- Weeknotes. My weekly notes don't feel like a chore, but while on holiday I enjoyed not computering too much, so this week has two week's worth of updates.
- Parentally Controlled Windows. Travel to Canada took place on an Air Canada 787-9 in row 45, seats B & C. For their price, these seats were pretty nice for a traveling twosome - though the luggage room was limited. My only complaint was the crew playing dictator with the electrochromatic windows. We met Anna's friend Tamsin and headed out to Golden where we'd rented a cabin for a week.
- A British Columbia Experience. Some highlights & recommendations:
- Canoing 17km down the Columbia River and lunching on a private river island.
- Hot, cold, hot and cold dipping in the Radium hot springs.
- A long hike in Yoho National Park featuring much variation in terrain and different views.
- Visiting the Boo the Bear. Boo's mother was killed by a hunter at an early age and while he lives in captivity, he's taught us a lot about bears and many separated bears have now been re-introduced to the wild as a result.
- Walking on the Athabasca Glacier (after being driven up in a 'Terra Bus') was a rather sobering Climate Change experience.
- Getting caught in a 'Bear Jam' and seeing a Black Bear in the wild.
- Visiting lake Moraine Lake and swimming in Emerald Lake.
- Next Stop: Vancouver! We closed out the trip with a few days in pottering around bear-free Vancouver. I really enjoyed the city, in the lovely weather it had Valencia vibes with the bikes and the beaches - shame it's so far away!
- City by the sea, & good coffee. On our first day we enjoyed just being by the ocean, eating lunch at the market on Granville Island and a veggie dinner. The False Creek Ferries are also a lot of fun.
- Day 2 had a lazy start followed by a tasty Lebanese Lunch with Torin, a local Styra colleague! After lunch we cycled around Stanley Park before wandering back to Kits beach to watch the sunset - while eating pizza and drinking wine (permitted as part of a beach 'liquor trial').
- We took a day trip to Bowen Island on our last day. The ferry trip was fun in itself, but it'd have been better to go earlier and on a quieter day to get in a longer hike up Mt Gardner.
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Travel. Some other unstructured travel thoughts. I had a pretty good experience with Airalo for getting travel eSIMs. Tote bags are great for plane travel, easy access for liquids and laptops, fit under the seat etc. Canadian roads are lovely and chill vs most if not all other countries I've visited. Vancouver Airport is neoliberalism-free and has carpeted floors (big love).
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'It's Just Beach'. Just before we went away, I saw Barbie in the cinema. I thought it was great and listened the soundtrack for much flight to Calgary. Maybe the I next time I have a long flight I'll watch Oppenheimer, but it'd need to be a really long one.