Year 4 Day 137 “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 9/14/2024. Day 4 of 25-day Alaska to Las Vegas trip. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Amtrak Cascades ride from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, Canada was 467 miles. This service operates at a max speed of 79 mph and operates two daily round trips. It was a very very exhausting day of lousy food. We were in business class on this train, so the seats were larger.
After the last stop in the United States all passengers had to remain in their seats while they checked everyone’s passports for a second time. They also checked all restrooms, and we were given a declarations form to complete and give to customs upon arrival in the station. We pulled into the Amtrak station in Vancouver, Canada about 10.20pm. We had to stay onboard while luggage was unloaded and placed next to the fence outside the train. The train also had to be visibly checked outside. They then came seat by seat and escorted you off. We happened to be the second ones off. There are advantages to paying a little extra for Business class seats. We got off the last car of the train. It was in the 50’s Fahrenheit and drizzling. We picked up our baggage from the side of the fence and walked the length of the train into customs. I didn’t count the cars, but the train was probably 12 to 14 cars long. Once inside there were high desks with customs officers. We provided our passports, declarations paper, and answered a few questions and we were on our way. Quick and easy. I opened that handy dandy uber app and we had a car there in a few minutes. It was about a 20-minute ride to the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown. By the time we arrived at the hotel we were exhausted. Check in was super easy. We are on the 14th floor. A nice one bedroom with separate living room area. We are in the middle of Burnaby close to the Metropolis at Metrotown and the SkyTrain to Downtown Vancouver and Rogers Arena. We are also near the business district where some of the city’s largest tech, financial, consulting and engineering corporate offices are less than a 10-minute walk. Burnaby is the city immediately to the east of the City of Vancouver and is home to North America’s only mountain top university. We basically walked into our room, threw off our clothes, dropped into bed, and slept till 6:30am this morning. Oh, what a nice shower and breakfast we had today.
It is a cool drizzly day. Our room has a beautiful view of the city and surrounding area. I could see a nice large park, but with the weather looking like it could pour at any time I doubted we would wander that far from the hotel today.
We headed to the Metropolis at Metrotown (British Columbia’s largest and Canada’s fifth-largest shopping center) to walk around.
After walking through the immense mall, we walked back to the Hilton through the Crystal Mall. The Crystal Mall is directly adjoined to the Hilton Metrotown Vancouver Hotel.
In the afternoon we walked up through the Burnaby Civic Square.
Today is just a hang out day. Tomorrow is ship boarding day.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Womens Fashion Orthotic Flip Flops: https://amzn.to/4efeh5w These are the most comfortable flip flops I have ever owned. You can wear them all day and your feet and legs feel great. They come in lots of different colors. Currently, I own one pair. I plan to buy a few more after vacation. They also work great as slippers.
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To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count