Greetings from Vancouver, BC. We arrived yesterday on an Air Canada non-stop from Newark, a trip that I sort of wish I could title from AirTrain to SkyTrain. The early 7:00am departure though meant that my mother drove us to the airport. The flight was uneventful and fun, cloudy most of the way except over the Northern Plains, where we were flying just south of the my route back east on the Empire Builder in a few weeks, it was fun to see the badlands and then the foothills of Rockies from 30,000 feet. I spent the rest of the flight dozing and watching a series of Canadian shorts on their amazing in-flight entertainment system that had the most variety of any I have used. Never listened to my iPhone or used my computer even though I could since the seat had in seat power as well.
The winds were blowing lighter than normal so we arrived a half hour early at 9:30am PT, it was an uneventful trip through the raised walkways to immigration and customs in the cavernous YVR airport before we found ourselves at International arrivals. I asked customer service where we could by SkyTrain tickets in the airport without the tourist fee $5 surcharge that are charged at Airport TVMs, she said the 7/11 in the domestic terminal which turned out to be a decently long walk to the other side of the airport. We finally got our tickets and sat in the front window railfan seats for only a half-hour automated ride to Downtown, much more fun than the $150 transfer Rocky Mountaineer tried to sell us.
It was too early to check in so we dropped our bags off and went and had a simple lunch at a downtown local sandwich shop before using our vouches (from Rocky Mountaineer) to go up the Vancouver lookout. Their in addition to amazing views of Vancouver I also enjoyed photographing the BiLevel West Coast Express Commuter Rail fleet inside and just beyond Waterfront Station waiting for each train to complete its one daily round trip back to Mission. West Coast Express is a peak-direction only commuter rail line.
Then it was time to check into the Hampton Inn. I was planning to spend the afternoon in the mostly sunny weather starting on my station to station of SkyTrain, while my grandmother went on a narrated bus tour. In the room though I noticed that the hotel offers free 3-hour bike rentals so I had to rent one and enjoyed a long loop following the Sea Wall around the edges of Vancouver. SkyTrain will wait until after this portion of the trip.
After returning the bike I wanted to make a trip out to Pacific Central Station to pick up a VIA Rail timetable and my Amtrak ticket for two weeks from now (the stop does not have QuickTrack machines). Unfortunately the line at the ticket window was long for both the Cascades and triweekly Canadian departures. and I realized I did not have my reservation number handy (in retrospect I did it was right on my e-mail, the Amtrak app though did not function without internet access, and roaming is way too expensive). I instead went for a wonderful walk getting some half-decent photos along the rail yards (all from local streets) of both VIA and the Rocky Mountaineer including its station where we will be arriving at in 8 days from now, back from its adventures.
The day concluded meeting up with my grandmother and going to a new-age but absolutely delicious Chinese Influenced restaurant the concierge recommended for dinner when we asked about where was good to go in Chinatown. The finally was a quick second trip up the Vancouver Lookout (our tickets allowed us unlimited access for the day) to see the city at night before returning to the hotel and I passed out early a little after 9 the diamond vision visible through the sides of the Dome at BC, exhausted from the time change.
Were about to go meet the transfer up to North Vancouver for the Whistler Sea to Sky Climb, and hopefully this evening I’ll have a chance to update this post with photos.