Every man for himself
In order to get home to England, we first had to get back to Vancouver. Now considering Boston is on the opposite coast to Vancouver, this meant a whole day of travelling. Saying goodbye to Gav who was on his was to Toronto, myself, Simon, Andy, Ian and Liz set off by minibus to the airport. We didn't plan this out too well as we still had to travel for about an hour to get there. Then it was on the plane to Chicago, then on the plane from Chicago to Seattle. Here Simon paid extra money to get a bus straight back to Vancouver. He left us before we got our bags with the cry of "every man for himself". We made no attempt to follow as we don't like Simon.
The rest of us caught a public bus into the city and used all our remaining US money to buy a meal in a fairly posh restaurant. I'm sure they were really impressed seeing 4 people lugging large backpacks and suitcases into their restaurant and then ordering 3 starters between them.
We later got the bus back to Vancouver, then got on the skytrain and soon myself, Andy and Ian found ourselves back at the hostel where it all began. The year had come full circle. After a whole day travelling we could get some rest. Or so we thought. It turns out some French people had got into the room we were staying in and it took them about an hour to sort out another room for us. We were finally given a room with another old man who smelled heavly of cigarettes. Although he was a lot more pleasant than the old man who stayed in the room the next night. He was a racist hells angel who had been in hospital after hitting a moose.
Even though we were only back for a few days there was still time for more exciting adventures. After getting our bags stored in my old home, we bid a final farewell to Shuji. On the bus ride back, a police car suddenly pulled up infront of the bus and armed officers got on looking for three young males. Fortunately it wasn't us and three other young males were physically removed from the bus, thrust onto the ground outside and cuffed. One of them was valiantly trying to pull up his oversized jeans that had slipped down his legs.
That evening we met up with the fellow BUNAC members left in Vancouver at our favourite bar, The Kings Head.
Hey it's everyone for one last time. Except Keenie who's been cut off the side of the picture. Some would argue that just makes it better
To say a final farewell to Vancouver myself, Andy and Ian went on a bus tour round the city to say one last goodbye to some of our favourite places.
Goodbye Gastown. We even made one last stop to the Old Spaghetti Factory
Goodbye Dunismuir Street and all it had to offer
Goodbye Vancouver art gallery
Goodbye Granville Island
Goodbye Stanley Park
Goodbye building with green roof used as the vampire's lair in the short lived Blade tv series
Goobye Vancouver
The next day I waved goodbye to Chris, Ian and Andy as they caught their taxi to the airport. After returning from the shop I found Keenie wandering around the hostel. "Where is everyone" he said in a panic. He later rushed off to the bus stop. I'm sure he made his flight.
The day after that I met Simon at the airport and we finally left, we were on our way back to England. But no, even though we had left Canada the journey was still not over. There was still one night in London before we would have to say goodbye.
The rest of us caught a public bus into the city and used all our remaining US money to buy a meal in a fairly posh restaurant. I'm sure they were really impressed seeing 4 people lugging large backpacks and suitcases into their restaurant and then ordering 3 starters between them.
We later got the bus back to Vancouver, then got on the skytrain and soon myself, Andy and Ian found ourselves back at the hostel where it all began. The year had come full circle. After a whole day travelling we could get some rest. Or so we thought. It turns out some French people had got into the room we were staying in and it took them about an hour to sort out another room for us. We were finally given a room with another old man who smelled heavly of cigarettes. Although he was a lot more pleasant than the old man who stayed in the room the next night. He was a racist hells angel who had been in hospital after hitting a moose.
Even though we were only back for a few days there was still time for more exciting adventures. After getting our bags stored in my old home, we bid a final farewell to Shuji. On the bus ride back, a police car suddenly pulled up infront of the bus and armed officers got on looking for three young males. Fortunately it wasn't us and three other young males were physically removed from the bus, thrust onto the ground outside and cuffed. One of them was valiantly trying to pull up his oversized jeans that had slipped down his legs.
That evening we met up with the fellow BUNAC members left in Vancouver at our favourite bar, The Kings Head.
Hey it's everyone for one last time. Except Keenie who's been cut off the side of the picture. Some would argue that just makes it betterTo say a final farewell to Vancouver myself, Andy and Ian went on a bus tour round the city to say one last goodbye to some of our favourite places.
Goodbye Gastown. We even made one last stop to the Old Spaghetti Factory
Goodbye Dunismuir Street and all it had to offer
Goodbye Vancouver art gallery
Goodbye Granville Island
Goodbye Stanley Park
Goodbye building with green roof used as the vampire's lair in the short lived Blade tv series
Goobye VancouverThe next day I waved goodbye to Chris, Ian and Andy as they caught their taxi to the airport. After returning from the shop I found Keenie wandering around the hostel. "Where is everyone" he said in a panic. He later rushed off to the bus stop. I'm sure he made his flight.
The day after that I met Simon at the airport and we finally left, we were on our way back to England. But no, even though we had left Canada the journey was still not over. There was still one night in London before we would have to say goodbye.
posted by Paul Banks at 7:55 AM
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