our bikes, packs, and suitcase. Was great until Mick was excorted to "the counter" where he was informed that the porter service costs $14 with a tip for the porter himself as optional! We could have just as easily got our own cart for $2. Live and learn.... The flight was good - lots of Canadian Shield and then Rocky Mountains to look at. In Vancouver, we stayed with Grant and Eduardo, ... read more

Whistler ist ein riesengrosses Schigebiet, das aus 2 Bergen besteht, aus Whistler und Blackcomb, mit je einem Gletscher. Hier finden die naechsten olympischen Winterspiele statt und es ist das Schigebiet von den Vancouveranern. Deshalb ist alles furchtbar teuer. Aber es gibt hier alles, spezielle Beginnergebiete, Backcountry, alles andere und vor allem 2 extreme Parks fuer Fortgeschrittene und Profis, sowie einen Anfaengerpark. Die Kicker dort sind teilweise unglaublich riesig und es gibt Unmaengen davon. Leider ist der Schnee zur Zeit ziemlich schlecht, sehr hart und eisig, und es ist saukalt. Dafuer ist die Aussicht gigantisch. Am Wochenende war mein ice climbing course. Am ersten Tag sind wir mit Schi/Snowboard auf den Blackcomb hinauf, wo dann neben der Piste zwei gefrohrene Wasserfaelle zu finden sind. Die sind wir dann raufgeklettert, haben uns die Hosen mit den Steigeis... read more

Americans have their Spring break, Canadians have Reading days. This is just a week off, officially to study, but of course we internationals use that time to see a bit more of Canada.. That's why six of us (Freya, Mat, Michaela, Sabrina, Julia and moi) took the Greyhound bus for a 16-hours-long drive to Vancouver. As some of you may already know I can never sleep on the bus, even when I'm on one all night, so I was pretty exhausted when we arrived in Vancouver. We arrived in Vancouver around 1.30 pm. However, not all our luggage was on the same bus, since we changed from our original bus to some speed bus somewhere on the way, but our luggage didn't. So after some coffee and a nutritious McDonalds meal we still had to wait ... read more

Hey all you travel junkies and invisable friends out there. I have been here in good old Montreal for a few days now and damnit it is cold! Good thing this favourite city of mine has an underground city! Take that mother nature! Nothing like wandering around under the earth looking at lots of things I cannot afford, all while laughing at the poor suckers up a few metres freezing their butts off. Then I cry when it is my turn to venture out into the brave new world and walk back to the hostel. I swear Montreal is one of the coldest places on this planet, every time I come here it is cold! The hostel where I am at is nice and the people are great. I will be leaving though in about 4 ... read more

It is mighty cold this morning. We packed the car with our stuff, and waited in the foyer to be picked up. It's been snowing and is pretty cloudy so I'm not sure if we'll drive to Banff this afternoon. Trevor our guide picked us up for our Maligne Canyon Icewalk. There were seven other people in the group, a family of five from Northern Canada and a couple from Sydney. We had to call into the store to pick up winter boots and ice cleats, which was handy because the weather had turned really cold, although they didn't quite go with my nice new and pretty woolen gloves. When we got out to the canyon Trevor said it was -15 degrees celsius. We were rugged up good and proper, and we were on the walk ... read more