{"id":2727,"date":"2016-09-29T16:14:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T16:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/\/?p=2727"},"modified":"2018-08-21T14:02:46","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T14:02:46","slug":"vancouver-city-of-rainbows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/vancouver-city-of-rainbows\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver, city of rainbows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday morning, we helped Jaime and Eric set up their boot at the market in 100 Mile House. They asked us if we could stay some days longer because there was a big fair for several days until Monday and they could use our help. However, we had to continue our trip because our temporary insurance for the car would expire soon. And if it would prove too much trouble to get a new one in British Columbia (BC) we would have to drive all the way back to Winnipeg to get a new one (it sounds crazy but, be sure we tried to figure out other options). So we said goodbye to the whole family and had some last laughs with Echo before we left.<\/p>\n

So off we went, in the direction of Vancouver! Once again we enjoyed the endless countryside of Canada. We saw climates change again, from wet to dry and later wet again\u2026 Somewhere in the middle of our trip we took a brake at Lytton, a little town besides the big Fraser river. Some forest fires were in progress at the other side of the river and we had some spectacular views on the fires and the many helicopters trying to fight them by dropping tons of river water on top of them. However, the life in the little town did not seem to be affected at all, it appeared to be business as usual. After a brake and some lunch, we continued our way to Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
A break in the rainy mountains <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rainy <\/a>
Rainy mountains <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rainy <\/a>
Rainy mountains <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Forst <\/a>
Forst fires along the Frase river <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

When we approached Vancouver we had to cross the Port Mann bridge to enter the city. Some signs warned us this was a toll bridge so we had our wallet ready to pay. However, we did not come across any boot or place to pay the toll. The system works with scanners that read the license plates of cars so you can pay online (before or after crossing the bridge). This caused an issue as we didn\u2019t have a license plate. We did some research later and came to the conclusion the system could not track us at all and even when we tried to pay online later it was impossible for us as a valid license plate was needed to fill out the form. Long story short, we crossed the bridge twice without paying any penny.<\/p>\n

We had planned to stay with a friend of Jane and Rod, however it turned out he was ill so it was not really possible to stay with him. Since our budget didn\u2019t allow expensive Canadian hotel prices for several nights we decided to try to sleep in our car on the street. After the weekend we could stay with Kerry and her family, who are friends of our friends in Belgium (thanks Evy and Stef!). So we found a good spot in a quiet neighborhood to park our car and spent the night. It was a bit strange feeling, but besides that it was pretty fine.<\/p>\n

\"One <\/a>
One the beach <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"On <\/a>
On the beach <\/div> <\/div>
\"Impression <\/a>
Impression 1 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Impression <\/a>
Impression 2 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Enjoying <\/a>
Enjoying the evening sun <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Enjoying <\/a>
Enjoying the evening sun <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Kitsilano <\/a>
Kitsilano beach <\/div> <\/div>
\"Enjoying <\/a>
Enjoying the evening sun <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Enjoying <\/a>
Enjoying the evening sun <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Vancouver <\/a>
Vancouver skyline <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sunset <\/a>
Sunset at Jericho beach <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sunset <\/a>
Sunset at Jericho beach <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The first two days we visited Vancouver and had some walks around the city. We met our first racoons in the park and overall liked the relaxed atmosphere in the city.<\/p>\n

\"Vancouver\" <\/a>
Vancouver <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Racoons <\/a>
Racoons posing <\/div> <\/div>
\"Racoons <\/a>
Racoons posingRacoons posing <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Racoons <\/a>
Racoons posing <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Racoons <\/a>
Racoons posing <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Tankers <\/a>
Tankers in English Bay <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Walking <\/a>
Walking on a rainbow <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Vancouver <\/a>
Vancouver skyline <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

We also searched an insurance broker and asked them what the procedure would be to get an insurance for our car. The answer was very detailed and clear, but the result would be pretty expensive. We made some calculations and in the end we had a choice between two options: have a BC insurance for 3 months (even though we would only need one for maximum 1,5 month) with license plates, or drive back to Winnipeg and have another temporary insurance for a month, without license plates. However, the last option would save us more than 400 dollars even if we calculated the extra money we would spend on gas to drive back to Winnipeg. Also we would not have to go through a hurried procedure of getting the car reregistered in BC, of course we would have to spend 2 days of driving back to Manitoba instead. We talked about it for a bit and finally decided to go back to Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

We were glad the decision was made, even though it did not feel good to cross the half of Canada once again. The thought we would see the Lastra family again was very nice though. And we were looking forward to it!<\/p>\n