Mount Royal

The last of our VIA Rail adventures was a trip to Montreal. Another early morning at Union Station with a breakfast from McDonald's; the third and final egg and sausage McMuffin.

The nation's capital

OTTAWA.

We wanted to make the most of the rail pass, but also did not have enough time to go to the east coast.We also had another day trip planned for Niagara Falls which we ultimately needed to cancel due to schedule conflicts. So off to the capital!

Homebound

We began our journey home with a bit of luck - an actual overnight cart! Sadly, we were separated from some of our train buddies as they were stopping along the way and therefore placed in other carts.

A rush of adrenaline

If you ask Dan and I about a stand-out moment in Vancouver, I'm pretty sure we will both think of this day first.

We started the day off pretty easy. We didn't set any alarms and left our hostel at 10am. We decided to pay a visit to Finch's, a cute cafe we had passed by the other day.

Conquering the Chief

Stawamus Chief deserves a post of its own. I have been wanting to do this hike the last three times I was in BC, but things never worked out. We almost didn't make it here this time as well; it is difficult to visit Squamish without a car, but thankfully Ranee's roommate and Evo saved us!




The two more advanced hikers lost us pretty early on, and we started up the stairs and quickly realized we would need several breaks to get through this.

We hike to eat

We started the morning with a trip to Revolver Coffee, which was across our hostel in Gastown. We sat to write our postcards before venturing over to the post office.



We wandered over to Richmond to have dim sum with my aunt and uncle, and then went to pay Daiso a visit. There, we encountered the longest line I've ever seen on my life - it looped the entirety of Aberdeen Centre. When we asked a man in line what it was for, he said they were trading regular toonies for a limited edition Canada 150 one.

After spending a shocking amount at a "dollar store", we met up with Ran and took the bus to Lighthouse Park.

Back to the west coast

This is the dearly delayed post of last year's VIA Rail adventures.

The very first thing we did when we got off the train was book it to our hostel. After we remedied the 4 days of no showering, we headed out for brunch at the nearby Catch 122 Cafe Bistro.




We also lived by JJ Bean, and paid it our first visit of many.

The rest of the day was spent leisurely walking around downtown, picking up some Dollarama items for our room, stumbling across more bears, and ended with super indulgent ice cream and Messenger video chats.

4 nights on a train

The month of July was spent travelling around Canada with Dan aboard VIA Rail. We were among the lucky 4000 youths who snagged a pass, albeit with some panic and 3AM madness. I'm sure this will be one of the stories we tell young'uns when we're seventy, on our rockers and sipping a cup of tea.

As it was the first day of travel available for those with the pass, there were celebrations aplenty awaiting us at Union Station. They were squeezing every last bit of the marketing they could get from the crowds of youth lining up for hours atop their luggage. We were showered with free candy and sandwiches to keep up our spirits.

We spent 4 days and 4 nights on a train. No beds, no showers, and minimal food available. Misery loves company, and we had a lot of it. It just so happened that our nearby seatmates were travelling solo, and we made friends with them.







Our days consisted of sunrises, sunsets, prepackaged foods, silly games, naps, reading, journaling, and awaiting the next stop so we could stretch our legs and get some fresh air.

VIA Rail Canada 150

Today marks the last day of the VIA Rail 150 pass, and the end of our adventures this month. Thankful for all the amazing people we met during this trip, and personally amazed that my travel buddy and I did not kill each other. Success!