Travel Notes on Vancouver

  1. Vancouver is now my favorite city. It used to be New York for all its glorious nooks and crannies. Then I temporarily gave the number one spot to San Francisco. Only temporarily because I figured, I will grow tired of SF and that’s something I couldn’t foresee doing with New York. It is now Vancouver and I cannot wait to go back.
  2. Hailing from Texas and freezing at anything lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit, I didn’t think I was an outdoorsy person. In Vancouver, I loved being outside. The weather was cool and the scenery is perfect.
  3. I was gawking at the gorgeous views of blue and green in Colorado from photos of a friend’s recent vacation but knew in my heart, I love urban living too much to ever be passionate about the pretty lakes and greenery. Vancouver is the compromise between my need for skyscrapers and city lights and fanciful desires to admire natural landscapes. A city nestled amongst ocean and mountains.
  4. The sushi here is phenomenal. And much cheaper than in Austin, Houston, and Dallas Texas.
  5. I walked around downtown at night and sometimes by myself and never felt like I should be running to my destination with my phone pre-dialed to 911 or a key ready to gouge out eyes.
  6. Regarding chains: Surprised to see a Dairy Queen in Vancouver! Also had my first Fatburger experience. There’s tons of Starbucks. I usually look for an H&M when I travel in the states but didn’t do that for Vancouver. Was giddy with joy when I found our hotel was 2 blocks away from an H&M.
  7. Alan could not get up for the early morning departures for neighboring cities, like Victoria. So this only means, I have to go back to Vancouver and see it on my own while he does his thing for a day or go with a few girlfriends. Maybe, I’ll do it when I go to Seattle!
  8. I love Canadian hospitality and accent, eh!
  9. The Asian population in Vancouver is astounding.
  10. I’ve never seen so many parks just walking about in a city. It seems every 2-3 blocks there’s a darling park with inviting art, benches, fountains, interesting seating, just beckoning passersby to lounge.

Question: What’s your favorite city and why?

Post Update: I scheduled this post to publish early on the weekend but must update you on my hometown. Vancouver may be my favorite city to visit, but Austin is where my heart is. Central Texas is burning, the biggest fire being in Bastrop, TX, just 30 minutes away from Austin. If you can spare a few dollars to donate to the Red Cross, it can help go a long way. Last I checked, the biggest fire is 6 miles by 16 miles big. 250,000 acres have been charred. Here’s a facebook image of Austin’s capitol building for some perspective.