Top 5 Things We Will Miss About Vancouver, BC

Yesterday marked the first day of our last month living and working in Vancouver, BC. At the end of the month we will make our thirteenth move as a couple out to the beautiful city of Kelowna, BC.

We first visited Vancouver, BC back in August of 2018. It was a trip with two purposes. One to activate my IEC Working Holiday Visa before I lost out on using it, and two to scope out where we might want to live when we returned to Canada.

We spent two amazing weeks travelling across Canada by train from Vancouver-Jasper-Winnipeg-Toronto before flying back to the UK. Sadly, Vancouver, BC, did not thrill us upon our first visit. The beautiful province of British Columbia had over 600 wildfires burning and we spent most of the first four days of our time in Canada struggling to breathe and unable to see any of the amazing views that people had told us we would absolutely fall in love with.

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We had an amazing adventure travelling across Canada on the Via Rail Train, August 2018

When we landed back in the UK at the end of August 2018, we were fairly certain that we were going to be living in Toronto, ON upon our return to Canada. Somehow, the stars aligned and in April 2019 we found ourselves boarding a plane to start a new life in Vancouver, BC.

Now, 18 months later (which is the longest we have stayed in one place throughout our six year relationship), we are ready for our next step. Our feet have been itching for a while, and whilst we are very excited to be moving to Kelowna, BC, there are definitely things we will miss about our current city.

So, in honour of our last month, here are the Top 5 Things We Will Miss About Vancouver, BC.

1. Gazing at the North Shore Mountains from Canada Place

Canada Place, home to the Port of Vancouver, is where I fell in love with Vancouver, BC. It rains a lot here and we spent our first couple of weeks wondering if we had made the right decision in moving to Canada. When the rain finally stopped, we did not hesitate for a second on getting out to explore the city.

When we lay eyes on the view of the north shore and the incredible mountains we had so sorely missed in August 2018, we absolutely knew we’d made the right decision.

We FINALLY got to see the mountains! Walking the Seawall towards Canada Place, Vancouver, BC, April 2019

We even had a wonderful NYE staycation at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel which is built into Canada Place to welcome in 2020. Looking back at 2020, it was definitely one of the highlights!

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NYE 2019-20

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NYD 2020

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NYE 2019-20

We will 100% miss the peace and serenity to be found at Canada Place and all the way along the seawall.

2. The awesome Craft Beer scene in and around the city

Something that we were pleasantly surprised to find when we moved to Vancouver, BC, is that beer is a big deal here. (We were also shocked to learn that Canada has a very active wine region, but that’s definitely another post for when we move there!)

We have had many a wonderful day over the last 18 months going to explore somewhere and finishing off the day with a beer or five. From tasting the endless rotating taps at the Craft Beer Market in Olympic Village, to doing a walking tour of the micro-breweries in Mount Pleasant to following the BC Ale Trail inland to Port Moody, we have had a ball trying out as many tasting paddles as we could lay our hands on. We’re very hopeful that we will be able to continue our beer adventures in Kelowna, BC.

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We’ve had so much fun drinking ALL the beer and eating ALL the food! Multiple breweries, Vancouver, BC, 2019-2020

3. Endless opportunities for hiking in places such as Stanley Park, Lynn Canyon and Grouse Mountain

We are definitely not what one could comfortably refer to as “hikers”. We are almost always unprepared when we set off, we’re pretty much scared of anything we might encounter along the way (in Canada’s case, bears) and we whine and moan for 90% of the time we’re on the hike.

All that said, we have absolutely loved being outdoors here. There are so many accessible places in and around the city with hikes ranging from little 200m trails, to 20km+. (Our longest so far was 12km on the Sunshine Coast and it almost killed us!)

It would be almost impossible to list all of the places we’ve enjoyed exploring in the past 18 months, but if you have time I would strongly recommend the following places:

1. Stanley Park

2. Queen Elizabeth Park

3. Deep Cove and Quarry Rock (QR is currently closed due to Covid)

4. Lynn Canyon (LC suspension bridge is currently closed due to Covid)

5. Bowen Island

6. Grouse Mountain

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Stanley Park, August 2018

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Queen Elizabeth Park, September 2020

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Deep Cove, August 2020

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Bowen Island, June 2020

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Grouse Mountain, July 2020

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Lynn Canyon, August 2020

There are an abundance of beautiful places to explore in and around Vancouver, BC

The great thing about all of the places listed above is that they are completely transit accessible (although if you have access to a car it would make a big difference) and they have activities to suit all ages and abilities – even completely underprepared novices like ourselves!

4. West Coast Sunsets

I absolutely LOVE a sunset and have been fortunate enough to see some absolutely incredible ones over the years. I think my all time favourite was watching a storm roll in as the sun was setting on the south west tip of Sri Lanka, in Galle.

The photo will never do this scene justice, Galle Fort, Sri Lanka, November 2017

But wanderlust aside, we have been treated to some absolute dream sunsets since we moved to Vancouver, BC. Our apartment is on the 17th floor and is south facing so we get the sun all day (on days when it isn’t raining, which as discussed in great detail, is about 70% of the year!)

I will never be able to do mother nature justice with my many, many, many photos of sunsets and watching the sun set over the ocean and Vancouver Island is something I will really miss.

Sunset over False Creek taken from the Cambie Street Bridge, Vancouver, BC, August 2019

Sunset over Vancouver Island, taken from our apartment, Vancouver, BC, August 2019

5. Having friends and an active social circle!

Since we moved to Vancouver we have met countless people from a wide variety of nationalities, which should be unsurprising given that over 40% of people who call Vancouver home are not originally from Canada. People we have met have come from all walks of life and we have learned something from each of them.

Of course, you are not going to be lifelong friends with everyone you meet, especially when you move around as much as we do, but we have forged some truly meaningful friendships with people that we hope to know for a very long time.

Being in Vancouver for 18 months has allowed some friendships to bloom in a way that they may not have if we hadn’t put down some roots here and we are hopeful that we will have a few visitors in the coming months!

Looking much more sober than we were with our friend Ian just before lockdown hit, Kitsilano Beach, March 2020

#Canada #Memories #Travel #BritishColumbia #Vancouver