Vancouver
Last year, I wanted to be in a place with Christmasy weather, which means close to freezing. After struggling to pick a place, I decided to go to Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a major seaport city, which is ethnically diverse and a true melting pot. If you fancy it, you can indulge yourself with a sea plane tour as well. Major film production studios in Vancouver and Burnaby have turned Greater Vancouver and nearby areas into one of the largest film production centers in North America, earning it the film industry nickname, Hollywood North with tourism as the second largest industry. All my trips have had been pretty smooth when it comes to transit but this time, inconvenience was at a whole different level.
Since it was an international flight, there was no option for online check-in as I don’t have a US passport and authorities needed to check a valid visa for Canada. I handed my passport to the lady at the counter and after a few minutes, she said, “Sir, you can’t fly to Canada as you don’t have an ETA”. ETA is an electronic travel authorization document, which is only available for people who have a Green Card. I was as calm as one could be especially at 6 30 in the morning. She was really adamant even after explaining the fact that I have a valid tourist visa and I can’t get an ETA because I don’t have a Green Card. Luckily, I had a connecting flight through Seattle. I asked her can you please give me the Houston – Seattle boarding pass. She was like, no can do, we can’t give you a boarding pass just for your first leg unless you change your booking. I had to cancel my Seattle – Vancouver leg of the journey so that I could get a boarding pass and get on to the flight to Seattle. By the time she changed my booking and printed my boarding pass, it was 7 AM and the flight was leaving in 30 minutes. Thankfully, I had a TSA pre check and I was able to avoid long Christmas lines and make the flight. As soon I landed in Seattle, I had to re book my Seattle – Vancouver leg which cost me an extra $325. As expected, there were no complications at SeaTac and after checking my visa I boarded the Vancouver flight. Apparently, the Alaska airline Houston staff didn’t know what to do with my situation. But a shout out to Alaska airline for refunding my $325.
The adventure was not yet over. When I got to the immigration queue in Vancouver, I was informed that had a transit visa not a tourist visa and I have to be interviewed by an immigration supervisor. My heart sank and I was like, this is it, they will deport me to the US and the whole trip will be wasted. But after understanding the whole situation, immigration officer allowed me to enter Canada. It was now 2 PM PST and I was as famished as a zombie in The Walking Dead.
After eating a quick bite at the airport I was on my way to my bed and breakfast, which was in Vancouver’s West End. Since I had half a day but no energy I decided to just go to the mall and shop for the European brands which are not available in the US like Jack and Jones. I ended my day 1 with an overpriced, not so good seafood meal at the Four Seasons. Although the temperature was close to freezing but I was blessed with sunshine the next day. I decided to go to Granville island, which is a shopping district located across False Creek in downtown. It was a pretty neat place with lot of activities and people, especially the mix of tourist and locals at the broad walk. Post lunch, I walked to Gas town (the oldest part of the city and close to the waterfront), it is a kinda hippy spot. Since Vancouver is a pot friendly city, I visited the Amsterdam Cafe where one can go and smoke some pot. Beware, they don’t sell pot at the cafe so you need to get your own but no worries, there are a lot of smoke shops in the city where you can get some. For dinner, I went to a low key Indian restaurant where the food was as good as it gets. The next day, I wanted to go to the Capilano suspension bridge, which I heard is pretty neat but since it was Christmas day, all shuttles were cancelled. So I decided to take a long walk, a 6 km long walk, at Stanley park, which is a national historic site for Canada. By the time I was done, I could barely move, so I went to the B&B and rested for a while. Before dinner, I went to Cannabis Culture to enjoy some pot and to my luck, it was a kind of shop where you can buy as well as smoke some pot. For dinner, I went to a Thai place nearby and after having pot it didn’t matter if the food was coming from a 3 star Michelin restaurant or from a street vendor, but the food was good. I called it a night after going to a local club. The next day I was all excited to go to the suspension bridge but the weather was not with me as it was snowing for most part of the day and I had my flight back to Seattle in the evening. Instead, I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery, which is world renowned. They had an exhibition of Walker Evans, a well known photographer, who is known for documenting the Great Depression. It was outstanding.
I can certainly see myself going back to Vancouver and maybe staying at the Georgia Hotel. Some of my favorites places in Vancouver are:
- Prohibition, a jazz bar.
- Granville island.
- Faubourg Paris, a cafe.
- Sylvia hotel.
- Stanley park.
- Gastown.
- Art gallery.
