Time flies when you're having fun

Wednesday marked six months of living in Vancouver.


What can I say really? It has flown by, well and truly. Having said that, living in the hostel down at Jericho Beach does seem an age ago, but the memories are just as clear. Our days consisted of getting up late, sitting on the beach, eating Banana Bread, watching Euro 2008, meeting new people, playing soccer in the park, and catching the 44 Downtown.


Things have changed a lot since then. I've had endless jobs, periods of financial security, and periods of financial ruin. I've had two bikes, one puncture, two trips to the 'States, one bus pass, three plane rides, one train ride, endless bus rides, one Racoon bite, many good times, and a few bad times - but ultimately I have had an incredibly fulfilling time here, made so many new friends, and made memories that I will cherish forever.


I've found Vancouver to be such a friendly, welcoming place. The people here are from all walks of life, all corners of the globe. Some are rich and some are poor, but everyone is equally friendly. Until I came here I'd never met anyone from places like Jordan, Hungary, Iran, Serbia, Eritrea and Bolivia; but in Vanouver the people are from everywhere.

With this cosmopolitan atmosphere comes a wealth of choice when it comes to food and drink. Just yesterday I sampled the delights of a South Indian restaurant for the first time - a contrast to what we would call traditional Indian dishes in England. Gone are the Kormas, Tandooris, and pieces of chicken. What we ate was far more vegetable based, with potato, pickle, yoghurt, extremely light fried bread, rice, and dishes that contained pots of a large variety of different foods to mix with your bread. I had no idea what most of it was, but I sure did enjoy it. I ate a lot.


I've also sampled the delights of Lebanese food. It seems similar to Greek, with fried chicken, rice, houmous, pita bread, salad and spicy sauce - and it is truly exceptional. Sushi is another favourite in Vancouver. It can be found in abundance here, it is of the highest quality - and is also extremely cheap. My experience of Sushi in England wasn't great. It was edible, but at the same time it was overpriced, and didn't taste anything like as good as what I've sampled here.

As well as this, there's plenty more world foods on offer. Everything you could want you can find almost anywhere in the city. Try Malaysian, Chinese, Kenyan, Thai, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican, Brazilian. Whatever you want is here. No stone is left unturned.


So, my feelings for Vancouver, a place I have come to adore, remain. I find the outlook on life here so positive, the people upbeat, strangers more willing to chat, people generally being happy. I still have plenty of time left, and in that time I will try and cram in as much as I can - be it visiting another Canadian city, going to the Rocky Mountains, spending the weekends snowboarding, making a trip to Vancouver Island, or just relaxing in the city - all money permitting. I, for one, cannot wait.

Snow time like the present

As you may have gathered by the incredibly well-crafted title to this post, the time has come in Vancouver to don an extra layer of clothing, some thicker socks, and to arm yourself with an umbrella. Yes, you've guessed it - winter is in full swing.


Vancouver seems a very different place now compared to what it was just a few short months ago - cycling Downtown in the morning sun, getting a tan on Jericho Beach, sitting at the Quay in North Van. They all seem very far away now.

The T-Shirt and shorts-wearing days have now been firmly confined to the past, and everyday clothing now consists of jeans, jackets, hoodies and hats.

However, it's not all bad. Vancouver is a lot milder than other Canadian cities such as Toronto or Montreal in winter, and there's still plenty to see and do here. Having finally spent $73 on a monthly bus pass after being here six months, I can use public transport to get wherever I want, whenever I want, instead of buying endless tickets. Getting the bus to Lynda and Andrew's house or heading Downtown on the Skytrain can now easily be done whenever the feeling takes me.


But where the winter in England brings people indoors: to their homes, the local pub, the cinema, bowling alley, or shopping centre; residents of British Columbia instead put away their flip-flops and volleyballs, pull out some thermal underwear, strap on a pair of skis and throw themselves down a bloody great mountain, at high speed.

There are a multitude of options in the Vancouver area for people who want to ski, snowboard, or just spend time in a mountain cafe relaxing. Whistler-Blackcomb, the world-famous ski resort, is probably the best in the area, with thousands of people flocking there every year. The village, which will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympics, is located only 70 miles from Vancouver, and officially opened for the winter last week.

Back in September I was lucky enough to take a float plane to Whistler with my parents when they came to visit, and through the rain that poured throughout that memorable day, was met with the picturesque Whistler village, nestled between the mountains of Blackcomb, and Whistler itself. The village and the two peaks make up the resort, and whilst the summer offers an array of activities such as quad biking, hiking and downhill mountain biking with a monsterous bike-park, Whistler at winter comes alive.


The village itself is small, with a population of only 10,000, but in the winter this swells to around 40,000. Whistler's facilities are world-class, and this season a new "Peak2Peak" Gondola that directly links the tops of the two mountains opens on December 12. The skiable area is 8,171 acres, comprising more than 200 runs, and the 38 lifts can handle 65,507 skiers per hour. Not bad, especially considering you can get here from Vancouver in under two hours.


Whilst the resorts world-beating facilities and endless slopes are all well and good, the fact that Whistler has so much to offer, and the hype surrounding the place due to the Olympics, can make time spent there expensive. Fortunately there are many more local alternatives available, some of which can even be reached using Vancouver's public transport system.

Grouse Mountain, which I climbed a couple of times over the summer, is also a ski resort over winter. I remember back in July, tackling the 'Grouse Grind' with my friends Andrew, Dylan and Sabrina, culminating in a snowball fight in the warm sunshine at the top, as we found a big patch of left over snow from the winter. Now, looking up at Grouse from the city, snow is slowly taking over the peaks, and soon enough the resort will be open.


Compared to what Whistler has to offer, Grouse is tiny. The mountain contains only 26 runs, but it's more than enough to keep someone like myself, who hasn't been snowboarding for a couple of years, happy for now. Additionally, Grouse is a fair amount cheaper than Whistler, and with it being only a Seabus and a bus ride away from Vancouver, it's extremely easy and cheap to get to.
Alongside Grouse Mountain, there are the resorts of Cypress, and also Mount Seymour locally, and slightly further afield over the US border, there is Mount Baker. All-in-all it is everything a winter adreneline junkie could wish for.


Having recently moved flats, and having had a fair amount of time off work the wallet isn't currently bursting. Fortunately my new job, working as a receptionist - something that keeps me so busy that I can sit here for an hour and type this, means that I have a regular income again, at least for the forseeable future. With that, I too will soon be strapping myself to a piece of fibre-glass and wood, before throwing myself down a mountain. Let's hope I remember how to stop.

Notes from other places

I've always felt that it is important to write things down, to note interesting happenings in life, and to generally record your experiences. It's one of those things that doesn't take a lot of effort, but the rewards over time are great.


More than a year ago now myself and (my good friend from Uni) Luke drove around Central Europe for a couple of weeks in my Mum's long-suffering Vauxhall Astra. On most days of our journey we used Luke's laptop to write a short journal of what had occurred; how many miles we'd done, where we were at the time of writing, and what song was on the stereo - if anything. We had both just completed our Journalism degrees at Southampton Solent University, although I will refrain - at this point - from calling us graduates, as our Uni had the backward tendency to do things in an 'alternate' manner, thus we didn't get our results until many other people who completed courses in 2007 had already graduated. Anyway, as a result of completing said course our musings tended to occupy the more flowery-side of the writing-in-a-flowery-manner spectrum - if you know what I mean, and reading our journal back in recent times always causes me a laugh or two.


Certain things that happened over the course of our journey from Portsmouth on England's south coast, to Rauris in the Austrian Alps would probably no longer be with us in memory now, if it wasn't for our blog. Writing with events fresh in your mind always helps with detail, as over time memories fade, stories are obscured, and as a result trying to record things in an accurate manner would be difficult.


Thinking back to the times we had, and being able to read about specific conversations that would otherwise have dulled into nothingness now makes that small effort back then so worth it now. The same goes for photographs. Anyone who knows me will know that I spend far far too long taking photographs, and I also over-use (and mis-use) the term "arrogant" when describing them. However I feel that in this digital-age, where memory cards will hold over 500 multi-million megapixel photos at 2256x1496 resolution, it's not unjustifiable to take a picture of absolutely everything. Photos jog your memory, as do words, and so when you see that shot of the time you passed out in the a car outside a youth hostel in Salzburg, or when you randomly spent a day aimlessly wandering the chaotic streets of Casablanca due to a botched transit flight, it brings a smile.


Mine and Luke's journal isn't online, and so it's only us who actually gets to read it, but at least it exists, so in years to come we can both dig it out and re-live past joys. We also took 592 photos of our experiences, and some video footage too, so the time I jumped into the freezing depths of Lake Königssee in Bavaria, whilst wearing nothing but my boxers will be always there in all its glory.

I also wrote about my experiences in Ghana. The West African nation is a place I decided to go many years ago now. I remember clear as day walking into my Uni housemates room in what would have been January 2006, seeing on the TV the African Cup of Nations being played out in Egypt and thinking "I could go to that". The next one was being hosted by Ghana, in January and February of 2008. At that moment I made a decision, and although didn't do much about it until summer 2007, always had it in the back of my mind that I would go. 2008 came around, and in the preceding months I'd contacted a number of people in Ghana, mainly due to a family friend, who is also my Doctor, Paul, being part of a Christian missionary project over there. He put me in touch with Paul Sefa, a Ghanaian chap who also part of the project, and a great friend of Dr. Paul, who helped me out so much during mine and my friend Katherine's trip over, and he also became a great friend of us both. He served to guide us around his country, was kind enough to let us stay at his house, made sure we got tickets to see some of the games, and was hooked-up enough to ensure we got to meet the Ghanaian national football team in their hotel. He also went to the lengths of picking us up from Kotoka International Airport in Ghana's capital Accra at 5am, after our flights were delayed, leaving us stranded in Morocco for 24 hours. All-in-all our experiences were so special, a huge part of that being down to Paul, and I made sure I kept a diary of what we did every day.


Upon arrival back in the UK I made a conscious effort to write the diary up into article form. It took a few hours - time I could have spent doing hundreds of other things, but reading that back now makes it so worthwhile. It's online now, located at the website I made but never bothered updating, as well as on my Facebook notes, but at least it is there, and so the memories will last.


All-in-all I think keeping a Blog of your experiences is important, especially when doing something like travelling. It's not just for others to read, as in all probability hardly anyone - aside from close friends and family, will read it, but it is great to be able to look back on what you've done and smile. I only wish I'd written about everything now.

Rest, relaxation, relatives and reflection.

Looking back on my time in Canada so far it is easy to see the stages I, and the friends I've made, have been through.

Arriving on a drab and grey afternoon at Vancouver International Airport, in what seems a lifetime ago now, was the start of the first stage. The feeling I had at the time was of being lost, and having no idea what would happen within the next hour, let alone the next day. Who would I meet? Where would I live? What sort of job would I get? Would I get settled here?


I would not go as far as to say I was scared at the time, but it was a period of living by each hour, living on the edge. I can remember clear as day sitting in my room at UBC soon after arriving and worrying that I had so far only met one person (Helen - at Heathrow Airport!) and would end up hating my Canadian experience.

Fortunately, Stage Two began shortly after - beginning with my move from UBC to the Youth Hostel down at Jericho Beach. This experience was the complete opposite of my first week in Canada. Everywhere I went in the Hostel there were people, all of whom who were keen to make new friends and share experiences. I met so many people there, and made friends from all parts of the globe. For those three weeks life was a whole lot of fun from dawn 'til dusk. Each morning the British Columbian sun would rise over Downtown Vancouver, Jericho Park and the Youth Hostel, we would head down to the beach, play soccer in the park, or sit outside and watch an England-less Euro 2008 play-out with a massive group of travellers.


The highlight of that time, however, was undoubtedly Canada Day - July 1st. Our group of friends had been together for around three weeks at the time, and now many were moving on to new places in the world, and many of us staying, but moving away from the Hostel to rent rooms in houses or flats. Almost everyone I knew from the Hostel was in attendance, and the sun beat down upon the huge outdoor party the Hostel staff had organised. The smell of BBQ food was in the air, the drinks flowed, nations fought hard in the Beer Olympics (with Brazil emerging victorious), and everyone had the time of their lives. We went to, and got massively burned on, the beach, relaxed in the park, and had an impromptu 6-aside soccer tournament, which was won by a team of spirited Irishmen, who beat our own 'Holland' team (comprising only one Dutchman) in the final. The favourites Italy were knocked out in the semi-finals, and the Irish took their chance to overwhelm a Holland team who were a man short for the duration of the match. The day ended with everyone heading to the beach, to watch the Canada Day fireworks taking place just off English Bay, and our time at Jericho was over.


Stage Three began abruptly the following day, with a 6:30am wake up call. It was my first day at my new job, and once I returned that evening, I would be moving to my new place on Granville Street - a 15 minute bike ride from Downtown. It had taken me a couple of weeks to obtain employment in Canada, and I'd got this job - at Business Objects in Yaletown - through Kelly Services, a job agency in the city. I was employed as part of a team of temporary workers, who were there to sort out the mess of data following a merger between two multi-million dollar software companies.

The work at Business Objects was dire, but that was offset by my fellow temps all being a great laugh, and the fact that there was a table football game and roof patio on top of the building. The team mainly consisted of other travellers on work visas, so I made more friends from Australia, England, Scotland and Ireland - as well as the Canadian contingent in the office. We made the most of our time there, and I left after about seven weeks. That was enough time there for me.

Work work work

Working life is tough. I'm currently sat around on my first day off in two weeks, and I have to say I feel so relieved. I wouldn't really mind if I actually enjoyed my job, but unfortunately the place I work, which previously had been a sanctuary of Facebook, Flickr, Blogging, Teamtalk.com and generally arsing about has turned into a hardcore Excel Spreadsheet-fest. It's tough.

Two weeks ago my alarm went off at 6:30am as normal. I quietly moaned to myself for a couple of minutes, thrashed around for a couple more, then staggered out of bed, showered, made myself some Pesto and cheese sandwiches and cycled to work. Since then it's been non-stop, but cycling, I've discovered, is so much better than taking the bus for a number of reasons.


Firstly, you get a great amount of Exercise.

Second: it's actually quicker to cycle to work, than it is to use public transport. My bike ride to work consists of one long hill down Granville Street, a slow cycle up and across Granville Bridge, then a quick blast around the grid layout of Yaletown - the 'yuppie' district of Downtown Vancouver. Normally somewhere along this route, usually down Granville Hill, I will overtake the number 10 bus - my old mode of transport, and I have to say, in all the time I have worked in this office, once I have got past the bus it has never got by me once again.

Thirdly, it's cheap. Unfortunately my cycling hasn't been quite as cheap as it could have been, as I have to admit that I am on my second bike in a month. Unfortunately my previous bicycle, that I was so pleased with, after spending many hours with Dylan (who had his bike nicked the other day) toiling over to get into a roadworthy state, was stolen from outside my work in broad daylight. I spent about two hours feeling incredibly pissed off about the whole situation, but then came to the conclusion that bikes are cheap, and at least the thief had stolen a good, roadworthy bike, that would not need any work for quite a while.


Undeterred, I logged on to the haven of bargains that is Craigslist.ca, and within 24 hours of having Bike #1 stolen, I had purchased the vastly superior Bike #2. This one comes with (just about working) front suspension, and grip shift gears. Granted, the brakes aren't great, and I've managed to lose one set of gears (the front set, so it's not all bad) but I will sort these issues out eventually, and I will end up with a better bike.

Finally, biking around Downtown is great fun. I love weaving my way down the traffic, fitting into gaps and generally getting places 10 times faster than walking, and at least three times faster than those trying to navigate Downtown in gas-guzzling cars. I love it, and now I realise why Tom, my brother, enjoys cycling so much.

Anyway, with regards to work, I haven't actually had a day off since that Monday a couple of weeks back, and since then the workload has been mounting up thick and fast. Gone are the days of internet surfing, and now all I seem to do is sit around 'Mining Data' to gather random reference numbers, and creating "Super Administrators" for various companies all around the globe. It's a huge software company I work for, and their customers range from the Bank of America, to the United Nations, to the US Air Force. It's soul-destroyingly dull, but it pays fairly well, and it allows me to buy Pesto, arrogant French Brie, and London Fog drinks - so I'm happy.


Speaking of London Fog drinks - I have no idea where they've been all my life, or why I've never heard of them but MY GOD, they are incredible. It all started one fateful day when I was hanging around at Mink -my usual post-work-can't-be-arsed-to-cycle-home place, where my Aussie friend Lynda works. Mink is an extremely classy Chocolate Cafe, residing at the bottom of Hornby Street, in Downtown Vancouver, near the waterfront. It's a lovely location to hang out for a while, and I've got to know the staff pretty well. I've often been offered 'discounted' drinks in my time there, and one such time one of the staff, Jason, offered me a beverage I'd never heard of before. The London Fog, or simply 'Fog' as it's now known by us, is made up of steamed milk, organic Earl Grey tea (try $15 a box, but the teabags are made of silk, literally), a dash of Vanilla Syrup, and the option of Cinnamon on top. I tasted one of these for the first time a couple of weeks ago and ever since I've been hooked. It's got to the point where I make my own, rather less incredible, but still impressive, versions at work, and that has helped me get through the monotony of life at Business Objects.


Don't get me wrong, it's a laugh working here. The other temps I work with are all friendly and we get on well, but the work is mind-numbing, and nothing ever comes along that is in the slightest bit interesting. So, with this in mind, the prospect of overtime would probably be something I wouldn't even consider, right? Wrong, on Thursday all the temps were called into a meeting. Our boss Marnie asked how how we would like triple pay ($40.50/hour before tax) on Monday - a national holiday. We all stated, with generous dollops of understatement, that we'd probably be interested in that. The deal was to do at least four hours on both Saturday and Sunday, at double pay, and we could have our 40 bucks an hour on Monday. Needless to say we all took the offer up, and so on Monday, after personally working 12 hours over the weekend, everyone worked an epic Excel Spreadsheet shift of 12 gut-wrenching hours. It had to rank as one of the worst days of my life, sitting alongside writing-off my mothers beloved Fiat Punto, and failing my driving test, but the paycheque, which will arrive next week, should be spectacular.


Aside from that I've managed to do a lot of cheap activities. The other week Dylan, Andrew, Sabrina and myself climbed Grouse Mountain. Grouse is located behind North Vancouver, and we had planned to do it one weekend. The climb, known as the Grouse Grind, was tough, and after about 45 minutes we thought we were getting on pretty well. That was until we realised we weren't even half-way up. The trail is made up of an endless chain of steps made out of rock, branches and soil, which you conquer, one after another, in an fashion which seems like it will never end. Fortunately we all managed it, and had the splendor of an awe-inspiring view of Vancouver, the Burrard Inlet, and the coast of Vancouver Island in the distance. It took us an hour and-a-half, but it was totally worth it, especially for the Gondola ride back down.


Also in Vancouver there has recently been a fireworks competition. The basic idea is a few countries get together and try and out-do each other with as many different explosives as possible on Wednesday and Saturday nights. The views available from all over Downtown are spectacular, and I particularly enjoyed being able to get a great view of the city by moonlight, thus taking far far too many long-exposure shots with my Nikon.


All-in-all it's been a tough few weeks, but the pay will be worth it. I finish at my work in a week and-a-half, to take some well-earned time off. My trip to Canada is supposed to be a Working Holiday, and so I need to ensure I keep that in mind, rather than spending every waking moment in the workplace. I might not necessarily work 100% of the time when I'm there, but being here, rather than being outside enjoying the city and the surrounding area is important.

Making friends and Eco-travel

When I first decided to move to Vancouver many months ago now I was quite understandably excited. A new city, in a new country, on a new continent. A whole clean slate and a whole new adventure.


When I told my friends, work-mates, and any other random people I spoke to that I was going I usually got one of two responses. The first generally went along the lines of "Sounds good, you'll have a great time there." Perfectly normal response really.

The second, however, I found quite amusing.

The conversation would usually go:
Person (with puzzled expression): Have you been to Canada before?
Ben: No never.
Person: So you have family there?
Ben: Nope.
Person: Friends?
Ben: None.
Person: Right. (looking even more puzzled) You're mental.

Most of the time the conversation would end there, or the subject would be changed, but for some reason the people I would have this conversation with were unable to fathom why I'd want to leave dear old England for a new country I'd never even been before and had no links with. For me, I didn't really see the difference between going to Vancouver, or moving away from home to University. It's the same principle - a new setting, a whole group of new people to meet, and a time of complete unknown, with the opportunity to do so much, or so little.


I guess most people would be pretty scared of moving so far away. When at University in England you are never really too far away from home. England is a tiny country, and I've been told that you can fit our Kingdom inside British Columbia four times.

Additionally, when going to University you usually start off in some form of Halls of Residence. Easy enough to meet people then - everyone else is in the same boat, and everyone else is crapping themselves over the fact that they may not meet people, may be lonely, and have a wasted experience. I found the Jericho Beach Hostel to be an experience similar to that. Most people were alone, or in small groups, and everybody was up for talking and making new friends. It was easy, really.


My friendship group here in Vancouver is made up of an interesting bunch of people. Firstly there is Dylan - my weirdly flexible, massive-handed, Sri Lankan/English friend from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. Next up: Lynda and Andrew - a couple of friendly Aussies who've been travelling the world for a fair amount of time themselves, but have now settled in Vancouver for six months at least. There's Robert, my Dutch mate who has been in Vancouver for almost a month - but has just today left for Tokyo, to continue his round the world expeditions. We've got some Irish friends too - Sabrina, Seun - who is Irish but was born in Nigeria, and their other Irish housemate Emma. There's my flight buddy, Helen, who has recently got her own place to live sorted, and has managed to bag a pretty good job at Westjet in Canada Place. As well as these there are others who have come and gone from the Hostel, a group of locals who Robert and I have played soccer (sorry, I mean football) with every weekend, and my work mates - who do the same supposedly-working-but-actually-sitting-on-facebook job as myself.


I did find the first week in Canada pretty difficult. Looking back on things, staying at UBC was a mistake. The place was nice but there was no opportunity to meet any people - and it cost far too much. Moving to the Hostel was a great move, as all my new friends have been from there, and everyone has been brilliant. We've spent time wandering around Downtown, sitting in Stanley Park or on Jericho Beach, or met up at Lynda's workplace - Mink Chocolate Cafe near Canada Place - to eat and drink unhealthily.

The other day Dylan got himself a mountain bike. He discovered "Our Community Bikes" on Main St in Vancouver - a shop whose organisers recycle bikes that have been damaged, disregarded or are in various states of disrepair. Dylan paid $80 for a bike that looked brand new, aside from it lacking a saddle, and so the other day he came with me to get one of my own. Two hours of toil later and I had a "Nishiki" mountain bike of my own. It cost slightly more, as we had to change wheel-bearings, gear shifters, grease the whole thing up, and stop the saddle from trying to fling me off every time I changed speed, but I'm happy. I'm sure Tom, my brother, would be proud that I've embraced an eco-friendly form of travel. Whilst I nail it around Downtown Vancouver, dodging buses, pedestrians, cars, and going the wrong way down one-way streets, he is planning the next stint of his Ride Earth trip - a cycle ride around the globe.

Now that cheap transport has been sorted out I never need to use the bus again. Granted, I will probably get public transport if I venture out of the city any time soon, but whilst I stay I will be seen on my bike. It's great exercise too.


Next on the agenda is to buy a laptop, pay rent, and find more places to visit. It's going to be fun.

Getting Settled

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything about my exploits on the other side of the pond, but not being in any particular rush to do anything strenuous today I decided to write about what I've been to up to in the last two weeks.


In the previous edition of this blog I was unemployed, homeless but generally having a good time. Fortunately, the latter part of this hasn't changed, but the other two have.

Since moving from UBC to the Hostel at Jericho Beach my experiences in Canada have changed a lot. UBC was a nice place to stay, but I really had to get out of there. On a positive note I had my own room, washroom shared with only a couple of people, and it was directly next to the bus. It was also an astronomical $354 dollars for a weeks stay, and was dull. Very dull. I barely met anyone whilst staying there, so when my mate Dylan mentioned that the Hostel was located right on the beach, had good links into Downtown, and was only $20/night I was sold. After setting fire to my debit card to pay for my stay at UBC, packing, and getting the hell out of there, Dylan helped me move my stuff to Jericho Beach, and that's where I stayed for the past couple of weeks.


Since then the time has flown by. I've met people from all over the world. Places like Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, Bolivia, China, Taiwan. Everyone is friendly and is interested in what you are doing in Canada, where you've been before, what you want to do next. Like myself, many people came alone, some are passing through on heroic voyages around the continent by car/van/bicycle, many are here for a year or two to work, and many are just on an extended break over the summer from University or College.

The Hostel, which was formally an Army Barracks, is cheap and cheerful, but it shows. The washrooms leave a lot to be desired, and you only get a small locker to store your stuff in, but it's a great laugh. You meet new people every day, and during the Euro 2008 tournament the Germans who ran the cafeteria set up the television outside with a gazebo, sofa, and fridge stocked with alcohol. The staff are friendly and chatty, there's a huge kitchen for food preparation, and the aformentioned Jericho Beach is only a couple of minutes walk away. Canada Day happened on Tuesday, and the Hostel management organised a big bbq/chill out/beach party-type thing for the day, and we watched the Fireworks over Downtown Vancouver in the evening from the beach.


Shortly after moving to the Hostel my search for employment finally bore fruit. After a gruelling two hour inteview/test session with Kelly Services, an employment agency, I was finally offered a job. As of Monday I have been working on 'Data Entry' for a software company in Downtown Vancouver. Thus far I have sat on a very comfortable chair, moved various reference numbers around various different screens, and consumed various packets of Cuppa Soup Noodles whilst sitting on various pages on the internet. I've also marvelled over, on many occasions, the top floor of the building. In England, an office kitchen - in my experience at least - includes a couple of cupboards, a kettle, and perhaps some slightly mouldy cheese. Try here: A ping pong table, every type of free coffee, tea, hot chocolate you'd ever want, a football table, a big-screen TV with three games consoles, subsidised snack machines (25p for a Twix anyone?), sofas, and an outdoor roof patio with a barbeque. I'm sure I could've done worse.

I start work at 8am - something that I've been finding fairly difficult, after five weeks of getting up whenever I feel I can be arsed, but the pay isn't bad, and the office is relatively relaxed. There has been a lot of training happening this week, so it's been a case of information overload at times, but there is a load of new temps aside from myself, so everyone helps each other out. All in all it will at least allow me to pay the rent at my new place!


Yes, it's true - I have a house. Well, a room, actually, in a shared house. It's not too expensive, and I'm living with a couple of guys from Quebec, a chap from Toronto I've never met as he's always working, and a Tunisian guy called Slim (who wasn't very), who disappeared the other day. The building is huge and upstairs there's a house where the couple who own the place live. My landlord, Frank, is from Hungary and his wife Fadia is Lebanese. They're also incredibly friendly and gave me a lift to do a food shop the day I moved in. Overall I'm pretty pleased, as my room is large, is fully furnished, has a double bed and plenty of storage space, and I can get a bus to Downtown in around 15 minutes.


At the moment I'm living on a bit of a limited budget, but soon enough I'll get paid and be able to visit places on weekends, and save up for when people come over to visit. It's nice to be unpacked now, having been living out of a bag for the best part of a month, and I'm feeling a lot more settled. I've made lots and lots of friends at the Hostel, and a fair few of them are here for a year. After a tough start things are looking up.

One Week In: Unemployed, Homeless, but still good

When I first touched down in Vancouver, in what seems like a lot more than a week ago now, I was a little apprehensive. This was probably understandable: I was moving to a country on the other side of the world, not having any family out there, and knowing no-one. All I had was a couple of bags of clothes, a weeks accommodation at the University of British Columbia Halls of Residence (UBC) and some money in my bank account.


Well, a week has passed since I touched in to be greeted by the distinctly British weather of the city that day, and fortunately I am still around.

Living at UBC for a week turned out to be pretty comfortable, if a little out of the way. Downtown Vancouver, where I have been doing all of my job and house hunting research, is absolutely miles away. Fortunately there is a bus terminal right outside my halls, so getting into town is a quick 25 minute ride down 4th Avenue, and left across Burrard Bridge into the sea of mirror-windowed skyscrapers that makes up Downtown Vancouver.


What a place to spend your time though. Everywhere you look, there is 50-100 story, building. It's a far cry from what I saw in Accra, Ghana back in February, but both cities have their own separate personalities and attractions. Accra was simply chaotic. The roads were a free-for-all. If there was a space to be filled on the road, someone would fill it. There were open sewers which stank, people selling all manner of goods in the middle of traffic jams, the place just alive with activity.

Vancouver, on the other hand, is totally the opposite. The drivers all stick religiously to the highway code. Never have I seen drivers yield so much to pedestrians. If you even think about crossing the street, vehicles will instantly stop and let you go, whether you are at a proper crosswalk or not. Everyone drives around at a leisurely pace, rather than the insanity of African driving (not that I didn't find car rides in Ghana entertaining), the people are obviously far more affluent, and it is a great cosmopolitan atmosphere. They say that Vancouver has the second biggest Chinatown in North America, after San Francisco, and it certainly seems that way. Asian people probably match white people in numbers.


The multicultural atmosphere here stems to the food also. There is such a variety of food you can eat. Chinese, Thai, Indian, Malaysian, Greek. Whatever you want, it's here. There are endless food courts underneith the various shopping centres, meaning that if you want Mexican and your friend wants some Sushi then it's no problem, and you can still sit together. Additionally, the extremely favourable exchange rates means that to English people the food, and everything else, is ridiculously cheap also. Try the equivalent of about three quid for a main course and a drink in most places. Shop around and you get things even cheaper.

As well as Downtown, there are so many other areas in Vancouver. You are never bored. Stanley Park, for instance, is only five minutes away from Downtown, but it is quiet, serene and picturesque. I wandered around there on my own the other day, watched the cruise ships pass under the Lions Gate Bridge to leave the city for the Pacific, relaxed, and spent about half an hour chatting to Olga and Graham, a retired Australian couple who started travelling in 1963, and basically never stopped. They now live in Texas, and before I asked where they were from I had no idea, as their accents were a mix of Canadian, Deep Southern Drawl, Australian and South African. Quite a mix!


I've met many other people doing similar things to me. To name a few: At my orientation I met Jonny, Ronny and Badge (seriously) - a group of Irish lads here for the summer, Dylan - an English guy with Sri Lankan roots, Helen - my flight buddy, and David, who quit his job as an Electrician nine years ago to go travelling, and has never gone back. He pays for it by renting his house out. A genius plan.


Job hunting is progressing slowly, too. On Wednesday 18th I had an interview at an agency on Burrard St in the centre of Vancouver. With any luck I will get some Administrative/Office work next week. I'm sure the experience I gained during my time at Kettering Care Management will help no end, although I'm not sure whether or not the places will be as fun!


I'm still currently looking for a home, and at the moment am still living out of a bag, and yesterday I moved to Jericho Beach Youth Hostel. It's a lot busier than UBC, and I've spoken to a lot of interesting people in the short time I've been there. This morning I got chatting to Ryan, a Californian guy who has been motorcyling around Vancouver Island, and watched Germany beat Portugal in Euro 2008 with a group of Germans, sat outside in the rain, with a monsterous television under a canopy. There are people from all over the place staying there, and it's cheap, at $20/night. A bit more affordable than UBC.

So that's about it for now. I'm alive, just about got enough money to live on (and when my tax rebate comes through I'll be a lot happier), and with any luck I'll have a job sorted soon. After that, I just need a place to live. Hopefully that will all fall into place too.

Early mornings, lost baggage and foot-long Burritos

Well, I'm here. It's been a long time since I decided to up sticks and bugger off to the other side of the world, but after a nine hour plane ride I have arrived in Vancouver.


It wasn't all plane sailing though. A couple of weeks ago I found out that my flight would be departing from the dreaded Terminal Five at Heathrow. Joy, I thought, my baggage will end up in Beijing. I set about calling my insurance company to arrange some extra baggage cover. Unfortunately, after getting the reply, in no uncertain terms, that Flexi Cover do not cover T5, I had to think of another solution. Fortunately my Mum happened across 'Trace Me' baggage tags, Which - surprisingly enough - trace your bags wherever they are in the world. With one of those purchased I still hoped my bags wouldn't be making a detour to the 2008 Olympics, but at least I had some form of security incase the unthinkable happened.

Yesterday morning was an early one. My folks drove me down to Heathrow, and I'd arranged to meet up with Helen - my flight buddy, and another person who had also decided to randomly move to a country in which she had no contacts or particular reason to go. After checking in together, and the inevitable tearful goodbyes from our respective mothers, we set off to Canada.

The flight was pretty uneventful. Having been used to cattle-class budgetary in the past, I was expecting to my treated to an array of food that resembled vomit, but infact the non-stop conveyer belt of nurishment that came our way was a joy. I watched the whole of Jumper (pretty entertaining film), and watched Larry David try to track down the mysterious masterbater in his house in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Nine-and-a-half hours later we landed in what was a very overcast, and quite chilly, Vancouver airport.


After going through immigration and getting my working visa validated without too much bother we went to baggage reclaim. That was where the problem started. My bags arrived straight away. Unfortunately for my flight buddy Helen, hers didn't. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, in which Helen remained remarkably calm - whilst I would probably have nutted someone and been thrown out of the country - we came to the conclusion that Helen's bags were still somewhere in England and would arrive tomorrow. Of course, a years supply of belongings isn't really what you want to lose, so BA gave her $60 of compensation. Great.

Next was a taxi ride to the University of British Columbia Halls of Residence, where we had both booked a weeks accommodation. The place is pretty nice, although the view out of my window isn't exactly what I was hoping for, but it'll do. We both went to grab some food - I had the worlds largest chicken Burritto, whilst Helen had a Tamale - which as far as I knew was a small town in Northern Ghana. After getting back to my room I tried to stay awake as long as possible, to avoid jetlag, but failed miserably, falling asleep at about 7pm Canadian time, and waking up at 1am with my book still in my hand. Arse.

Today has been interesting so far. Breakfast consisted of cereal eaten out yesterdays smoothie cup, and after meeting Helen we got the bus into Downtown/Central Vancouver.


Tomorrow is the Orientation meeting with the company who sorted my visa, so after that I'll be on my own. The adventure starts here.

The start of something new

When abandoning your home for parts unknown there seems to be a check list to fulfill. Generally, stuffed somewhere between storing/selling/burning your worldly belongings, and saying goodbye to friends and family, there's the creation of a Blog. So, here's one more - Ben in B.C.

It's three weeks exactly until I make the journey down the M1 from my sleepy Northamptonshire village to the chaotic intercontinental travel depot that is Heathrow airport, board one of Boeings finest, and spend nine-and-a-half hours trying to avoid deep-vein thrombosis, whilst watching endless films, and eating vacuum-packed salmon.


My destination is Vancouver, Canada, and my plan, like so many other graduates who have been confronted with 'real-life', is to avoid getting a career for as long as possible by travelling. I've done a bit already, driving around central Europe, visiting a friend from Uni in Tallinn, Estonia, and spent a little time in Antibes, all in summer/autumn 2007.



My most recent bout of travelling was to somewhere I've wanted to visit for quite a while - Ghana, West Africa. I went in February this year, for 15 days, and it was one of the most fulfilling, fascinating experiences of my life. There were a few dramas in places, but the trip was immensely enjoyable, and I also watched some of the 2008 African Cup of Nations matches live. I will definitely return in the future. You can read about it here.





However, I decided rather than go on many short trips to various places I needed to live abroad instead. It was then that I was informed of BUNAC - a company who help individuals arrange working visas, to allow foreign nationals to live and work in other countries (outside the EU).

I considered New York, and Cape Town, and then came across the option of Canada. After looking at what the city of Vancouver had to offer specifically I was sold - The place just has so much. Situated right on the Pacific Coast, within touching distance of the United States, and backed on to the Rocky Mountains. What more do you want?

Well nothing, hopefully. But I will find out for myself on June 10.

Also, I generally spend far too long taking photos, so I'm going to upload them to my Flickr account incase people want a look.