Vancouver

Episode 5: Vancouver Adventure - Flying Air Canada from Singapore

Episode Overview

In this episode, I share my recent travel experience flying Air Canada from Singapore to Vancouver, along with highlights from my time exploring this beautiful Canadian city.

What I Discuss

• Discovering Vancouver: Why I recently visited Vancouver
• The Highlights: 
  • Must-visit spots and hidden gems
  • Local cuisine 
  • Best time to visit and seasonal tips
• Practical Bits: Getting there and where to stay
• Local Insights: What I wish I knew before I went

Key Takeaways

• My top tips for first-time visitors to Vancouver
• Visa Requirements for Canada
• How to get to Vancouver

Mentioned in This Episode

• Airlines: Air Canada 
• Accommodation: Time Square Suites Hotel and Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre
• Restaurants/Cafés: Beavertails
• Attractions: Horse-Drawn Tours; Vancouver Aquarium; False Creek Ferry; Vancouver Lookout; City and Seal tour; Toonie Tours and Capilano Suspension Bridge

Next Week

I'll be chatting with Jo Hunter about their love affair with Morocco - you won't want to miss her story.

Are you an expat with a favourite holiday destination you're passionate about? Drop me a line at podcast@trulyexpat.com- I'd love to hear your story!

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Transcript

Welcome and intro to Vancouver’s vibe

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast, where I chat with expats about their favorite holiday destinations. Let's be honest. Expats are some of the best travelers around, always planning the next adventure, exploring hidden gems, and finding the best spots wherever they go. So who better to ask for travel inspiration? So welcome back to Truly Expat Travel Podcast. It's me, Paula, again. I am

Flight details with Air Canada from Singapore

SPEAKER_00 0:34

going to talk to you about my recent trip to a beautiful part of France, uh a little town called Nîmes. I don't know if you've heard of it or why I've chosen this. Because it is so different to any other part of of France that I have been to. It is they do call it like the Rome of France, and that's because well, I'll let you know a little bit more about it a little bit later, but generally speaking, it is just so different to anywhere else. And I really, really fell in love with this little town. When I say little town, it is little, it's really little.

Initial impressions and cultural blend in Vancouver

SPEAKER_00 1:15

And you can walk around, so it's a very walkable street. So let's get into today. Today's episode. I am again, you know, hosting on my own. And I don't know if you already know this or if you've been listening for a little while, but what I have been doing is doing one on my own each month, just on recent trips that I've been doing. I think that maybe I will go back and reflect on some of the other places I visited, but this one is one that I tri visited just before summer, and it was the perfect perfect time of year to travel because it wasn't busy. It was not so touristy, like other places that I visited

Why Vancouver stole my heart and what drew me there

SPEAKER_00 2:00

in May. And it is I don't actually know. I think that I do think that it's probably I have been told, 'cause I did do a tour, that it is very busy there in summer. But it was the perfect temperature, 'cause it was a little bit cooler. It did rain one day, but really just sprinkled, so it wasn't too much of an issue. And it was really easy to kind of get it was really, really easy to get to. Let's start from the beginning. So how I got there via train. So I caught a plate into Marseille, spent a couple of days in Marseille, uh, which again is very, very different. I've been there a few times and it is a little different to other parts of France as well, which I will probably talk about more in other episodes. But if you want to do that kind of this kind of trip that I did, you can go on

How easy it is to get to Vancouver from international locations

SPEAKER_00 2:52

to my website, which is www.trulyxpatravel.com, and there is a 10-day itinerary of guys start, you know, you can start in France, catch a train down to Marseille, and then a train over to Nîmes, or you can fly straight into Marseille and catch a train into Nîmes just as easy. And the countryside's beautiful, so catching a train was quite relaxing and really, really easy. Because when you get

Visa requirements for Aussie travelers and other nationalities

SPEAKER_00 3:22

out of the train station in Nîmes, you literally just walk to your accommodation. It's very, very close. But remember, it's mainly cobblestone streets. So if you are going to be walking a little distance, then I probably if you stay outside, especially if you're staying outside of the of the area, then I would definitely catch a taxi. But or I think you can catch a bus. I'm not sure because I was literally walking distance. I was very close to the train station. And but it was also really close to all of the major attractions too. So I would highly recommend staying closer to the train station so it's not such an issue with your bag, unless you've got a backpack. And then you know it doesn't really matter. So let's get started. As I said, it was really easy to get get there, mm, what my itinerary look like for two days. I started off getting to know the area and I did like a little

My spontaneous 2-day itinerary in Vancouver

SPEAKER_00 4:20

train ride. You know, those little I don't know if you've seen them, especially in Europe. They're big in Europe. There's these little trains that you take that take you on a tour, and they have either a person talking or they have like a a kind of a recording for each place that you kind of go past or stop at and tells you a little bit the history of the area. So that was a really great way to kind of get my bearings because then I realized actually it's not that far. This is a very walkable little town, and why it's so unique, which I discovered as I was going around, is because they do call it like the little row of France, because you have you have like what do you call them? Italian temple, like a old Greek theatre. So it has that Roman feel with a little colosse. Well, it's little colosse compared to other places, but it's still quite big.

Day 1: Exploring Stanley Park by bike and horseback, visiting the aquarium

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Uh and it's workable. And people uh people are uh use it, well they use it for concerts and stuff, so it is a really cool uh way to kind of get your bearings because you do catch the tray near the tourism board, which is very close to the Coliseum. Then I picked up a like a city city ticket, so I think you can only get them from the tourism board, I'm pretty sure. I don't think you can get them online. And it allows you to get into lots of different attractions like the theatre and the museums. There's a couple of museums there, there's a few museums actually. And here is and the Colosseum. So and I think I even used it on the train. I could be wrong, but I think I even used it on the mini train, that little train. So because I actually got I went to the tourism tourism board first, picked up my City Go kart, I don't think it's called City Go. I will link the right definition on the and kind of like the name of it in my show notes, or for the YouTube channel or my kind of notes anyway. So uh I may be calling it incorrectly. The name is correct. Here I am waffling, sorry, I might be calling it the wrong thing, but generally speaking, it's usually a ghost city card or something like that. Anyway, let's get back into it. So after I did that, I actually by the time I did that and walked around the town and had a look at the town and how pretty it is,

Day 2: Walking from Stanley Park to Sunset Beach, ferry to Granville Island

SPEAKER_00 6:44

it's like everything's like white and it's it's almost like other places you see in Europe where it's got like a uh uh what is the word I'm looking for? It's like a co it's a cooler colour uh exterior architecture, like a medieval kind of art architecture. But this place, because they've washed all of the stone and really kept it uh up to date, it's very white. This the town is very white as opposed to other places where it's a little looks a little bit dirty or older. It's very white and very pretty. Like it's like a fairy tale. That's the only way I can explain it. It really captured my heart and I felt like maybe I've just stepped into a story book and this is what medieval towns really look like back in the day. Cobblestones you know, the cobblestone floors and the white exteriors and the the Greek

Enjoying the local food market and boutique shops

SPEAKER_00 7:41

theatre and the Colosseum. I can imagine myself being part of you know, you literally just put yourself back into those days, and you can't I can't believe that in this day and age we still have towns like this. So yeah, I was really fell in love with it, as you can tell. Then went kind of and had some lunch, and can I tell you? I two places that I would highly recommend. One is I'm gonna I'm gonna really cruel the language here, so any French people out there please forgive me for my pronunciation. But Napole for my and can I tell you, you have to sit outside. If it's raining, I guess it's beautiful inside, but outside, you literally sit right in front of the Greek theatre, the Greek temple, and it's uh not theatre, Greek temple, and it's uh so magnificent. Like where else in the world can you sit right in front of a Greek, like Roman kind of you know,

Visiting the Vancouver Lookout for city panoramas

SPEAKER_00 8:40

temple that was built back in the day. Like it's just you know, I don't know. I just sat there and and just loved it. And then I would highly recommend if anyone likes seafood, the salmon tartar or the tartata salvone. I don't know, I don't know if I'm putting my Italian little spin on it. I don't even know how to pronounce that. But in English it's salmon tartar, and it was divine. It was really divine, it blew my mind away. So and I'm not a big French cuisine eater just because I feel like sometimes it's quite rich and I'm just not I do like French food, but it's not one of one one of my easiest things for me to eat. But this was amazing, it was fresh, it was oh yeah. Anyway, I'm taking myself back there at the moment. I just loved it so much. And by that time I then went uh after that, well I then went and had a look at the temple and listened to

Joining a historical walking tour with Tooney Tours

SPEAKER_00 9:38

so you can actually go inside the temple, which is very interesting. Uh so I spent that's kind of I spent my morning, you know, until midday doing that. And then in the afternoon I had a tour of the Coliseum. I had a guided tour. You can go in and get the headphones. It is a it does cost you to get in. There is an entry fee, and you can go in with headphones. I did see people walking around with headphones, but I love a guided tour. Why? Because she was able

Discovering Vancouver’s prohibition-era speakeasies

SPEAKER_00 10:07

to give me so much more information than I think I would have got out of a guided headset, just because I could ask I can ask heaps of questions, and she told me a lot of the history about the history, and also the fact that they come and they still reenact that era. So if you come in, I think she said June, but I'll double check that and put that in my show notes if it's incorrect. But I think it's June that they because I was no, it can't have been June. It was, it must have been April because so I was there in May. So she had said we just said they just had it and where they reenact the whole time of that kind of era and people walk around, it's a massive thing. It is probably their busiest day of the year, but if you want to go back in time and have a look at that, so if if if that's your thing, then then you can because people walk around, she said, in in the clothes

Sunset cruise and the lively Sunset Beach scene

SPEAKER_00 11:00

and it's a real a really good atmosphere. So that was kind of like my first day. I really got to know the area and I also went to in a there's a museum opposite the temple that I went to as well. If you like modern art, then that's probably a great place to have a look at. I'm not really into modern art, so I did scoot around and have a look, but I'm much, I much prefer the classics, so yeah, each to their own. And then that night I had I just kind of walked around and had a look at what was going on, but I really took the first day really kind of slowly, which I'm glad I did, because the next day was quite busy. And day two I then went to on a tour. For those who don't know, Neeme is where Denim originated. And you know, Denim originated. So there's so much history involved in that kind of area. So I did a tour with a a guided tour with a a company that has brought back creating denim there. So as you know, you know, as any other place in the world, little towns kind of can't survive like they used to. So a lot of the manufacturing is being done outside

Reflecting on the city’s friendly vibe and safety

SPEAKER_00 12:25

in in bigger places in France where you can, you know, buy things like Levi's and stuff like that in in the US. So but this particular place uh or p or company has decided to bring Denim back into Nîmes, which I loved. And so they gave us a tour of the boutique, gave us a little bit of the history. I wasn't able to go to the factory, but apparently you can go to the factory and do like a little workshop and see how it's all produced. But it was so fascinating, it really was, and I just love that they've brought back that history into this little town that really deserves it, you know. It was really interesting. So if you want to buy yourself a pair of jeans, this is the place to buy it. And I'll again I'll put it all in the show notes. And I do have a whole article on it on on my website if you really want to get to know to know a little bit more

Surprising features: Vancouver’s pet-friendly neighborhoods & suburban feel

SPEAKER_00 13:19

about it. So the morning was spent uh looking around the little shops. There's so many cute little boutiques, as always in France, but in particular here. So there was a quite a lot of little shops there. I so I did that this in the morning, and then by lunchtime I went to a little like cafe that's called Le Cuistel. I think I'm saying it properly. Le Cuistel, which's which had be like a beautiful food, but can I say and had mussels, so it was yeah, it was really delicious. But their desserts are next level. I honestly, oh, you can't go past desserts there. And and the croissant was like I had a in the morning I went over there and had a coffee and a and a croissant and it was so crispy and light. So I went back at lunch and had a des oh the desserts. The desserts of Dedi for so yeah, definitely there.

The multicultural food scene and key local dishes

SPEAKER_00 14:14

And it's if you sit you can sit inside and it's cozy, it's very busy. It seemed to have the busiest cafe i that I came across, but with with mainly locals. And then you sit outside and it's beautiful. It's just like green and yeah, yeah. It's a it's pretty. Then in the afternoon, my afternoon union was spent in the in this they've got the most beautiful gardens. So I did a whole I walked all around the gardens. There's a little house that used to be there, so it's like an and a little garden of shows you how life used to be. And I felt honestly like I had been transported back into a time like that they wore big dresses and you could see what the garden was, right? These little pockets of places where you could sit down and it was away from the hustle bustle, yet so close. It was so pretty. Like honestly oh yeah. I just I can't stop talking about it because it is honestly my favourite place in the whole of France. And that's a big call because France has got some beautiful little towns and big towns and cities. But yeah, this is by far my favourite place in the world. And then by and then by that afternoon, I then went and had a look at the museums. They've got quite a few museums there. And I like history. So for me, the museums were a great indication of what was going on

Discovering the cruise to Alaska from Vancouver

SPEAKER_00 15:43

back in the time. There's a lot of artifacts and there's a few. I think in the afternoon going to three museums, but one of them also, I don't know if it's an exhibition or whether it it is something that is there all the time, but they had a denim exhibition in the church. I know it sounds crazy, but yeah, it was in the church kind of whore. And it was uh all about the history of where denim come from, how it went to the US, why it went to the US, why it became so big in the US, that kind of thing. Uh that was quite interesting. And that was kind of my two days that I spent walking around. And I just I was able to just also people watch, you know, slow down, people watch, which you don't really do in many places, especially in Asia, you can't, it it's creepy. But in France and Italy and stuff, you tend to be able to sit back and and do that and just fall in love with this little tiny town. Anyway, okay, let's

Local interactions and cultural experiences with Vancouverites

SPEAKER_00 16:40

move right on. How is it to get there? What did your itinerary look like? What were there any standing experience or moments that made the trip unforgettable? It was the whole thing. I'm a big history buff. So for me to find out that denim came from there and that I was able to go and find out all the history about it, how it came about, I loved it. I loved it. That was kind of my standout moment. No, you know what? Actually, that's not true. I had a few. So my standout moment was really getting off that train and walking down the cobblestone of the street. It was so pretty. It was so pretty. It really was. I don't know what it would be looking like in winter, but honestly,

Tips for future trips: booking trains, tours, and visiting popular spots like Capilano Suspension Bridge

SPEAKER_00 17:18

May, perfect temperature, whereas had a little bit of a cardigan on or a light jacket and but light clothes, but the sun was out, blue skies. So pretty. Like so pretty. Every trip has a surprise. I what was unexpected to me, like like I said, was that the town was so pretty. So pretty, lots of history, and it was so different to any other place I've seen in kind of France because of that like Italian heritage, all the you know, those architecture, the architecture was a little different everywhere else. So, and I believe that it's a very arty town. Uh, I'm not sure that's what I was told. I went on another tour and then another day with the local tourism board, and she was able to give me a lot of information about the town, which was great, which is all in my articles, so yeah, we must read them. Did you have any cultural experiences or interactions with local? Yeah, so the tour guides that were so lovely. So I I had uh one tour guide who is had an American mum and a French father, or the other way around. I think, yeah, a French father. So she had so she she uh had the best of both worlds, speaks French, spoke lived in there, lived there all her life pretty much, and but she spoke English perfectly and she was able to explain all the culture of the area. And then I also got to know the people that showed us around for the the denim and do that tour. They were really lovely and also the tourism board was super friendly, super, super friendly. So that's also great. And each restaurant that I went to, the interaction, they were happy to see locals. And to be fair, I don't think I saw that many tourists. You know, there were a few, but not like anywhere else I've been. So I guess I yeah, they were just really, really lovely and grateful for us for me being

Best times to visit and traveling off-peak for avoid crowds

SPEAKER_00 19:12

there. What I wish I had known before I was going that there is more than you should be doing more than just two or three days. There's so much more to see outside of the town as well, which I really didn't get a chance to do, which I think I need to go back and and discover it again. Because there is so many areas. It's a really good hub to space yourself, and it's not that expensive, you know, like it's for a for a French town, it's not very exp like over the top, it's not Paris, you know. So I I highly recommend starting there and then having a day or two trips out elsewhere to the lavender fields, which I really wanted to do, to the bridge, to the little bridge, which is um I saw kind of when we went past it, but no, I would have liked to have gone out there and had a look at it. So there are things, there are heaps of things to do, which I probably should have spent a few more days. And if you could give one tip or advice, I would suggest, again, spending a few more days and it discovering a little bit outside the area, maybe even hiring a car. You can't actually park inside the town in the city. So the city is not worth getting a cart. Definitely don't get a car because you can't park it anywhere. But if you were maybe to do a day trip, maybe you could go outside the city and then and get a car, or have a day tour, like go on a day tour trip um that it's all provided for you so you don't

Final thoughts: Why Vancouver is one of the most captivating cities to explore

SPEAKER_00 20:39

have to worry about that sort of stuff. That's what kind of I would stay a couple more days, or we should really stay a couple more days, and go in a cooler weather when there isn't that many people around and the weather is perfect, or I had one sprinkly day, but it didn't stop me from doing anything. And try all the food. Because the food there is a little different. I think every place in the world, right? Not every town and city has the same, exactly the same cuisine. So yeah, try a few things. But yeah, it definitely should be on your bucket list. So if you're considering going to anywhere on, you know, along the French Riviera or Provence, I'd say to please don't come from me from my pronunciation. But if you are in that neck of the woods, definitely head over to Nîmes because it is one of the most fairy-like pretty towns I've ever been to. And so that's it. That's it from me until next time. I hope you enjoyed this episode. So if you have, please give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to my channel so that you don't miss any destinations or any uh clips of what I've been rambling on about. Anyway, until next time. So join us again next week on Truly Expat Travel Podcast, where I have another exciting destination in a world that's too big to be left unexplored. Chaffin.