Getting Settled - Our First Few Days in Vancouver!

The last few days have been so crazily busy, it's been pretty non stop! But things are beginning to fall into place, and I'm still really excited about living here.

Granville Street, Shaughnessy - where we're staying till June!

We're getting used to the transport systems, the buses here run like clockwork, and the Skytrain is pretty cool, and it all connects up, is really convenient and runs from early in the morning till late at night. Perfect!

Our first day in the city was spent, as I mentioned in Arrival In Vancouver, sleeping away the jet lag and then finding our AirBnB accommodation on Granville Street, in the Shaughnessy district, where we're staying in a shared apartment with 2 other couples, and 2 single guys. It's weirdly quiet, in that we rarely see much of the others, it almost feels like we have the place to ourselves.

Friday was Day 2, and we made it a mission to get some of the important bits sorted out as soon as possible. So we headed out early to our nearest Service Canada and got our SIN's (Social Insurance Numbers) which are required for us to work. Then we wandered to Scotiabank and opened our bank accounts. We inquired about the StartRight program which is specifically for newcomers to the country, and is free for the first year! (You have to pay for banking out here!) Then we headed back to Oakridge, the mall close to where we're staying and we did our food shop for the week, which was interesting!

Our apartment!

We've been looking at places to rent from June 1st, as most places rental start from the beginning of the month, so we booked up 16 nights with AirBnB and have till then to find somewhere. So Day 3 began with a trip to Nanaimo, to view a room in another big shared house. It was a bit of a trek from where we are and took the best part of an hour, and we got there to knock at the door and no-one answered, though neither of us were too bothered as we weren't keen on that area. It was nice, but very suburban and quiet, not quite what we'd really been looking for. After that we decided to go and get our phones sorted. We chose Fido as our provider as we'd heard pretty good things about them, We wanted cheap and cheerful, and think we got a pretty good deal. For $25 a month we get 200 mins and unlimited text, and in a few months we can merge our accounts and be able to call each other for free. We spent that evening perusing the internet again for accommodation and found one we love! Despite the fact the next day was my birthday, we set up a viewing as we were so keen!

Yesterday was my 24th Birthday! We spent the morning chilling out a little, I opened my presents and cards and then we got up and wandered over to Downtown to check out a room. We had a look, then went for a coffee to think and discuss, and I had a birthday Peanut Butter Protein shake for breakie. Delicious! We chatted about the room and both came to the conclusion that we loved it, and went back and paid our deposit! We move in June 1st! The room is a little on the small side, but the location is amazing, it's on the 15th floor and our night time views are going to be stunning, and it seems to tick every requirement we set for ourselves . The building also has a pool, and a small gym, so I'll make full use of those :D

Gastown's Steamclock!

Then we were finally in tourist mode! We took the Skytrain down to the Waterfront, and did our first proper sightseeing! We walked down to Gastown and had a walk round, and then went north, taking in the Olympic Cauldron and Digital Orca sculpture, then further north to Harbour Green Park.
We discovered a really good nutritional shop with protein powders on Robson Street, once we have jobs we're definitely going to look into getting some! From there we went to Zefferreli's Spaghetti Joint, where we had a table booked, and had an amazing Italian meal together, our first meal out in Vancouver! IT was delicious and not as pricey as we'd anticipated!

Overall it's been a hectic few days, but the most rewarding and fulfilling week I have had for a long time. It feels so good to be doing something different and exciting!

Anyway, below are a few pictures we took during our sightseeing wander!

Credit to my boyfriend Ian for the photography!

Arrival in Vancouver!

Eeeeek, we finally made it here!

After a hectically long journey (and not forgetting the months of waiting around for visas and planning) we have touched down in Vancouver!

It began yesterday at London Heathrow, I got up at 5am and bundled my Dad and 2 brothers into the car and set off! We decided to leave early, my older brother stayed with us the night before so that we could leave in the early hours and avoid the rush hour traffic then have breakfast together at the airport, we made good time and had a great last meal together!

Our 12 hour flight to LAX went without a hitch, although, I did have a small wobbly when I suddenly realised that we landed at Terminal 2 and our connection went from Terminal 6, and had no idea how long it would take to get between the two. But our first flight was right on time (hats off to Virgin Atlantic, your a pretty awesome airline actually, so much free food it's ridiculous!) and we dashed through US Customs, grabbed our bags then re-dropped them off and found that the Terminal is actually only a small bus ride away. Instant relaxation! We checked in easily and had a wait on our hands, steadily getting more and more tired as time passed.

Eventually we hopped on our LA - Vancouver flight, sat down and I fell asleep before we'd moved anywhere. Take off woke me up briefly, but I basically don't remember much about that one! We landed at 11:30pm so the airport was quiet, customs was easy, though it took us a little while to find the right place to go, but immigration was easy and quick, the guy disappeared with our passports and LOI's and came back a few minutes later with our freshly printed visas!

Day 1!

A quick taxi ride to Travelodge and we crashed, 28 hours on the go really takes it out of you! This morning, after the most amazing night's sleep, we woke up to our first real sighting of Vancouver. (Last night was pretty but honestly I was too tired to notice anything.

So this morning we took a shuttle back to the airport, then got on the Skytrain to Oakridge Station, the closest one to our accommodation. With time to kill we wandered a little, grabbed something to munch on, then headed to Granville Street, and our first attempt at their bus system! We eventually made it, albeit with a slight mishap in that we didn't get off soon enough, and had to walk back a few blocks. But here we are! We met our AirBnB host for the next few weeks, chilled out a little, researched where we need to go tomorrow, and met a lovely couple from the Philippines who we are sharing an apartment with. And everyone here is so darn friendly, it's actually incredible!

Vancouver, I love you already! 

The Last Night

Just checking in!

It's the night before we leave! Exciting times. Had a lovely weekend saying goodbye to family and friends, partied on Saturday, family tea and cake on Sunday, catching up with an old friend and met her newborn yesterday, packed and spent today trying to round up all the loose ends I'd forgotten.

Now it's curry night with the immediate family and off in the morning! Eeek, see you all on the other side guys!

The Final Countdown!

So.

Hows it all going you ask?

Busy. So very, very busy!

I'm not going to lie, attempting to leave the country with 3 weeks notice is pretty damn fun, but my God there's so much to do. It's a good thing I'm a list person because quite frankly without my lists scattered everywhere I would lose my head.

Since last we met, we've booked accommodation for the first couple of weeks, we picked a place in the  Shaughnessy neighbourhood, about a 15-20 minute bus ride from downtown, as the host sounded very helpful, and she let us use her address to set ourselves up, so day one will probably be lots of form filling, for banks, SIN's, phones and ID cards!

Our AirBnB accommodation takes us up till June 1st, so we now have to find somewhere to properly live from then onwards. I'm currently checking various sites on a daily basis and beginning to make enquiries into places we like the look of, now we have a general idea of where we'd like to go. We're hoping to set up viewings between now and when we leave so we can find somewhere quite quickly, and then can relax the second week, so fingers crossed for that!

My beautiful family :D

The last week or so has been more about goodbyes than anything, we spent a few evenings in the pub with friends last week, then I had a family day over the weekend and popped down to see the
boyfriends family where we made the most of the beautiful weather which has erupted recently. Then I've got work this week (3 days left, hurrah!) I'm currently organising a night out for this weekend, which should be a good'un, another family day, a trip to see an old friend and her newborn and then I have left myself just one day to do my packing!

I'm also starting to think about jobs and getting my resume sorted and Canada ready, got to get my Canadian Dollars, print all my documents, sort out my proof of funds statement to show at immigration, sort out my phone contract and a few other bits and pieces!

So it's busy little bee mode at the moment, but I am loving it.

Canadian Preperations!

So, it's been nearly a week since everything has kicked off and I must say I'm getting really excited already.
It's now less than three weeks before we go away!

Visas are all done, we now just need to sort out our ESTA thingies to enter the US, but that shouldn't be too hard. (Our flights are not direct to Canada, we fly from Heathrow to LAX, with a 6 hour layover and then LAX to Vancouver.) Our return flights are booked for next February, as apparently most airlines can only be booked 10-11 months ahead, so in a few months we will use our flexi ticket option, and push our flights back to May 2014 so we get the full year. I'm wondering if when we return we can split the flights to have a few days layover in LA rather than a few hours just for the hell of it! It would be rather cool to have a few days somewhere new at potentially no extra cost.

We land in Vancouver in the middle of the night, so we're going to book a cheap and cheerful hotel close to the airport, so we'll just crash and try and get some rest. (I'm not good at sleeping while traveling, I have never been able to, cars, trains, buses, boats, planes, you name it I can't sleep on it, so I should imagine I'm going to be awake for a good 30 hours.) So yeah, land, immigration, crash, will probably be our first day in Vancouver.

Next day we'll move to our proper accommodation. We're planning to use AirBnB, a company which describes it self as 'a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world.' At the moment, we haven't booked anything through them yet, they have so many listings for Vancouver it's mad, so I've set a general budget and sifted through the options, picked out a handful of places I liked and messaged them with our requirements. One big thing is that we would like to open our bank accounts and get our SIN's (sort of like our national insurance numbers) as soon as we arrive, but we would require addresses to do so. So far, quite a few of the property owners have said that yes we can use their address, so now Ian and I just need to go through them and pick one!

During those two weeks it's then on with the house hunt. We're booking out AirBnB accommodation up till the end of May, as most places begin leases at the beginning of the month, so hopefully by then we'll have found somewhere and can hop straight from one to the other. We're going to try and arrange viewings for our first week, it would be lovely to find somewhere quickly so we can relax a bit more during the second week and step up the job stuff.

After that, all I think is left to do is the little things... send a P85 form to HMRC to let them know we're leaving the country, send a form to Student Loans, get my family set up on Skype, rewrite my CV in a Canadian resume style and that's it I guess. I suppose I better start thinking about packing... I'll have to start a new list :D (I like lists, I'm a crazy list person!)

Then finally - the leaving do's! I've set up one for family and one for friends, and I'm really excited for them, I never plan events! Also, it's my birthday a few days after we arrive, so I've got two reasons to party on down!

Bruges. It's in Belgium.

In an attempt to finish my little European trip write ups before we go away, I'm going to write about our second to last trip. I can't believe this was a year ago!
 
Having loved our shenanigans to Paris, within a few weeks we booked a few days off and had a four day weekend for another little adventure. This time our destination was Bruges. (Our choice in destination was definitely influenced by watching the film!)

After loving the Eurostar, we were quick to book this up to use them again, and I was even happier to find upon booking that on the way there we'd been upgraded to 1st class seats for the outbound journey. This got even more exciting when we were on the train and someone came round with a trolley, and we realised we got free breakfast.

This is how excited we were about breakie!

The Eurostar took us as far as Brussels, where we then had to get off and hop onto a normal train (the price for this was included in our tickets, so no messing around with buying any others!) I personally really enjoyed the change of scenery, I loved that they have double decker trains, for me it was a novelty having never seen it before. And their trains run very efficiently, they were ALL on time.

A few hours later and we hit Bruges! The train station is on the outskirts of the city, but Bruges being quite a small place it was only about 15 minutes to our hotel and the weather was beautiful, so we walked. Walking through Bruges for the first time is gorgeous. You catch sight of all the little cobbled alleys and want to run down them all and explore.

We were booked in at Martin's Brugge, a lovely hotel smack in the middle of Bruges, right behind the Belfry. You couldn't ask for a better location, and I would highly recommend them. They were very polite and helpful when we asked for a change of room, I can't remember why we asked to be moved though..

So into Bruges itself, we quickly set out to explore! One of the big things for us was that we loved the film In Bruges (Ian particularly loves his films) so we tracked down the tourist information and got a map of the film locations, and made a plan to visit our favourites. The thing about film is how deceptive it is. They make things look so different to reality, so we were shocked to see the differences. That being said the film definitely choose the best settings.

The next day we tried to visit the Belfry, but unfortunately it was closed to the public for the winter, so we were unable to go up. We had a wander around though and the square is pretty, lots of dodging the horse and carts, and surprisingly busy for a cold February. We visited a few chocolate shops, you have to in Bruges! My favourite was The Chocolate Line with some delicious flavours, alongside some very weird ones. Cola, tea, vodka and passion-fruit were among some of my favourites. Havana cigar flavour (yes really) curry, crisp fried onion, wasabi and sun-dried tomato and black olive flavoured chocolate sounds all a bit too odd for me. I do wish I'd tried the bacon flavoured one though!

We tracked down many of the film locations from In Bruges, the hotel they stayed at, the bench scene in front of the statue of Jan Van Eyck (See right) the park scene at Koningin Astridpark, the bridge at Meestraat (see photo above) We also went a bit mad, and tracked down the restaurant Cafedraal, where Ray and Cloe have a date in the film, and had dinner there one evening. We managed to nab a table in almost exactly the same place where they did, you wouldn't believe how much smaller the place is. It's teeny! During the course of the evening a gentleman on the next table attempted to teach me a little Flemish. He taught me one word, and I promptly forgot how to pronounce it. Sorry good sir, but thank you for the kindness.

The Basilica of the Holy Blood

We also tracked down some of the other lesser known locations mentioned, but which weren't as recognisable. Such as the Basilica of the Holy Blood where they keep a vial containing a piece of cloth with the blood of Jesus Christ. every Friday they bring it out for veneration, and apparently they get 50,000 pilgrims a year!

The food in Bruges was lovely. The stand out restaurant for me was Sacre Coeur which was a chilled out restaurant that very kindly gave us a table quite late one evening. Another night I indulged in mussels in garlic sauce, which was served in what looked like a cauldron, I've never seen such a huge portion! Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to sample any Belgian beer while in Bruges on this trip. We would both love to go again (we nearly went this winter but decided to save more for Canada.)

My absolute favourite part of Bruges was Minnewater. It's a beautiful lake to the south of the town (also named the Lake of Love) surrounded by swans and we befriended a ginger cat too. We wandered here for quite some time, it was less busy and quite serene.

In the background is a building called the chateau de la Faille, which had previously been a hostel but was closed and empty when we visited. Such a shame as it's the most gorgeous building. If I had the money I'd buy it!

Overall Bruges is a beautiful town, it's small and quaint, with lots of museums (we did visit one gallery while there) and chocolate shops. It's a great little place for a little get away, I would say for an extended weekend it's perfect as there's just enough to see and do, but no more than 4-5 days.

Oh hai there visa!

So I may have just experienced the most life changing weekend of my life so far.
I'm moving to Canada in just over 3 weeks!

Here's how the last week panned out:

Recently people who had already booked flights had started to fly to Canada without their visas, intending to enter as visitors and then return to the border to activate the work permit once it was issued. However many were being told on arrival to immigration that their visa was on the system, and it was issued to them on the spot and off they went into Canada with a shiny new work permit. So it transpires peoples visas have been issued and just not sent to them!

Last Sunday (April 14th) we hit the CIC's self imposed 6 week deadline, at which point we said we'd go nuts in trying to contact them and find out just what the hell was going on. Luckily we had some time off work (for our 3 year anniversary!) so we spent a day doing research. A young woman mentioned on an online group that we're part of that they were beginning to respond to emails, so you can request information on your visa and they do get back to you. So we sent emails out to both the Canadian and London offices, and spent a few hours trying to call the CIC in Canada (lord knows how much that cost :S) but we made little progress.

So we sat back and waited. I enjoyed a few days to myself. I got my first tattoo (I'm so far loving it, and considering getting a small one for each country we visit, maybe this time next year I'll get a maple leaf!)

Then Friday morning I woke up and checked our emails:

Your application has been approved. Due to technical issues, your original letter of introduction was not sent out.

A new LOI was sent out today and should be available in your MyCIC account.

And there they were! It turns out we were both issued our LOI's (above listed as POE Introduction Letter) on 17th March. So the last month it's been approved, but they just hadn't informed us.

So Friday was spent dancing round the house in excitement (on my part anyway!) we contacted STA travel and booked an appointment with them, and spent the evening checking out flight prices. The following day we went to the STA office in Cambridge, and within an hour booked our flights for the 15th May. (Return flights with flexi tickets, which means we can change the return dates 3 times if we so wish!) Which gives us a little over 3 weeks before we go! I can't believe its happening so quickly.

Yesterday we booked up our insurance for the year. Today I handed in my resignation, and am sorting out my bank accounts. Things to do this week includes booking up accommodation for the first few weeks, writing a Canadian resume and planning leaving do's (one for family and one for friends.) After that it's researching areas we want to live in, jobs and notifying Student Loans and HMRC we're leaving the country. Then we should be good to go! Pretty simple really!

Oh Visa, where are you? *Minor rant*

Day 37 after submission, and still no visas in sight.

It's been a long 5 weeks already, and with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel, it's hard not to start worrying. It's not so much just the waiting, it's the fact that you are waiting with no information or updates, or a way of contacting them. This is only made worse by hearing that people who submitted their applications a considerable amount of time after we did have already been given their visas. We are by no means the worst suffering applicants, there are also a heck of a lot of people who submitted a lot earlier than we did and are still waiting too. There is no method to the madness, it seems your visa will turn up at random, and you have no correspondence from the CIC whatsoever, not even a 'We're looking into your application and will get back to you in the next 7 days' type of message which would at least ease a few fears for people. Nothing. Just silence and a badly managed system which leaves everyone second guessing.
 
That being said I am if anything an optimist, and I know that one way or another we'll get a response and take things from there. It's just the unknown is getting rather scary, and I'm beginning to get really impatient!

In 5 days we'll hit our 6 week mark, (the CIC placed a 6 week deadline on themselves, which I will make a point of highlighting) at which point we have decided to start pestering the CIC for information. As we're applying from the UK there is no number we can call, our only option is to email, and this apparently takes around 20 days just to get a response. Fingers crossed we hear back soon, I really don't want to have to go down this route.

We have yet to book any flights, we mistakenly thought we would get our visas before now, (considering the applications were expected to open back in December) and so we chose to wait till we had our visas in hand before we booked. I now find myself checking flight prices daily and praying they don't skyrocket before we get the chance to book them.

If Canada does go tits up, which is a possibility as we cant wait around forever, our back up plan is now New Zealand. Having looked into their process, it takes 5 days to get a decision (five days CIC, FIVE!) and they have no quota to worry about, and we already have everything they ask for. So if Canada do for any reason let us down, we're still going to be off on our travels this summer. I just really hope Canada hurry up!

The Canada 'Bucket List'

So I haven't posted anything Canada related in awhile. Mostly because all this waiting around for the damn CIC to sort out themselves out (where's my visa?) means that not much has changed.

Therefore, instead of worrying about visas, money, insurance, flight prices going up and quitting work and finding a new job and a place to live, today I'm going to focus on the fun bits.

So I give you, in no particular order, the stuff I want to do while I'm away! (No doubt this list will grow and change considerably as time goes by!)

• Make a gazillion new friends and acquaintances.
• See some ice hockey.
• See something at/take part in an event at Vancouver's Film Festival.
• Go to the beach!! I can't remember the last time I went to a beach, and I will quite frankly behave like a 5 year old.
• Join a Canadian gym - at home I've been weight training with Kettlebells for a few years now. Obviously I'm not going to take my bells over with me (it would take up my entire weight allocation for a start) so a gym is a must. I've never set foot in any gym ever, so this in itself will be an experience. My new goal - pullups!
• Go mountain biking, cycle in Stanley Park and on the sea wall.
• Go hiking.
• Visit Capilan Suspension Bridge Park.
• Grouse Mountain - I'm considering paragliding!
• Visit Victoria/Vancouver Island
• Bard on the Beach - Yes you read it correctly, Vancouver has its own Shakespeare festival *squeee* I simply must attend, hurry up visa, I want to book early bird tickets!
• Toronto - I have family on the East Coast USA, so hopefully will be able to head to the east side and see them again and show Ian Niagara Falls (I went back in 2004 with my family.)

  

  Niagra Falls - Boxing Day 2004

• Seattle - I've watched way too much Grey's Anatomy to not make a trip here at least once. (Could also be combined with the next point)
• Visit Pacific Raceway - Kent, WA. As a massive drag racing fan, (and seeing as I'm missing the European Main Event and Finals AND our families 10 year drag racing anniversary :( *epic sad face*) it would be an amazing experience to see some NHRA racing, if I can afford it and figure out how to get to the track!
• Snowboarding. I've got to try my hand at winter sports, its in the mountains for crying out loud, I can't not! I'm pretty sure I'll end up looking like Bambi, but it's something I've got to attempt.
• Banff - just look at it!
•  Visit Harrison Hot Springs! Potentially try my hand at kayaking, canoeing, parasailing or windsurfing!

As you can tell I've got the adventure bug! No doubt this list will get huge as Canada gets closer. The more research I do, the more I find! I'll try and keep on top of the list and keep you up to date with additions. Also, if anyone has any recommendations of other things to include, get in touch!

Paris Minibreak!

With no Canadian visa in sight, I'm going to continue writing about our recent trips around Europe!

In December 2011 we got the urge to get away again. We didn't want to spend much or go for too long, but we needed to get away, so on the spur of the moment we booked a weekend in Paris, using the Eurostar. I must say I was impressed, the system was pretty efficient and cheaper than I'd imagined, and meant that we didn't even need to take time of work.

The number of trains and the times they left London were really convenient for us, we met in London and got the Eurostar straight after work on a Friday evening (slight panic that my delayed train to Kings Cross was going to ruin all our plans!) Getting the tickets was easy, as was going through security, it was quick and painless, and in no time at all we were ushered from the waiting area to the train. The journey was simplicity itself, I couldn't believe how quickly it went, it was much like taking an ordinary trian. You couldn't see much outside due to the darkness, so we just relaxed and rested, before our wander across the city!

We arrived around 11pm, and clutching my map printout (with my very efficient notations, for which I am now notorious) we emerged into Paris. Arriving so late and at the end of a long work week meant that all we did was find our hotel and crash. On a side note, our hotel was a Holiday Inn and I wasn't expecting it to be amazing, but the room we were given was actually lovely, we had a huge bathtub and a dainty balcony overlooking the front of the Gare de L'est. (Which might not sound brilliant, but it was actually quite a pretty view!)

The next day it was on with the sightseeing! First, we had to do what every tourist should do on a first trip to Paris. The Eiffel Tower!

It was a wet day, but we decided to brave the weather and went anyway. Being the money savvy couple that we are, we opted to walk (what!?!?) up the tower instead of paying extra to take the lifts, and I'm not going to lie, it was bloody hard work. But it was most definitely worth it, there's a sense of accomplishment when you do finally get to the top and get your breath back. After much climbing, walking round and admiring we deserved a break in the cafe! I loved the tower, it's definitely one of those attractions I could do again and still enjoy it as much as the first time.

Montmartre

In the afternoon we took the Metro to Montmartre, which we had been informed was a must, and had a jolly old time wandering its beautiful streets, and taking in the sights and sounds, and millions of photos. We whiled away the rest of the day here ducking between streets and into cafes, and as it was getting close Christmas there was a small Christmas market to have a peek at too. It was picturesque! 


That night we had dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel. For some reason travel makes me adventurous when it comes to food, so here I attempted a ridiculously large plate of Steak Tartare (yes, I'm one of those weird people who eats raw beef, and yes I did enjoy it!) I've cooked this dish before in my old job, and had always wanted to try this, the only complaint I had was that the portion was so big! I also had my first taste of French Onion Soup and loved it, I'm going to have to try making this at home.

The lovely Louvre

Sunday was spent trying to cram in as much sightseeing as possible. We got the Metro, and ticked off the Notre Dame, the Fontaine Saint-Michel (and an awesome man blowing massive bubbles!) lots of walking by the river and finally the Louvre, which we had intended to visit properly and see some art work. We hadn't anticipated the monstrous queue to get in though, (it turns out we'd come on one of the two days a month that the Louvre is free to get into) so we unfortunately had to skip it. One day I will have to go, visiting the Louvre is one of those things I would love to do, it's on the To Do List, so will make sure I get up early that day! We spent more time wandering, then hopped back up to Montmartre, our unquestionably favourite part of the city for a warm drink before we had to dash back to the Eurostar at the Gare Du Nord and head back to the UK.

The journey back was as smooth and ideal as the outward one. I really love the Eurostar's ease, and the fact that it feels much more laid back than travel by air. It's all so civil, calm and stress free! So much so that a mere 2 months later we were at it again, this time on the way to Bruges! (Blog Post imminent!) And that was that, our whistle stop tour of Paris! While we packed out the weekend, I will have to revisit as there is just so much to see and do, we barely scratched the surface. Next time I'll make it a longer trip, maybe 4-5 days, so we can take it at a slower pace and make sure we get to do more.