People have been asking me about my vacation and lamenting that they haven’t seen anything on LJ about it. So, here you all are. Enjoy.

My Trip
by The Gina

I had a vehicle holiday
I took the subway (bart and air bart), a plane (Southwest to LA), a boat (Norwegian Cruise Lines to Vancouver BC with a stop in Seattle and a stop in Victoria BC), public transport (Skytrain to the hostel), a bus (Trailways from Vancouver BC to Seattle), a train (Amtrak to Emeryville), and lastly, a car (mine was waiting at the train station)
Since the cruise was the first part of the trip and I don’t want to start the description of the trip on a sour note, I will just say that a cruise is not for me. I might rant at the end.

This leaves us starting with landing in Vancouver. I trudge my backpack, my roller carry-on and utility bag through customs, not too much of a pain. Hop on Skytrain to the train station and walk the three or so blocks to the C and N Backpacker’s Hostel ($40 a night for a private room). Let me just say this is the only time it rained the entire time I was in the NorthWest and I loved it. The ink on my baggage tags ran but who cares! I took the tourist Trolley tour (23 stops for $26 all over downtown Vancouver). I used this as on orientation and I feel like I know downtown Vancouver as well as I know downtown Oakland now. I visited the Dr. Sun Yet-Sen Classical Chinese garden. Very nice, very small, I have lots of pictures. I went up and down Robson Street (I like the name Robsonstrasse best), the main “shopping” drag downtown. I had lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory and got to do a compare and contrast between it and the ones I know in the States.

The hostel was nice. Ok, it was passable and very much like a hostel and not a hotel but I felt very comfortable there (more so than the boat even though the hostel room was smaller). There were many things that should have annoyed the living daylights out of me but I was able to take in stride. I am very pleased with this. It has been 13 years since I left the country and longer since I traveled like this. I was happy to find out that I haven’t outgrown it and can still do the backpacking touring type of thing. Now if I could just get past the traveling to get to the location problem. Dealing with things once I am there has turned out not to be a problem. Yay!
Day two saw me with an all day pass for Translink, the public transit system in Vancouver. I really like it. I hit Gastown for the last of my souvenirs and Robsonstrassa for something I wanted to try on. I finally found a gold string bikini (I have been looking for one since Halloween) but they wanted CAN$90 and that is way too much. Then my trip for the day was to Deer Lake Park. There is a historic Village there where everyone dresses in Victorian clothes and a vintage carousal. On my way there, I hit Safeway and got to do another compare and contrast (btw, I did McDonalds for breakfast and did it there too). I picked up some more goodies and breakfast for the next day. I took what looked like a bus in the direction I wanted to go but it hit the end of its line about half way there. I took the next bus and headed 90 degrees off. Finally figured out that the best way is to Skytrain as close as it gets even if it is the wrong direction and then catch a bus. The busses don’t go straight, only off of Skytrain. It is a good system if you understand how to make it work. So I ended up at Skytrain again at a Mall so I explored it. I found yet another grocery type store, a cross between a Super K-mart and Costco and got the last of my purchases from Canada. Then I found the right bus and got to Deer Lake Park around 5:30pm. Too bad the Village closed at 4:30pm at this time of year. Oh well. I then walked to the lake and sat watching the sun lower and feed some ducks. Then I walked onward to catch a bus. Boy, did I walk a lot on this trip. Sugar and Spice should be so proud of me. I just missed the bus and had to wait half an hour. I am glad I went everywhere with a book. I got back to the hostel much quicker than I left. After curling under the covers for a little while to get warm again, I took off for dinner. It was silly to leave at 9pm to find somewhere for dinner when I have to be on a bus at 5:45am but I decided I didn’t care. I wanted to try this Russian place on Broadway. I figured out the bus system to get there and it was closed on Mondays. Argggg. There was a pizza place nearby so I got yummy cheese pizza before working my way back to the hostel. It was an entertaining trip because the Canunuks were playing and everyone was running around with flags on hockey sticks. I guess it was a good thing they lost because I was heading home right past the stadium at the end of the game. I am not sure how everyone would have behaved the the amazing happened and the Canunuks won.

I was at the train station at 5:30am the next morning, ready to go. I got talking with Anne (Annelisse), a Vancouverite with a German accent that was taking the train to spend 2 days in San Francisco scouting it out for a longer trip later. Later on the train, we poured over a map of SF and I marked where she was staying and things she wanted to see. I had great fun being an information source. I also ran into Charla and Dan, a couple I met on the cruise. I really enjoyed spending time talking with them. They were the highlight of my cruise experience and added quite a bit to the train trip. I would try to keep in contact with them if I didn’t know better. They live in SoCal and I don’t do well with long distance friends.

I camped out at one of the lounge tables and made a poet shirt. I just have to figure out what I want to do for the cuffs and sew the sleeves/body and it is done. I met the author of Tiger Ladies, a book about women in Kashmir. She was taking the train from Seattle to Portland to see the scenery. She was going to be in San Jose and SF later but too soon for the train to get her there. That night, they showed Two Weeks Notice. It was supposedly showing on the cruise ship but never at the times they posted so that was a nice save. It was in a little movie theater that the first class passengers get access too. Let me just say, getting a sleeper is expensive (the train was more than the cruise) but so worth it. All your food is included and you can leave your stuff behind while you wonder the train. The price is reasonable for two, but I think I am getting spoiled being on my own. I leave the bottom bunk set up as seats and sleep in the top bunk. That way I am not bothered by the lights wizzing by, snug in a little cave and have almost all the same room as before (without the headspace) for my stuff. I love it.

By the time we were getting close to my stop, I was ready to go. We had to wait a little while before pulling into the Emeryville station. I was bouncing saying let me out: Open…Open…Open. When I got off the train, my car was waiting for me. It was so nice.

Arriving home ended on a sour note that I wont go into.

The last part of my trip, I really enjoyed. I wish more it could be like that. I also wish I could handle the traveling so that I could get to places so I could enjoy them like I did Vancouver. Another wish is that the trip was as restorative as last years trip was but it doesn’t seem to have turned out that way. I am trying hard to hang onto the good of this trip and let the bad fade away. I have lots of pictures, about 150. Gotta love digital. Not sure when I will get them up or if I will get all of them up. Sugar and Spice do photo albums of the best pictures with lots of descriptives. I would like to do something like that but I don’t know if I have the drive and determination. Spice is the driving force and Sugar enjoys.

Quick summation rant on the cruise:
I would highly recommend the cruise line and the cheap relocation cruises to anyone that would like a cruise. All of my complains are about how I am with what is the basic nature of a cruise.
I did get 17 levels of upgrade. There were many more levels above me but I paid for the cheapest room inside and I got a room large enough to sleep 4 people with a porthole on the Viking Deck (deck 8 of 12). I did love the cool shower and the bathroom. It was almost bigger than my bathroom at home.
Beds too hard: My back hurt for 3 days. I don’t deal well with pain. After the first night, they brought me egg crate foam things for the bed. It helped, a little, just a little. I didn’t hurt my the end of the 5 day cruise.
The air was too dry: The air circulation system sucked so much moisture out of the air that I had a hard time breathing. My lips and finger cuticles were cracking. I saw 2am every morning because I couldn’t sleep through the night with the air so dry. What I finally figured out to take the hot pot, fill it with water, leave the lid open and steam the room. It would take an hour to boil the pot empty. When it was done, you could draw on every surface in the cabin. Every surface would be dry again in a couple of hours if not sooner. I would steam for half an hour to an hour when I went to bed and then get up at 2am to fill the pot and steam for another half hour. I would have to stay awake to turn the pot off.
Vibrations: I dislike vibrations. I am getting to a point I hate steady vibrations. I am sensitive enough that I could feel the engine vibrations whenever they were on. That is whenever we were at sea, which is every single night. I was pleasantly surprised I had no problem with the sway of the ship. Just the engine.
Most of the entertainment was there to get more money out of you: Casino, Bingo, Art Auction.
The boat was full of mundanes: Normal people that are very little like me, so every thing was set up for “normal people.” This is a special rant that might get covered some point in the future.
I left the room to eat. I managed to find something I could eat every meal so that was ok. I had a frig in the room so I would take cereal and milk in the morning and stash it so that I had something to eat when I woke up.

I made a pair of brown velvet pants and a white skirt with lace on the cruise. That was good.
We had a full day in Seattle: 9am to 10pm but the really cool theater production was that night and I missed it. It was a cirque du soleil treatment to Peter Pan. I was having dinner with Charla and Dan (see train ride for more info) and had a nice time with them. It made it worth it.
Victoria was a short day: 9am to 5pm. It really added stress to see things while you could. I don’t like visiting places like that.

A cruise might be worthwhile if it was a scifi con or something like that. Other than that, it is a no go.

So that is my trip.