Day 1

Alrighty, it’s been one day (or so, the time difference is messing with my head), but so much stuff to put onto here already. Basically, this could turn into the longest thing I’ve ever written, so this is your pre-warning if your going to tackle reading this. But maybe not, seeing as it is 12.30 (midnightish) over here and I’m being a loner/unable to sleep, this could get old quickly…

Shall I start at the beginning? Rightio, well, after waking up at home at 4am and thinking that this would give me all the time in the world to get ready and leisurely make my way to the plane, I had a BIG reality check. Stress is not even a hectic enough word for what I was experiencing as we inched our way to the airport. Poor Mum had to put up with my skittish (verging on breakdown) ways, as delay after delay made the impending check in deadline loom closer with each minute spent in a traffic jam. My plane took off at 7.40, without me on it. Yes, I missed my plane. This close to tears, and freaking out, thinking I’d stuffed my entire trip, I was sent over to the ticket purchasing area to see if I could get another ticket from Brisbane to Sydney and still make my connecting flight to Canada. Once again… STRESS! Luckily, the guy at the counter was very nice (thankyou Qantas!!) and set me up with a ticket on the next plane, and he didn’t even charge me! So this left me 15 minutes to get me and my bags checked in, which is no mean feat seeing as this involved queuing, once again, and plenty of documentation! Basically, the lady behind the counter had her fingers typing at a hundred miles an hour, trying to get my bags sent all the way through to Vancouver for me. After many attempts, this plan failed and she advised me I’d have to pick them up and re-check them in once I got to Sydney. Bags checked out with literally one minute to spare, otherwise, I would have missed that plane too. Still at a mad pace Mum and I zoomed through security then up to the gates then straight into the queue where a hurried goodbye was said then onto the plane. Thank fuck!

I liked the plane, had a window seat so I was treated to seeing the view go from runway, to looking over a city of model scale, to being in the clouds, to my favourite, being above the clouds. That’s sort of magical really, they look different from above. It’s like a cloud blanket of many many textures, and your up there on top of it, you and the sun. Momentary peace really, cos when I got to the ground, there was the baggage fiasco. We all went down to the conveyor belt (me powering ahead trying to make sure I got from the domestic to international terminals on time, no way did I want to think of the consequences of missing an international flight!). Bag after bag after bag went round, until I was left there, all by myself, staring at the empty belt… horror. So I went to the help counter and was told that the baggage HAD after all that, been labeled so as it would meet me in Vancouver. So thanks, (but no thanks due to my freak out levels) to the lady in Sydney who did check them all the way through, but told me she hadn’t.

From there I took the bus to the international terminal and headed up to the wrong queue, of course, but luckily realised and changed into the right one. You cannot imagine all the airport staff I have asked the assistance of in the last day! They need comprehensive info boards, or even better, flashing fluorescent signs! So me and my comfy carry-on backpack made our way to the correct gate and waited around for a while to board the Air Canada Boeing 777. I was in an aisle seat of the middle row of three rows of seats, and had a vacant seat next to me. The lady two seats over was nice too, a Canadian who I had a bit of a chinwag to and shared some Aussie maccadamia’s with.

Ok, I’ll make this bit concise, for a change. No window this time so spent the time reading/eating/not sleeping/watching Juno and Death at a Funeral in between the stuff ups that the entertainment system was having. That was me for 14 hours. So after leaving Brisbane at 8.15 am, I arrived just 15 minutes later in Vancouver. Freaky hey! Now you know why I’m having difficulties adjusting to the time difference!

Weird vibe in the arrivals area, all the staff had bullet proof vests and looked rather foreboding. The guy that served me when I was getting my working visa though, was respite for my tired eyes . Every time I open my gob I feel a bit strange cos out comes this Aussie accent (which I’m quite used to) but the reply sounds like it’s meant to be in a movie, cos really, that’s the only place you here an American accent in Oz. Ashamedly, I occasionally find myself forgetting I’m in Canada and not America and forgetting that there is actually a difference (sorry Canadians, don’t mean an insult).

Back to the airport story, got to the baggage carousel and crossed my fingers, literally. I wasn’t sure if I had enough faith in my luck, which was running at an all time low, whether my baggage would actually turn up. Going by my run of luck, it was almost as likely that it would end up in Hawaii as in my hands. Actually got out my insurance policy and had a read through what compensation I’d get for lost or late luggage… that’s faith! By some miracle though, about the third and fourth last pieces of luggage turned out to be mine so yoink! Grabbed them off and slapped them on a trolley.

Got lost (if that’s even the right word, seeing as I had no clue as to which direction I was meant to be going in in the first place) looking for money exchange then making my way to the bus. Asked another million questions of staff and security trying to get myself headed in the right direction. Stepped outside, horribly under dressed for the weather and finally spotted the bus I was meant to be catching and had to run/waddle to make it on. You see, unlike the normal backpacker, I had not only my backpack which was manageable, but also a huge ass suitcase! This is due, not to my unnecessary over packing, which was only minimal, but to the fact that I will indeed need it in Calgary with Jess.  After which period, I will dump it and take off with only one bag, thank God. So as I stepped onto the bus, had a quick look at the change in my hand and tipped a good lot of it into the ticket dispenser seeing as I didn’t have the time or patience to figure out which coin was for which amount. Managed to only overpay by 6 cents though, pheow, but the damn machines don’t give change. A nice man who’d seen my dash took pity on me and decoded my route as to which buses I needed to catch. He was kind enough to have a quick chat and point me in the right direction when we disembarked from the bus.

*Interuption: Thinking of my lovely Liz, as the seat I’m sitting in is reverberating (I was trying not to use the word vibrating, as that has too many suss connotations, but reverberating just wasn’t right) due to the club music from right next door. At least I’ve got good tunes to type too, ‘Candy Shop’ just played – made me think of my Lizikins, who I hope is having a killer time at uni!

On my drive from the airport thanks to the advice I received, I managed to get off at the right stop. As directed, I walked one and a half blocks against the traffic then one block to my right. Did my first road crossing which was interesting, only due to the fact that when I got the little red hand (who corresponds with the little green man) I was looking for the button to push and there wasn’t one! So I waited and to my amazement the man silently popped up with no request from me. Silently is notable though, cos you actually have to pay attention to the signals not just wait for the blind person cue of ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka. Got to the hostel and was relieved to drop my bags there. Sorted my gear out and decided to go for a quick exploration and pick up some lunch.

Luckily my sense of direction was in tact, because my short wander turned into a four hour trek, without lunch. Why you ask? Because lots of things kept catching my eye for investigation, which were ‘just up the road a little further’. My taste kept changing from hot chocolate (from one of three Tim Hortons I have already seen, as recommended by Renee) to sushi from one of many, many, many which I passed. But my exploring resulted in neither of these, as my desire to just check what was ahead led to my faded appetite (over-hungriness).

There were so many little differences between Australia and Canada, I wanted to jot them all down so I’d remember to put them in here, but that was just impractical! I’ll try to put some down:

• Noiseless, buttonless road crossing
• When I bought my gloves ($9.99) and scarf ($19.99) and I was foreign enough to question the price ($33.54 or so). The reply? “You’re not from here are you?”. NB, tax isn’t included in advertised prices.
• Homeless people, or what we would less affectionately called nutters or deros, are definitely more numerous over here.
• Chemists are called drug stores – one would think they had year round woodfords!
• Maybe they do though, cos I walked past a store with much weed decoration and propaganda aiming for marijuana legalisation. It was more conspicuos than three Happy High Herb stores put together, plus you could actually smell the shit as you walked past!
• I found this hard to comprehend cos they seemed to have a bit of policing or at least security on the streets, more than Brisbane anyhow.
• Police cars look like their stickering was designed by a seven year old who got his inspiration from a lego set. Sam, take pride, Australia’s police vehicles are snazzy comparatively!
• Just to confuse, the mountains depict North, unlike the entire east coast of Australia where they demonstrate which way is West. Further confudling my mind.
• There are so many Asians here, meaning there’s also tonnes of sushi, Thai and Japanese restaurants.
• Definately a consumeristic society, but not so much an overweight one as far as I’ve seen. There are hundreds of food shops lining the streets though, far more than clothing stores. Only one Subway though!

I’ve read and heard that Vancouver is a very beautiful city, “a city where almost everyone would like to live”. Don’t know if I can really agree with this, as yet. I must admit that as soon as I looked out of the airport, my gaze was met by some glorious snow capped mountains, but this natural beauty doesn’t really extend into the streets of central and downtown Vancouver. Unless that is, you get a peek of them through the high rises, but at least the pollution isn’t obstructing the view, that’s a plus. The streets themselves vary massively depending on which part of the city you’re in. I can’t really name which are the good and bad parts cos I have no idea what’s what, but there is an obvious difference in class as you walk from section to section. It goes from the worst streets which smell of urine, have run down, graffiti ridden buildings and are populated by the insane and ’street rats’ which might just shock the Maleny versions to their senses. To the classy, more expensive, historical areas of the town.

All throughout my arrivals, wandering and interactions I must have had the faint air of a looney myself. I couldn’t suppress my excitement or entertainment so this tick of a smile would creep into my features and I’d walk round actually smiling at people! Haven’t quite mastered being friendly yet though haha. Wondering what the coming two days and nights in Vancouver hold in store for me, thinking of doing a hop on, hop off bus tour, might beat just wandering aimlessly. Wish I could ‘get back to nature’ a bit though, missing the beach, or at least the option of easily accessing it!

It’s a huge adjustment for me to go from being completely in my comfort zone, with a house, a job, friends and money to being this lone backpacker. All I can say is thank God they speak English! With the amount of questions I’ve been asking, that’s an integral point. The time difference is really wreaking havoc with me as well, not just for the jet lag factor, but because I’m trying to make comparisons as to what time it is here, to what it must be there. You are 17 hours ahead of us so that doesn’t make for easy calculating!

Already I’m missing you guys, poor effort I know, it’s only been a day. But missing my Mum most, more lame again. Just something to do with the comfort of home and the stark opposite of me, right here, right now. Completely out of my comfort zone, and as I had expected, not having the easiest time of meeting people. But I always knew this would be my biggest obstacle. Oh well, overcoming obstacles is where growth and development come from. Shall I make that my mantra?

“… in every limitation we overcome, and in the higher ideals we thus attain, the whole kingdom of love and wisdom is present.” Helen Keller.  Actually starting to make sense of that quote now.

Well, I’ll try to promise not to write another two and half thousand word entry any time soon, cos if you’re still reading this (highly doubtful) you’re probably dreading it. Oh and part of the reason I’ve written it so laboriously and in great detail is that this is sorta my journal as well, a way to document memories as well as keep you informed. Plus, it’s a way to sort out my head and form all my worries and fear into affirmations of some sort… patience, growth and overcoming limitations – at least that’s my aim.

Much much love to everyone, hope your having a ball with all your new beginnings as well, Uni and work and what not. Keep in touch my wonderful friends, no doubt at times, you’ll be my sanity. xoxoxoxo Tass