Travel

The ten of us

~ Kat ~ Leave a comment

We met our friends from Perth on Friday in Vancouver and have been road tripping through Canada since then. We hired mini vans which have been really comfortable.

  
We started the trip by driving to Whistler. Driving on the right hand side of the road and understanding Canadian road rules took a bit of time, but we figured it out!

Whistler was beautiful. The boys spent their days downhill mountain biking and bungee jumping while the girls walked to Lost Lake.

   
    
    
    
   
From Whistler we drove to Jasper, which is a pretty long drive (about 9 hours), but so beautiful. We saw stunning winding rivers, trees and a few animals.

   
   
We arrived late last night and have three days in Jasper – we are really looking forward to our time here.

The crew arrives

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We leave Van today. We have loved it here! Can’t wait to come back again.

The BC crew arrive this afternoon – the ten of us are road tripping around British Columbia for three and a half weeks. Yahoo!

The skies are grey today. It’s the first day it has rained here since we arrived. Until our friends arrive… We are waiting in Wholefoods 😁

    

Vancouver: three point five days into our honeymoon

~ Kat ~ 3 Comments

We arrived in Vancouver on Sunday 19 July (two hours after we left Sydney!), at 7:30 in the morning. We took the train to the suburb we are staying in. At the train station we were helped out by a friendly attendant. We now realize this is the Canadian way: people are ridiculously friendly and helpful.

Arriving on a Sunday morning, things were nice and quiet. We found a café around the corner from our accommodation that served delicious coffee – a great way to start our honeymoon!

We are staying in an AirBNB private suite which is in the basement of a beautiful old home. It is gorgeous and has a very comfortable bed, Netflix, bikes and is close to the train station and the city. Not bad for $120 a night! However, being in the basement does mean it has low ceilings and there is a beam that Courtney needs to dodge (he learned the hard way). Our hosts are very friendly and have helped us out with suggestions on things to do around town.

We are only three days in but so we have already been to the Food Truck Festival, visited Capilano and the Suspension Bridge, rode around and through Stanley Park and participated in a drumming circle on the beach, celebrating the sunset over the mountains.   All of these have been incredible.

We love Vancouver and can totally see why it is one of the most liveable cities around the world. It is close to nature (Stanley Park and Capilano are out of this world), the people are friendly, the drivers are courteous and the city is built for bike riders.

There is a lot to do if you’re interested in the outdoors and exercising. There is a focus on healthy food and lifestyle, which is great for both of us, and there are also SO many yoga studios! I can’t wait to attend a class in the next few days.

The city is environmentally conscious – we were stoked to see recycling bin attendants at the Food Truck Festival, a ‘no idling’ rule in the city and a focus on farmers markets and organic produce.

Something I look forward to exploring more is Vancouver’s social innovation and enterprise scene. Already after a quick search I have found a site called Social Enterprise Canada and a whole bunch of co-working places for social entrepreneurs.

Today we are going on a Food Truck walking tour in the city which will be fun, and we are then going to be meeting up with our friend Jen and a couple of his friends. He is going to take us on a walk through his neighbourhood on the North Shore which we are looking forward to.

In for the long haul

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The flight over was long. Perth to Sydney was far more hectic than Sydney to Vancouver. The flight from Perth was completely full and there were SO MANY sick people! It was a tiny plane and we were flying the red-eye, which is never enjoyable. Anyway, in the scheme of things it wasn’t so bad.

Air Canada took us from Sydney to Vancouver and we were so impressed with their service. We were seated separately from each other initially and when we arrived in Sydney they were happy to reseat us together – we were even moved closer to the front of the plane, which was awesome. After the Perth to Sydney flight, the plane seemed luxurious. Although I was seated in the middle of Courtney and another lady (shout out to Sharon, we hope you’re having an amazing time in Alaska!), I felt like I had so much room to move around and stretch. The air temperature was comfortable and the flight crew were super helpful and friendly. The food was good too, although we didn’t eat all of it. We both opted for special meals (vego is always a better option) and packed carrots, celery, fruit, nuts, protein bars and our own tea bags so we weren’t at the mercy of the in flight catering. It is definitely worth doing as you feel SO much better afterwards! I also tried the 1Above drink: although I can’t 100% say it was because of the drink, I stayed a lot more hydrated during the flight and I experienced A LOT less swelling.

As for only having carry on – we were stoked when we were able to get off the flight in Vancouver and walk straight out of the airport. We got some weird looks from customs in Canada when we said we were travelling for four months and she saw how much stuff we brought with us.  But other than that, it was great.

Send us packing: an update on our minimalist holiday packing list

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Our cases 

The packing (and unpacking, and repacking) started about three weeks before we left Perth. I managed to get everything to fit into the Osprey bag, but I found that I had too much stuff to fit into the bag comfortably. I decided instead to bring a normal carry on case with wheels – in fact it is an el cheapo one that I bought in London last year because I had bought too much stuff whilst we were there.

I read a few blogs on minimalist travel to understand the best items to pack. One of the best tips I found was to make sure everything you pack is in one colour theme (so everything matches and can be layered) and to opt for styles that are timeless and suit your personality, rather than ‘on trend’. With this in mind, I packed:

  • Two cotton dresses
  • Five sleeveless tops
  • Three button shirts/blouses
  • Two long sleeve ‘warm’ layers
  • One wool jumper
  • One ‘shell’ jacket
  • One exercise jacket
  • One pair of jeans
  • One pair of black pants
  • One pair of shorts
  • Two pairs of leggings (one ¾ and one full length)
  • Sneakers
  • Canvas slip on shoes
  • Bathers
  • Underwear & socks

This (along with my other travel items) weighed in at 10kgs total all up, including the case.

We bought a whole bunch of travel space bags to help us fit everything in (shout out to Lisa for suggesting them) – I ended up bringing them with me but not using them for the flight here, as everything fitted into the case pretty comfortably. They will definitely come in handy.

Buying our suitcases

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We are almost one month away from our departure date, which is very exciting!

Last week we purchased our carry on cases.  We have opted for the Osprey Meridian 22″/60L case.

The reason we opted for this case is because we wanted something that would convert from a wheeled option to a backpack option – for those times when a backpack is more suitable (we are doing ground as well as air travel).

We are yet to receive our cases but we both look forward to seeing how our 15 clothing items fit into the case… stay tuned.

Some Think Different

~ Kat

Welcome!  Thanks for visiting.

We are two Australians travelling overseas in 2015.  We have committed to only taking carry on luggage with us as we travel for four months – this is our first experiment in minimalist travel.

This blog documents our adventures.