Once in a lifetime trip…on Amtrak!

We decided to go from Vancouver (Washington) to Vancouver (Canada) last weekend, to see something of Vancouver and to spend a bit of time with some friends. As the weather can be cold, rainy and generally miserable at this time of the year – we thought that we would take a train up to Canada, to avoid possibly making the entire trip driving on I-5 in the rain. So the plans were made and we booked business class seats to Canada (is there any other way to travel, except business class!) We checked out the local station a couple of days before the trip, so we knew where to park etc. The station is small, neat and cozy. You can see pictures in the album link, at the end.

So with a leisurely start (3pm) we got on the train, and it was really quite comfortable and we had 4 stops on the trip to Seattle and although we left about 15 minutes late, we made the 3 hour trip to Seattle in about 3 hours (about the same time as it takes to drive) – but a lot less stressful. Unfortunately it soon got dark and so there was not much to see, thank goodness for iPods and audio books.

There was a ½ hour stop in Seattle and then we headed North to Canada. The drive would be expected to take about 2 ½ hours – this train took 5 hours!!! We just crawled along and many times stopped. We finally arrived in Vancouver BC, at 11.30pm. This ceased being a lot of fun, but a long drawn out affair – on the plus side my book was gripping and the seats comfortable and the ½ bottle of wine (which was surprisingly good) that we had shared earlier in the trip, a distant memory.
We took a taxi to our hotel – Marriott Pinnacle, and crashed.

Friday morning: After sleeping in we decided as although it was not raining, it was windy and chilly that we would take the “Hop On- Hop Off” bus around Vancouver city (but only hop off, once or twice.

The total trip took 2 ½ hours and gave us a great look at the city, with an encapsulated history lesson – we said that we have to come back and see it again, when the weather is more conducive to walking around a bit more.

 Our first hop off was at Granville Island, full of stores and a market, with all sorts of wonderful fruits, vegetables and wondrous meats and fish.  We then got back on the bus and got to see some more of the city, before getting off in the Gastown area, where we decided to do a wine and cheese tasting – at “Salt”, which was very good. Then we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to relax for a while, before heading out to a really nice Italian meal.

On Saturday our friends collected us and took us to their home where we had an enjoyable day talking and relaxing, but they did have about 4” SNOW – yuk!

On Sunday we headed for home, we had purchased tickets from Bellingham down to Seattle on the bus (as the only train left, at an ungodly hour of the morning) the bus left at 2.40pm and took us to Seattle, where we connected to the Train, which took us back to Vancouver, WA. The bus, was like all long distance busses, did the job and was not super comfortable. We were supposed to have a ½ wait in Seattle station (which has definitely seen better days) however it soon became an hour – apparently Amtrak, has a problem being on time. The trip home was the same as the one up and we got home around 9pm.

It was an experience, and probably our first and last trip with Amtrak.

But we will return to Vancouver BC

Link to more pictures of the trip