vancouver Archives

Summer Summary 2024

Hello friends! I’m sitting at our kitchen table with a hot mug of tea while it’s pouring rain outside – and by pouring rain I mean an ‘atmospheric river’ has hit Metro Vancouver. If anything is going to symbolically announce that summer is long gone and those shy initial stages of fall are over, it’s this. Time to look back and tell you about my summer months.

It’s been a bit quiet over here, sorry about that! I’ll make it up to you with a little (or not so little) summary of what this past summer was like. Officially, summer starts on June 20th, but let me cheat a little bit and start at the end of May, when we had our first summer-ish activity.

Half Corked Marathon

At the end of May, we drove to the Okanagan for a very special event: a half marathon through the vineyards of Osoyoos. We ran 21 kilometer and stopped at 18 wineries for a tasting sample (or two). The theme was “Now That’s The 90s” – it was hilarious to see what everyone was wearing. We went as Baywatch and high fived a bunch of other life guards as well 😉

Special guests 🇳🇱

When we got back to Vancouver, we quickly dropped our stuff and hopped back in the car to head to the airport… Because Vera and Melissa were about to land! They stayed with us in Vancouver a couple of days, took the ferry to Vancouver Island while I worked during the week, and when they returned the girls and I left the city for a road trip. I wish we’d had more time in Vancouver and some better weather, but hopefully better luck next time? 😉

That road trip took us from Vancouver to Calgary! More about that in my other post from this week: ✍🏼 A Vancouver to Calgary roadtrip itinerary through the Canadian Rockies, and here’s a few more photos below.

Camping on Vancouver Island

In July, we went camping with Anienke and Smit on Vancouver Island. For all of us, it was our first time sleeping in a tent in Canada. We had so much fun and had amazing weather. We camped in Strathcona National Park for a night and went to find Myra Falls there, a beautiful place used as a filming location in the Apple tv show “See”. What an incredible place. The water was ice cold and super refreshing! The next day, it was time to pack up and move to another camp site a little south of Port Alberni. So lovely driving around and getting to know the island a little bit better. The second campground was a bit smaller, but still very nice and located conveniently by a river, so we hung out there to cool off.

special guests part 2 🇳🇱

My two dear friends Fanny and Franka came to visit. It was rather last minute, which made it all the more special to have them. They joined us and our friends for Symphony in the Park in Burnaby, we swam in the Lynn Canyon, we paddle boarded on Buntzen Lake, I got to show them Joffre Lakes, sent them to Squamish for The Chief, and so much more.

Sooke

We couldn’t get enough of Vancouver Island, so thankfully, we had another tripped planned 😊 No camping this time, but a lovely Airbnb in Sooke. We visited several beautiful beaches, cooked delicious meals in our kitchen, and went on an unforgettable whale watching tour.

Chelan County in Washington State

Our last trip this summer was a road trip to Washington State. I love that place so much! It was a bit of a long wait at the border, but it’s worth the trouble. Our destination was Cashmere, a small town in the Chelan County, which is just south of the Okanogan County. That made us laugh a bit, because north of that is the Canadian Okanagan (you know, where the wine comes from).

On our way to our Airbnb, we stopped in Leavenworth, a Bavarian-style town that was terribly crowded but quite charming. Once we got to Cashmere, we could quickly freshen up and only briefly catch our breath before continuing our journey, because we were going to see the Imagine Dragons perform at what must be one of the most beautiful concert venues in the world… The Gorge Amphitheatre. Oh man, what a special place and what a great show!

After the concert, we spent the rest of the weekend exploring this beautiful area of the state a little bit, which included a 5 hour hike to Colchuck Lake (that was a really nice one!). The way back to Vancouver was such a treat – we took the northern scenic mountain route and it felt like we were driving in the Rockies.

and everything in between

These highlights make me miss summer so much! And that wasn’t even everything yet. Vancouver is so amazing in the summer, there’s so much to do and everyone around us is always up for getting together, because what better way to enjoy the season than with great company 💛

We did another day out on the boat. The water was pretty rough that day, but Tom and Jo were great captains and ensured both boats returned in one piece and delivered our group back on Granville Island safe and sound.
We did an overnight backpacking trip to Watersprite Lake for Lara’s birthday. In case you missed it, I posted about that adventure here.
We went to the Abbotsford Air Show again this year. We were better prepared for the intense heat this time, but still, whoo, it was just as bloody hot as last year. The air shows were as impressive, too. So were all the soldiers around that somehow didn’t faint from being in uniform all day.
August is our birthday month, so Tom and I threw a birthday party. The bbq was delicious and the company was even better 💛 Alexander and Sif were in town after moving back to Denmark last September, so it was extra special.
Just after my birthday, I finally finished my Invisalign treatment! I wore aligners for about 8 months and am super happy with the results.
This summer also included some apartment viewings, because we decided to look for a different place. A couple of viewings and a number of grey hairs later, we found a nice new apartment in the same neighbourhood. We moved in on October 1st and felt at home quickly. We gave our car an appreciative pat on the trunk – we were able to move everything in our own car, including the couch and bed. Don’t ask how, but we succeeded!

And now? Now we hibernate 😴

I moved to Canada Jan 12

Vanniversary: One year of living in Vancouver

Today marks 1 year in Vancouver! It’s easy to say ‘I don’t know where the time went’ here, but you know what? I have a photo gallery, a calendar, and a blog that tells me exactly where it went. Putting this year overview together was wild – we’ve done so much, seen so much, and had the pleasure of doing it all with lovely people. Here are the highlights of living in Vancouver in 2023!

JAN | moving to Vancouver

The big day had come on 12 January; off to the airport with a one-way ticket, a bunch of suitcases, and butterflies in the stomach as an exciting new chapter started. Once we reached Vancouver late at night, we were exhausted but excited. Getting some shut eye at a hotel was really difficult; not because of the anticipation, but because we were dripping in sweat with a room temperature at 28 degrees.

The first few days and weeks were all about getting things sorted, from administrative stuff to filling our unfurnished apartment. Not fun for our bank account, but I enjoyed the little interior project.

👉🏽 Arrival story: Hi Vancouver, we’re here!

I’ll be going month by month and providing some links to posts I’ve written throughout the year. Post continues after the photos below.

JAN | Meeting people & our surroundings

Right, we have a couch, we have a bed, we have the necessities. Next, we were eager to explore two things: people and nature! Where to start? I wrote a little paragraph about us on 19 January, and selected a photo to introduce ourselves in a Facebook group for newcomers. It wasn’t long before we got some responses and I found myself chatting with a bunch of people. Our post led to a number of meet ups between 23 January and 2 February. In that time, we met 9 lovely people – mostly couples – and we’re still in touch with the majority of them. And that doesn’t even include the people I met at work, which started on the 30th. Socially, that short period of time was incredibly prolific and I’m so glad we put ourselves out there so shortly after arriving.

And then the nature. I’m a little more used to it now, but I remember the wonder, the awe from those initial weeks and months. One moment you’re strolling city streets, and the next you’re hiking in the mountains. How can these moments be as short as 30 minutes apart?

👉🏽 Buntzen Lake and the Diez Vistas Trail
👉🏽 Walking Whistler

feb | work & life

February represented starting our jobs in Canada. While I was getting onboarded at work, Tom was applying for jobs, and meanwhile we kept putting ourselves out there to be social and experience the city as much as we could. By mid-February, Tom had found a job, and we naturally went into our routine of working, spending a couple of nights a week being out and about, and making the most of the weekends.

That month, we had started a 6-week salsa class and spent our first statutory holiday in the Okanagan. Meanwhile, more furniture was arriving. Gradually, our apartment started to become more cozy and feel more like our home. It was winter, but pretty mild – climate was another thing we were getting acquainted with. People had warned us that all it does here is rain, rain, and rain… But hey, coming from the Netherlands, that didn’t intimidate us so much. Knock on wood, two months in, the weather hadn’t been that bad. Toward the end of the month, we experienced our first snowfall in the city. It wasn’t much, but enough to learn that downtown Vancouver and snow don’t go well together. It didn’t stick for long, and temperatures generally stayed above 0.

👉🏽 Okanagan valley and Big White skiing

mar | bonding

Most people we met were relatively new to Vancouver too, so they were as eager as we were to explore the city and do fun stuff together. With our newfound friends, we bonded over dinners, shot bandits in a VR game, fell in love with rugby at the Rugby Sevens event, and went out to see some live jazz music. Can’t leave out hiking: March was the first time we went to Deep Cove and did the Quarry Rock hike. Everything was new and exciting for us!

To come back to the weather: March, too, was really not bad. If it was cloudy, it was still nice and mild and inviting to step out and do stuff. And when the sun shined… Ah, Vancouver definitely is at its prettiest when the sun shines. In either conditions, still at around 6-10 degrees, I’d see people out and about in shorts and slippers. I’m not sure if I can ever become thatVancouverite.

👉🏽 Checking in, 9 weeks in

apr | milestones

April brought exciting milestones: I got my BC driver’s license and my Medical Services Plan card. That month, I visited to the United States for the first time and went to see Seattle and Tom’s relatives. Another highlight: I got my first tattoo. And I ran my first running event in Canada: the Vancouver Sun Run.

Ironically, the Sun Run had everything but sun. It was like running with a premium showerhead hovering above you. After weeks and weeks of pretty great weather, it was like the event opened the floodgates: a very wet period started… Right when our friend Marcha came to visit.

That was a milestone too: our first visitors. She and her friend had a wonderful time seeing Vancouver and Vancouver Island, but definitely not with the finest weather conditions. To escape the dull weather, we drove out to the Okanagan, because that’s where they say the sun shines the most. And it did – the closer we got to that area, the warmer and sunnier it got! That weekend, I went on my first British Columbia wine tour. I’m a fan now.

In the Netherlands, we celebrate King’s Day on 27 April. We invited friends to join us in this Dutch celebration at a bar. I’ll never forget it because 1) they had double booked us with another big group, and the solution was to upgrade us to a private area, 2) I could introduce Marcha to my Vancouver friends, and 3) I could introduce my Vancouver friends to my other Vancouver friends. That night also ended on a sad note though, because it was when Marcha had to head to the airport and leave.

👉🏽 April’s experiences in and around Vancouver

may | hello summer

I remember 29 April so well – Chilliwack Tulip Festival with a few colleagues. Overnight, we went from that wet weather our visitors had to endure to sunscreen and bare arms. Can you believe it? Of course, right when she leaves, the sun comes out. We entered May with a summer blast and it felt like summer didn’t end until like… November.

Indeed, our first taste of summer in Vancouver was that tulip-filled day. We bought us some paddle boards, watched the sun set from the beach across the street, ran around Stanley Park. For the long weekend, we drove down to Olympia and explored Olympic National Park in Washington State. Oh, and more music! I went to my second Sofar Sounds show to listen to local artists at unique locations.

👉🏽 Underrated Washington: Olympia, Olympic National Park, La Push, Lake Crescent & Mount Rainier

jun | more lovely friends

And then JUNE. Oh, my, I loved June. We started it off right with a boat day on 3 June. At King’s Day, a few of our friends connected and we formed a little group. A couple of weeks later, our gang of Danes, Brits, and Dutchies got together and rented a boat that we could take from downtown all the way to the Indian Arm. We took a right after Stanley Park and headed to Deep Cove and beyond. I mean, look at it. This place. Wow. Blissful hours going out and back on the boat. If you’d drive there by car, it’s really only a 25 minute drive. It’s really just around the corner.

What else? We went to farmers markets on weekend mornings, explored restaurants (food is amazing here), went hiking with friends. Some more friend-making through Bumble Friends led us to a lovely a Dutch couple that had just arrived, and another couple that turned out to live just next door. Not unimportant: a new season of Outlander came out, which obviously contributed to overall glee 🙃

👉🏽 Things to do in Vancouver in spring and early summer

jul | hiking

Next, July brought more hikes, starting with the incredible Panorama Ridge adventure with colleagues. Additionally, we explored Skookumchuck Narrows with Tom’s parents and ventured to Joffre Lakes with the Danes. Closer to home, we enjoyed cooking food on the beach with the city as a backdrop, seeing a musical in Stanley Park, having BBQs on the rooftop, and laying out a picnic mat for a Vancouver Symphonic Orchestra concert in the park in Burnaby. So much to do and with such stable weather!

I should clarify here that, up to this point, I had only taken two vacation leave days: one to join my friend for the wine tour in the Okanagan back in March, and another so we could leave for the Sunshine Coast on Friday with Tom’s parents here in July. Other than that, it’s simply evenings and weekends that give you the time to explore.

aug | birthday month

August is birthday month in our household. On Tom’s birthday, our Dutch friends picked us up in an Evo (car sharing). As we approached the car, Julia and Joost cheekily let the windows drop, Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder blasting out the speakers. The back seat littered with balloons, Tom’s ride to the trailhead for the St Mark’s Summit hike was a true treat. A few days later, on my birthday, we had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in our neighbourhood and ended the night at the Irish pub.

Amidst these celebrations, we had some other notable moments. Firstly, the Abbotsford International Airshow, where the four of us got pretty burnt (IT WAS SO HOT). And what an event that was! I also saw the Barbie movie with the girls, and spotted seals and other wild life on a Sea Safari. Then, a much-anticipated moment arrived: we were going to the Canadian Rockies! It was our first time actually taking a week off. To break the long drive, we did a wine tour in Kelowna (after all, Tom hadn’t done one yet!). The next day, we met Tom’s brother at Calgary International Airport to start an amazing trip together.

sep | travel season

The Rockies were incredible. You’ll find the link to my stories from that trip at the bottom of this paragraph. Following that unforgettable journey, we took a couple more vacation leave days off work and ventured to the United States one more time: New York and Washington DC. While I anticipated that New York would be amazing, it blew my mind more than I expected. What an incredible city. Washington DC didn’t disappoint either; there’s so much history, so much to learn there!

It sure was a busy summer, and at times, a bit overwhelming. Honestly, I was ready for some peace and quiet, however, I felt like summer is so precious and I gotta enjoy it to the fullest.

The day before flying to New York City there was another notable moment: we had a little “foodbye” at our place. Our buddies Alexander and Sif, whom we had spent lots of time with, were going back to Denmark. We enjoyed one more barbecue together before saying goodbye. We miss you guys!

👉🏽 Exploring the Canadian Rockies
👉🏽 The summer trilogy

oct | reunion

Though I wished the summer would never end, I had one last trip coming up early October that did make me excited for the fall season to arrive. I was going back home.

First things first: I had a wonderful time at my second Patrick Droney concert on 5 October. That guy. Love love love love his music. Fills my heart. Makes me so happy. The day after, I hopped on an airplane that would bring me back to the Netherlands. After seeing Tom’s family here in Canada, it was so nice to be able to spend time with my side of the family and see my friends, even if it was just for a short period of time. And our CATS. Ahhhh hugging our furry babies again!

Back in Vancouver, I took a deep breath, not really knowing when I would physically see my friends and family next. However, I got back in my rhythm here, this time with no more big trips on the horizon. Nevertheless, as always, there are plenty of entertaining things to do. We went to Cirque du Soleil in town, and watched several matches of the Rugby World Cup at pubs.

nov | fall colours

The leaves were starting to change colours, the temperatures were dropping, and we settled into quieter times with more indoor activities and cozy nights catching up on tv shows and movies. Drinking tea. Meeting up for coffees. Visiting a friend’s house for breakfast and a puzzle. Trivia night. Virtual golf. A lovely night at the Orpheum Theatre for a Louis Armstrong tribute. The occasional visit to the woods for an autumn stroll.

Meanwhile, at work, on a near-weekly basis, we would take a stroll in the memorial garden close by to see how the Japanese garden was transitioning from summer to fall. The photo below is when the fall colours were at their peak. I sure loved our lunch breaks this way!

Toward the end of November, the Christmas Market opened, seemingly marking the beginning of the holiday season!

dec | hello winter

Indeed, it was full on winter now. Not yet because of such cold weather in Vancouver, but because finally there was just about enough snow for the ski mountains to open. Following a recommendation from a colleague, I signed us up for the Never Ever Day in Whistler, which is a special lesson day for people that have never or rarely done any skiing or snowboarding. It was great! Although I’m still very much a beginner, I definitely felt a lot more stable and confident after that ski lesson!

Surrounded by snow that day, it sure felt more Christmassy and wintery. However, once back in the city, it was not so apparent that it was December. Again, pretty mild weather! Meanwhile, we were preparing for our Christmas weekend (what to cook!?), and we payed a quick visit to the US border to pick up our new work permits for 2024.

And yep, before we knew it, Christmas was knocking on the door. To be more precise, the door to our Airbnb on the Sunshine Coast! I wrote all about it a little while ago (see link below).

👉🏽 A Sunshine Coast Christmas

It felt like New Year’s Eve followed so quickly! With a group of friends we got all dressed up and went to a NYE party to ring in the new year.

And there we are. 2023 was over. It was a lot, wasn’t it! But it was amazing, and I can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store for us!

I moved to Canada Nov 16

More things you learn as a Dutchie in Vancouver

As could be expected, I came across plenty of interesting differences between living in the Netherlands and living in Canada. After my initial 6 Things You Learn As A Dutchie Settling Into Vancouver, here’s a selection of Vancouver culture I have experienced.

delivery takes forever

Coming from the Netherlands, a teeny tiny country with rich and impressive infrastructure, I was used to super quick delivery times. Placing an online order before 10 PM often meant receiving your items the next workday, sometimes even on Saturday.

I hadn’t thought about it, but with Canada being ginormous and a little bit more complex in terms of supply chain challenges, you can be waiting quite a long time for your Amazon order to arrive. And by quite a long time, I mean 3 to 6 weeks. A good wake up call to buy local and be more mindful of the impact of online shopping.

identity crisis

The word Dutchie appears to also be slang for a cannabis joint. Guess I gotta stop calling myself a Dutchie. Relatedly, I learned that there’s so much weed here that the city is also referred to as Vansterdam. Ironic, hey?

do you or do you not get a lot of holidays?

Working for a university in the Netherlands comes with a huge perk: 42 days of vacation days. Yes, you heard it right. In other industries, vacation days in the Netherlands average at 25 days.

In Canada, you only get about 15. Yet, several people have asked us: man, do you even work? Two things: 1) Instagram is just Instagram, and 2) You get at least one long weekend almost every month, so in the end it does add up quite nicely! Basically, you get 15 days to freely choose your leave, and on top of that, (almost) everybody is off on stat holidays, which are usually Mondays: New Year’s Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, BC Day, Labour Day, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. That’s another 13 days! The only downside is that everyone has these, so booking a long weekend can get pretty expensive.

Aside from that, I feel like we just put more effort into making the most of weekends. It could be because we are new to Canada, but there’s just such easy access to nature and plenty to do in and around Vancouver. Being out in the mountains for a day will make your weekend feel like it was longer than it actually is!

transit & queueing etiquette

Let’s talk about public transit for a bit. Canada is rather proud of its public transit in Vancouver. So proud that I had pretty high expectations.

Well… Eh.

Don’t want to complain, I commute to work by bus and I’m happy I can get there without it costing me a fortune. And it’s not that bad, it takes me about 45 minutes door to door. Though the Dutch transit network surely also leaves room for improvement, it’s safe to say Vancouver and BC have much more of a ways to go. Getting around the city is fine, but commuting farther outside of the city can get tricky. The country is very car-focused, and I get it, because in many cases taking public transit is just not worth the trouble.

Quality aside, a more cultural difference I noticed is about queueing. Canadians are champions at queueing. When arriving at a bus stop, people will all stand in a neat line, and if it’s a popular stop, this line can get terribly long. When the bus comes, it’s a nice and orderly process of going in one by one. It’s fair. Those who waited the longest go in first and get to pick a seat.

Unless the bus driver decides to open the back doors. In that case, the second they open, the queue breaks and it’s ‘yeah screw this lemme score myself a seat’. Never seen order turn into chaos so quickly.

people hike and hike and hike

Let me go back to leisure time again. A typical Vancouver conversation usually involves asking each other about recent hikes. Some examples I’ve heard (and used): Do you hike? Done any hikes lately? Hey have you done this hike? Any hikes you can recommend me? Hey do you have a car and do you want to go try this hike? Oh wait what you don’t like hiking? Then why do you live here and what on earth do you do with your free time?

Relatedly: people are in active wear all the time. Lululemon is everywhere. I’m just… not used to seeing people wearing their sports outfits all the time. I guess you gotta always be ready to go on a spontaneous hike! I’m happy to be part of the hype though. Hikes here are incredible. And so are my Lululemon leggings.

the big one

The Netherlands is a pretty safe place in terms of nature. Sure, we’ll have storms every now and then. And in the very north, earthquakes are a thing, but I’m a city girl from the west (and lived in Noord Brabant for 5 years), so I never experienced earthquakes.

I never thought about earthquakes. But here, I learned there is a fault line extending from Vancouver Island to Northern California that is bound to cause us some trouble. Historical evidence suggests we’re (over)due for a major earthquake exceeding 9.0 on the Richter scale.

They even named it. We’re waiting for “The Big One” – a threat that is being taken quite seriously, not only by seismologists but also the Canadian and U.S. government. On 19 October at 10:19 AM, there was a big earthquake drill encouraging everyone to practise to “Drop, Cover, and Hold On.”

It sounds like an apocalyptic movie script, but Vancouver is situated right in this seismic zone. There are building codes, emergency response plans, and campaigns like the BC ShakeOut.

If you want to know more about it, check the website of The Great British Columbia Shake Out.

Anyways. I’m just still gradually adjusting to life here. It’s all a little different, and that’s part of the fun of living abroad. As long as I don’t get the essentials mixed up. Like queueing wrong. Or suddenly do a “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” when someone in Lululemon leggings approaches me.

Travel Nov 03

The summer trilogy

Hello! How are you all doing? An incredible summer season has come to an end over here. I know I’ve been a bit MIA on the blog here, but I do want to make sure I share a bit about my summer! Apart from all kinds of spread out summer activites, we had 3 big things on the calendar: two visits from back home, and one trip to the east coast of the US.

visitors and sunshine coast

Tom’s parents came to visit us in July. It was so lovely showing them around and giving them a glimpse of what it’s like here!

They explored Vancouver while we worked during the week, but we did really want to take a day off so we could spend a full long weekend with them. And what better way to do that than to get away from the city like people do here?

On Thursday evening, we took a ferry to the Sunshine Coast. We had heard such great things about it, and we loved the idea of seeing a new island in the area.

It was fantastic weather, and we hadn’t been there ourselves yet, so it was nice to explore something new all together. Part of that trip was also the Skookumchuck Narrows – a nice read there if you want to know more about it. And here’s a little reel of our time on the Sunshine Coast!

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canadian rockies

Not long after waving Tom’s parents goodbye, we had another special couple over at the end of August! We met Tom’s brother Erik and his girlfriend Aga in Calgary and spent a week road tripping through the Canadian Rockies. It was amazing slowly making our way back to Vancouver with them. We saw Banff National Park, Yoho National Park, and Jasper National Park for the first time. There’s so much to share and tell – so I put together a separate (rather lengthy and photo-filled) post about that. Go read that if you’re interested! But yeah, my oh my, what an unforgettable experience. The rockies are overwhelmingly beautiful.

happy accidents

OK, silly story. I’m an early ’90s girl that grew up listening to the Jonas Brothers. So when they announced their tour, I did my fangirl dance and looked for Vancouver on the list. Sadly, they were going to skip my city, and so I scanned the list for alternatives. Toronto? Ugh, flights are so expensive and it’s so far away! Why don’t I just find something in the US, instead? The US border is just a 1,5 hour drive away, so lots of people from Canada go to cities in the US to see shows. Washington it is. A 2 to 3 hour drive will get us there.

One morning, I was preparing for a full day of training when I was reminded about ticket sales starting at 9 AM. I sent the Verified Fan link and information over to Tom, asking him to get us 2 tickets. Any tickets. Doesn’t matter where we sit, I just want to be there.

A little while later during my break, I check in to see how it went and if we got some tickets. Yep. We did. Then Tom goes: “You do realize it’s for Washington, DC, right?”

!@#$%^&*()(*&^%$#@!

Sigh. This is such a first world problem, but yeah, we decided to see it as a nice opportunity. So 6 months later, we hopped on our flight to New York City. We spent 4 days exploring New York City for the first time, then took a train to Washington DC to continue our trip. We ticked off countless must-sees and recommendations from friends. And then, on Saturday 23 September, my brain effortlessly downloaded all the lyrics to songs by the Jonas Brothers from 2007 to today.

hello, autumn

Returning home from the US was like a baptism into the fall – rain, storm warnings, urges to buy knitwear, all of that. Or at least that’s what it felt like at first – soon after, repeated whiplash followed, as we went from cold to warm and back again several times. But yeah, by now, fall has definitely kicked in.

I’ll try to be good and keep up with posting a bit more in the fall. It will be our first fall and winter here, so it will be interesting to transition to new activities and experiencing what the colder seasons are like in Vancouver.

Thanks again for reading along, and see you next time!

Vancouver May 28

April’s Experiences In & Around Vancouver

Hello friends! It’s been a little quiet over here, hasn’t it? Don’t worry – it’s a good sign! I’ve been keeping myself busy, so I guess I’ve collected plenty of things to write about! Here’s how life has been in Vancouver since I last wrote.

exploring the ubc vancouver campus

The UBC campus is an incredible place with so many beautiful gems! I took Tom there to walk around and see some of the spots my colleagues introduced me to. After working there for five months, I am still only familiar with a particular part of the grounds. It’s kind of bizarre that there’s so much more to see here. Multiple beaches, several gardens, museums, and so many places to enjoy food. Two highlights to mention here.

Wreck Beach is a beautiful spot; getting there involves a steep 500-step trail but it’s totally worth it. When at work and you want to get a little bit of exercise in, this is a nice lunch walk! Apparently, it’s a clothing-optional beach and a popular spot to swim. Haven’t seen any sign of either, but then again, the warm summer months haven’t fully arrived yet.
Nitobe Memorial Garden is a traditional Japanese garden. In the cherry blossom season, this place is extra special, so in April I definitely took advantage of my UBC card and the free admission it grants me. The picture below is already gorgeous, but imagine those trees fully blooming!

seattle & northern washington

Vancouver is very close to the United States border, so we drove over there with a rental car one day to check out Washington State. The drive was lovely – a great introduction to Washington State as a place we could see ourselves return for trips! Seattle itself was okay, but coming from Vancouver I didn’t think it was super special. Vancouver is definitely a nicer city in my (biased?) opinion. Tom has some relatives on the US side of the border, so of course we went to visit them on our way back home. It was such a lovely evening!

We did learn that getting past the border can take quite some time. It was our first time, and if we wanted to go over there regularly, we’d have to go through that process every 3 months to renew our ‘permission’ to cross the border. We also learned that we should consider ourselves lucky that we had ‘only’ a 2 hour wait. Ooooki. Noted.

easter weekend

The long weekend in April was a great opportunity to see family in Ontario. For Easter, we flew out to Toronto to spend time with Toms several gazillion (second) cousins. As you can see, he was quite content surrounded by all of them (and/or all the dogs, chickens, and cows). On the last day, we did a quick downtown Toronto visit to walk around and have dinner before our flight back. Gosh, I know Canada is big, but Vancouver-Toronto is such a long flight and the time difference is enough for a jetlag. Coming from such a small country, it’s still an odd thing to wrap my head around!

the vancouver rain run

The Vancouver Sun (a local newspaper) organized the Sun Run. I have ran many running events in various seasons and various distances, but this must be the wettest 10K I ever ran. Nonetheless, it was great seeing Vancouver from the middle of the road, and getting soaking wet did help motivate to finish this thing as fast as my legs (and the crowds) would let me.

amigas de holanda

The absolute April favourite: my dear friend came to visit from the Netherlands. And she brought a friend of hers too as a bonus! It was a great chance to catch up, show her some of BC’s highlights, and cross some stuff off my own bucket list too.

We went to Squamish and took the Sea to Sky Gondola up the mountain to find great views, a suspension bridge, a restaurant, and several trail options. Squamish itself was also lovely to explore. We found a nice spot for coffee and strolled over a local market. For food, we drove out a bit further north of Squamish to find the bar/restaurant known as Jack’s Bar in the Netflix series Virgin River. Always so fun to see a film location in real life!

For city activities, we took the ferry to Granville Island and Olympic Village. Got some donuts, some cocktails, and what not! Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and dreary, so the beauty of the mountains surrounding the city was mostly invisible…

Escaping the rain, I took a Monday off so we could plan a weekend trip out further into BC where the sun is more likely to shine… That would be the Okanagan Valley! It was a lovely road trip to West Kelowna. We enjoyed a Wine Tour with stops at 4 different wineries in the area. And thankfully, the sun shined over there indeed.

The way back from Okanagan Valley is even more beautiful if you take the southern route, so that’s exactly what we did. Stopping in Cathedral Provincial Park was not what we expected – the hike we wanted to do required reserved transport up the mountain, so we did a short bit of a different walk instead to see a bit of the area.

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chilliwack tulip festival

Out of nowhere, a weekend with 30 degrees heat presented itself… I went to the Chilliwack Tulip Festival with a group of colleagues and our +1s. It was an amazing first glimpse of summer!

Coming from the Netherlands and having been to the Keukenhof, it was not as spectacular as other things I’ve seen, but definitely a super nice visit. The tulips were gorgeous, there were some food trucks, and they had some cute props on the fields for people to take photos.

We picked up food on the way back to the city and enjoyed dinner at one of my colleagues’ place.

And with that, April came to an end super fast! You can tell that summer is on its way, and we have lots of plans, so I can’t wait to share more with you guys! In the meantime, follow me on @vandirabc 🙂

Vancouver Apr 04

Living in West End, Vancouver

One of the most important considerations when moving to Vancouver is which area to live in. The city has many different neighbourhoods that each have their own charm. For me, the search for the area that would suit my preferences ended in West End. It’s downtown Vancouver, but toward the western tip of the city center’s peninsula. I chose it for the combination of all the pros of downtown city life, but it’s quieter and super close to nature: Stanley Park, the beach, mountain views around, and quick access to get to those mountains. This is a rather expensive part of the city, so one might wonder: is it worth it? Here’s what it’s like to live in West End, Vancouver.

Located between Stanley Park and the center of downtown, West End is a beautifully situated neighbourhood. It’s a mix of high-rise apartment buildings and low-build blocks and even some impressive detached houses. There are rules in place that ensure this place doesn’t get too many more skyscrapers, and some of the older lower buildings are protected and won’t be making room for any developers.

This area it is a little quieter than the center of downtown, while still giving you that city lifestyle. Meanwhile, it’s very dog-friendly and family-friendly. I love how when you go out around lunchtime for a stroll, you’ll hear kids playing outside on the school playground and see people out for a walk with their dog(s) all around.

Vancouver is one of those cities with a straightforward grid layout. In this corner of the city, there are two streets toward downtown (from west to east) that you could consider the commercial streets: Davie Street and Robson Street. These streets are full of shops, services, great restaurants, bars… Similarly, we have Denman Street, which runs from English Bay to Coal Harbour (south to north). In between, you’ll find lovely residential blocks and a school. When spring comes (which is now!), the blooming cherry blossom trees make these streets look super quaint – you won’t feel like you’re in the middle of the city at all!

What contributes to that feeling for me as well is that West End is hugged almost all around by water: we’ve got English Bay to the west, Lost Lagoon to the north, and Coal Harbour to the north east.

West End ends at Burrard Street – after that, you’ll be in the heart of downtown and beyond that you’ll find many more areas. In the rest of this post, I’ll share more about my experience with West End. I have not lived in other areas, so I can’t make any comparisons – all I can do is tell you why I love it here so much.

west end on the map

So what does that look like on the map? Below you’ll find a map of Vancouver with some of my personal markers included. All of these would be in a radius of just about 10-15 minutes walking distance. I’ll talk about some of these spots in the posts, but not all – it’s an interactive map, so feel free to browse and click around to read more.

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english bay beach

One thing that makes it feel so chill here as if you’re not in a big city: the beach. Here in West End, you’ll find English Bay Beach, an open bay where you can dip your toes into the pacific ocean waters. The water there is actually called the Georgia Strait – far in the distance, Vancouver Island blocks the view of the open North Pacific Ocean.

This beach is the first of a number of beaches as you walk along the sea wall around Stanley Park. I haven’t been here long enough to know what it’s like in summer, but they say it’s among the more popular spots to hang out and swim. So far, I’ve hung out there to enjoy a hotdog from the guy there (he only comes out when the weather is nice though) or a few tacos from La Catrina Tacos. If you look to your left across the water, you’ll look out over Kitsilano and its own beach.

denman street

This is where I go for our cheap go-to supermarket called No Frills (especially fruits and vegetables are more affordable here), to get my nails done, to enjoy a great lunch (Café Portrait, I love you so much), and to browse for some more great restaurants. You can find anything to eat there, from Japanese to Greek and from Vietnamese to Australian. When I work from home and feel like grabbing a bite to eat for lunch, this is the street I go to – I just walk and see which place screams my name the loudest.

davie street in west end

This very long street is where you’ll find lots of things. It’s my second stop when grocery shopping: Safeway is a more expensive store but they have the items I can’t find at No Frills. There’s a shop with house plants and flowers (a house is no home without plants), there’s the drug store, and of course… more places to eat. As you walk further on this street, you eventually go through Davie Village, a lovely area known for its LGBTQ community, Davie Street Pride Festival, and Davie Day celebrating the local businesses and Davie community.

You’ll notice that it gets a little busier as you reach Burrard Street, marking the end of West End. From there, it’s the middle of downtown and you’ll notice your surroundings becoming a bit more city-like with big office buildings, lots of entertainment, and businesses you’ll expect in a big city’s downtown area.

robson street in west end

Robson Street is the other commercial street that starts (or ends) in West End. This one feels steeper to walk over though – a real treat for the hamstrings 😉 Similar to Davie Street, this is a street full of businesses but this one is definitely known as the best street to go shopping. You’ll find stores like Zara, Sunglass Hut, Sephora, Footlocker, Lululemon, Roots, Lush. My favorite: Indigo, the bookstore! Fashion is terribly expensive though, so oftentimes I end up only window shopping. What else… Lots of cannabis, if you’re into that. Plenty more restaurants! Nail bars, hair dressers, some more supermarkets. You get the idea!

stanley park

If you’ve had enough of consuming and just want to enjoy nature, just head into Stanley Park. Either from English Bay or one of the other entrances. The park has so much to offer! All around it, you can walk or bike on the seawall – there’s a separate lane for cyclists. Or if you like running – run all around it and you’ll enjoy a beautiful 10K. If you go into the park, you’ll find so many things to enjoy. A rose garden, a rugby pitch, the aquarium (pricey though!), many lovely paths, benches and fields to relax, a brewery, a pavilion, a tea house… You can also find some scenic hiking paths there. There’s also a lovely souvenir shop with beautiful items! I bought a cute keychain there (new place, new keys!) and a book on Vancouver legends, but was so tempted to get more stuff from there. Keeping it mind for gifts!

surroundings

I took the drone out to film from English Bay Beach and give you a sense of the surroundings. You see the big green park and the mountains in the distance? Yup. And the beach and ocean? That’s all West End’s backdrop. It’s pretty astonishingly beautiful.

favorite local spots in west end

Those big commercial streets and highlights are nice and all, but it’s the smaller local hotspots that make this such a great place to live! Here are my favourite places in West End to grab something to eat and/or enjoy a cup of coffee. All three below are very locally situatied on quiet streets, in between houses and apartments.

cardero café

Cardero Café is an example of a super charming little spot. On a sunny day, go for a stroll through the neighborhood and stop at this Mexican-owned café for a coffee and a bite for lunch simply as a snack. The first time I ate here I enjoyed a chicken Tamal – sooooo good. They also have amazing paninis and good coffee. Such sweet people… I love it there. Grab something to go or have a seat in front of the café. It doesn’t stop there – they also sell groceries, so for any Latin American products, this is where you go and get your stuff.

greenhorn café

If you’d rather sit inside, Greenhorn Café on Nicola Street is wonderful as well. They have baked goods (their pistachio white chocolate cookie, YUM) and a mouth watering brunch/lunch menu. They also sell a selection of local foods and goods. I remember coming here for the first time a year ago when we were strolling around West End, fantasizing what it would be like to live in this area. We came to have lunch at the Greenhorn Café and were seated in the back section. They have a very cool vinyl collection over there that I just thought was so nice! Gave the place such a nice vibe.

robba da matti

I love (and I mean LOVE) Italian food, so having Robba Da Matti so close by is super nice! It’s a really charming place with a beautiful patio that I would love to try next time I go there. What I love about this place is the overall ambiance inside – such lovely warm and dim light that just gives a beautiful and romantic feeling to the place. The food there was so, so good. They had ossobuco with saffron risotto on the menu – that’s one of our favourite dishes and almost a Christmas tradition for us. I had a seafood spaghetti – it was out of this world. So good. Mouthwatering just thinking back and writing about it.

the bus

West End is lovely, but let’s also talk a bit about how you can get out of here to explore more areas in Vancouver. I’ll use the stops on Davie Street near English Bay here, because it’s a convenient starting point. On just a few square meters you’ll find bus stops for the 5, 6, and 23.

Take the 5 to Downtown – it goes over Denman and then turns onto Robson. Wherever you need to be for your downtown shenanigans, this bus is perfect to get you there. As I mentioned, Robson is a popular shopping street, so if your activity involves shopping, this is the bus you’d best take. We also take this bus to 413 Seymour street where we get our car rentals. Or to Gastown for nights out involving live music.
Take the 6 to Downtown to get to Burrard and from there you can switch to another bus taking you over the bridge down to Kitsilano. This bus goes over Davie Street.
Take the 23 for a route along the water. This is a good one to get to Yaletown, Fairview, Mount Pleasant.

You can also walk over to W Georgia Street (on the maps here this is that grey 1A road going into Stanley Park and the bridge beyond it), where you’ll find a busstop for buses 19, 240, 241, 246, 247, 250, 253, 254, 257, N24. These buses will take you to North Vancouver, from where you can hop on other buses to get further up north. Don’t be surprised if you see people waiting at that bus stop with their skis or snowboard on their backs, or wearing their hiking gear and big backpacks, because this is like a gateway to mountain adventures! (Such as skiing or hiking walking in Whistler or hiking in Lynn Valley!)

I moved to Canada Mar 16

Checking in, 9 weeks in

Hi there! It’s been a while since my last post, and I’m taking a while longer before my next full post will be ready for you guys (waiting for something special before I publish it…). So, in the meantime… I thought it’s time for a quick personal update just to check in.

It’s been 9 weeks since I landed in Vancouver. So many impressions, so many experiences! It’s too much to all write about here, but I’d love to mention a few things here. Since I came here, I…

Started a new job at the University of British Columbia. The campus is incredible, the people are lovely, and the work is exciting.
Met lovely people, mostly people that also moved to Vancouver either recently or a few years ago. It’s a process to find people you want to reach out to but so far I’m happy and very satisfied with my people radar.
Went skiing and had so much fun with it – would love to go again with new friends and get better at it!
Started Salsa classes. Dancing every Monday night – super fun! I’m totally a beginner but gotta start somewhere, right? I was a bit caught off guard seeing how full this class is, but it’s super nice and I’m thinking of joining the next series as well when this 6-week course is done.
Became a regular gym-goer. Going at least once a week feels great. Living in a building with its own gym is pretty amazing.
Haven’t been running as much as I want, though. But the weather is getting better and better now. With brighter and longer days, Stanley Park can work like a magnet. A magnet for the eyes mostly, but this week I did a 5K along the seawall and it was another reminder how much I love seeing the ocean and the mountains. I should get back to running outside on a dedicated schedule! On that topic: I’m still deliberating about the half marathon in May. To be honest, I doubt I’ll be ready for that on time. Not to mention it’ll cost me $130 (wtf!?)… But it seems like an incredible route. Is it worth it? Probably. I’ll need to give it some more thought. And motivation. I need motivation.

Tasted and bought wine from the famous Okanagan. Saving them for special occasions and for warm summer days! I’d love to go again in the summer (I will follow your advice Noelle!) and do a proper winery tour!
Tried (too) many restaurants. Food is amazing here. Makes me so happy. My wallet doesn’t agree though.
Went VR gaming at Zero Latency VR which turns out to also have a location right here in Vancouver! It was funny because the system recognized my email and they could see that this was my fourteenth visit. Wow. Well… I just love bringing new people there every time and see how they like the experience! Sorry not sorry – I just always have a great time with it! I kept thinking back to that one time when all I could hear through my headset was “Hoe kill je die dikke? HOE KILL JE DIE DIKKE?” You know who you are – miss you guys!
Saw snow on the beach. It’s so weird. It was a snowstorm, very uncommon for Vancouver, but the city sure looked magical afterward! The people choosing to swim in the ocean that day were also very magical – but more in the sense that I couldn’t believe what I was seeing :’)
Watched the Super Bowl and the halftime show live for the first time! It wasn’t as much of a big deal here as I thought – everyone I asked afterward didn’t watch… I’m not a fan at all but it was lovely to watch with good company downtown, so I had a good time.
Went to a rugby tournament at BC Place. I didn’t know I could love watching a sport as much as I did there. Fantastic. Amazing. Absolutely brutal. So impressive. You know how rugby fans make fun of American football? I get it now.

Finished making our apartment feel like a home. I love how our interior turned out! It took some time and patience – finding what I was looking for was harder than I thought, partly because everything here is so outrageously expensive!
Struggled a bit finding a few things. Like a hairdresser. Or affordable fashion. Or grocery items that I was used to but can’t find here. But also: inspiration to cook (geez what did I cook back home? I can’t for the life of me remember. No inspiration whatsoever).
Still didn’t get myself a bike. Dutchie in Vancouver with no bike, it’s kind of hilarious. But so far, I’ve been managing pretty okay without one.
Missed our cats. Every day. So I watched cat videos every day. My social media algorithm must think I have a cat problem. Which might be true.

More stuff to come in the coming month, sit tight!

Vancouver Jan 15

Hi Vancouver, we’re here!

It still feels incredibly surreal but… I’m here. I made it – I arrived in Vancouver! It’s been such a busy time travelling here and getting ourselves set up that I’m extra glad I have this blog – it helps me to make time to reflect and process and take a moment to realize what’s happening… and how blessed we are to be able to experience all of this! Here’s our experience of the first few days in our new city.

travelling to vancouver

Waking up on 12 January was so strange – after almost a year of preparing for this day, it was officially moving day. Four large suitcases, two carry-ons, a weekend bag, a backpack, and a purse. That’s it. That’s all we have.

We woke up to a rainy and windy day. My friend jokingly said, “The Netherlands is crying because you guys are leaving!”
“And Vancouver is crying because we’re coming,” we replied laughing, a bleak image of the weather forecast attached.

With a 1,5-hour flight delay, we could take it easy that morning. But when you look at each other realizing the time has really come, and you hug your furry pets goodbye, there’s nothing much easy about it.

We got in the car to head to Amsterdam – Tom with his parents and I with mine. They stayed with us until we had our baggage checked and were ready to head to our gate.

It was time to say goodbye – very surreal and strange, but bless my cousin for getting married this summer. Knowing I’ll be back for a bit in half a year to watch her tie the knot was all that kept me from bawling my eyes out like a lunatic. That, and technology. Thank you, technology.

The wait at security was super short, and we didn’t mind the wait until we headed to the gate for our flight to Calgary. After a slightly frustrating boarding process, we were finally in our seats and ready to leave the Netherlands. Despite the bad weather, we had a very pleasant and rather uneventful flight. Just how we like it, right?

Random funny thing: at some point when we were flying over the middle of Canada I was so confused about the view. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing below us. I didn’t see depth, it was just very weird-looking, probably partly because of snow. It was as if we were flying over the moon or something. I kept staring and struggling to understand what kind of landscape this was. Googling it now, I learned it was Manitoba and it has such thousands of mini lakes and it’s super flat. Huh – never knew that. Google “manitoba wildlife” and you’ll see pretty amazing things. I guess I should go see it for myself some time – from the ground, not the air!

With the delay, WestJet had already rebooked us to a later flight to Vancouver for that evening. That alleviated a lot of stress – we would have time for our transfer to our next flight to Vancouver.

Once we arrived in Calgary, we went to Immigration to get our work permits activated. It was a quick process and we high fived like twelve year olds when we got our document. We ran to our next gate, just to find out there was a 90 minute delay for our flight to Vancouver. To ease the pain, WestJet gave us a total of 60 dollars in vouchers to get something to eat at the airport. Right next to our gate, we re-energized with quasadillas and chicken wings.

On the flight to Vancouver I finally dozed off for a bit. After a bit more than an hour, we landed in Vancouver and went to grab our luggage. Certainly a relief to see each of our suitcases show up one by one! After that, it was quick and easy getting on an Uber to our hotel.

first day matters

Time to rest now – we had quite the itinerary for Friday, our first full day in Vancouver. So when we arrived, we immediately hopped in the shower and went to bed. It was super difficult to sleep with our internal clocks completely disoriented. Unable to use all the hours we had until our alarm clock would go off, we got up around 6 AM and decided to just walk toward our first stop and go for coffee and breakfast on the way. Let’s go and see Vancouver wake up! We had breakfast in a familiar spot that we loved last year, then walked the rest of the way to a Service Canada Office. We got there at 7.45, which was 45 minutes before opening time, but we certainly weren’t the first ones there. At 8.30 sharp, we were picked up and started the process of getting our SIN numbers (comparable to BSN in the Netherlands). We left the building around 9.30 AM. Not bad at all, compared to horror stories I read about!

We took a bus back to our hotel and got ready for our next appointment: getting the keys to our apartment! It was less than a minute from our hotel, so we headed over there with half our luggage with us. We were warmly welcomed and showed around by our resident manager. Super excited, we hopped back to the hotel to get the rest of our stuff.

Next appointment: the bank at 3 PM, just around the corner. We got ourselves our bank accounts with the help of our new contact at the bank – quite nice to know we’ll have the same guy for everything from now on. I’ll see him again next week when I get the contract for my job so I can get a credit card.

On to the next important errand: getting a duvet, pillows, and sheets so we could sleep! That took a while too – all of this got us super hungry, so after putting the sheets in the washer back at the apartment we walked over to a restaurant we remembered from last year. We didn’t have a chance to eat there last year, so we thought we’d go and try it out now! After a delicious shrimp and chorizo linguine, the after dinner dip (and jetlag) was real – all I could think of was sleep. Once we got home, we put everything in the dryer and waited (zzzzzzzz) until it was dry enough to throw on the bed. Finally we could sleep and dream of the WiFi installation and IKEA delivery that would come the next morning.

weather & running

Looking at the weather forecast for the first days here was a bit depressing, but if our trip last year taught us anything it’s that the forecast is crap and it’s super unpredictable. Expecting showers, we arrived on Thursday evening just with a bit of drizzle. Friday was fine too, just a bit of drizzle but very pleasant temperatures for winter time (around 8 degrees). Perfect to get some practical things arranged – umbrella within reach, but we hardly needed it.

But then Saturday. My goodness. THE WEATHER. After the last IKEA boxes came in, we went outside to walk over to the beach, grabbed a hot dog, and sat in the sun without our jackets on. Perfection. We went back home to unpack a few things, but every time I looked out the window I was so eager to go outside again. We put on our running shoes and went to Stanley Park for our first Vancouver run. It was gorgeous. 7.5K of running and 2.5K of walking back home. Felt like 15 degrees in the sun, 10 degrees in the shade. Paradise. Couldn’t help but stop my run for a few seconds to film this part of Stanley Park. It’s gorgeous here.

Though unfinished, that evening we looked around our new place satisfied, with our new couch and chairs in place, and the kitchen cabinets equipped with the first necessities. A home cooked meal. And then into relax mode on the couch… let’s be real here – it was full on ugly sleeping almost drooling mode. Completely overcome with sleep. It wasn’t even 8 PM when we gave up and relocated from the couch to bed.

great views & sleepy feels

The good thing about jetlag and living here is you wake up early and can feel the city wake up around you. Wide awake at 5 AM with no plans, we could just snooze until we felt like starting our Sunday. When it started to get a little light outside, I pulled the curtains up and… This. This view. The colours, the water, the sky, the snowy mountain that was not as snowy yesterday. The beauty of this place is so humbling. It all makes me wonder how we ever made all of this happen!

After breakfast on the couch staring at our surroundings, we explored our building a bit, went to the gym, then headed out to a café with our laptops to get some stuff done. Had lunch at a public market and went back home. A very chill weekend day before a new week starts.

My favourite part so far? When I’m home I’m excited to go out, and when I’m out I’m also excited to go back to the apartment. Hoping to hold on to this blissful feeling for a long time!

Film & TV Nov 21

#hollywoodnorth: See & Virgin River

Quite often I grab my phone while watching a television show or movie, in awe of landscapes. “Where was […] filmed?” would be my Google search. And then the result would be: British Columbia, Canada. Ha! With so many great productions filmed in B.C., this post is the first of a recurring category called #hollywoodnorth (which Vancouver is also known as) in which I’ll share my fave shows and movies shot in British Columbia.

see

Allow me to start with my favourite. See is a show available on Apple TV+ that I started watching in 2019. I have to admit here that I really only started an Apple TV+ account due to my free subscription that came with my new iPhone back then. I was planning to end the subscripion after a year but I’ve been keeping it. And the only reason is… See.

Bold statement here: this was one of the best science fiction stories I ever saw. I should follow this up with a disclaimer too: I am by no means a science fiction connaisseur. Feel free to send me something you think is better or comparable after you have watched it too. But I’ve been soooo fascinated by this story from the moment I read the description, right before starting the first episode. I’m obsessed. With the show and with how Jason Momoa was the only actor who could ever do this role. Seriously. He’s perfect.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic future where centuries of generations have been blind. The concept of sight is completely mythical to everyone alive. All that society knows is that people’s ability to see had destroyed the world centuries ago. Following a small tribe, the show starts with the twins Haniwa and Kofun, fearfully keeping the fact that they are not blind a secret. Until they find out they are not the only ones that can see (gasp). A hunt on these sighted ‘witches’ starts: society is totally threatened by these dangerous creatures because of this incomprehensible power to know things that are impossible to know. How could one possibly know what lies ahead at the end of an unknown road? How could one possibly communicate without hearing or touching? How could one possibly know a surrounding when they have never been there before?

But these hunters won’t get to these kids so easily, because their dad is Baba Voss (Jason Momoa) and, obviously, anyone would have to go through him first. Good luck trying.

The show was filmed in British Columbia and Ontario. The scenery is insane. Even more insane is how everything is set up. Informed by people from blind communities, the show is full of incredibly impressive details. How would a blind society build its towns and cities? How would they communicate? How would warfare be organized? How would people talk and refer to each other? How would people travel? What would their understanding of history be? I’m so impressed by how they have imagined this world. And… also saddened at how realistic it is that in this story, centuries from now, there would still be a constant fear for people that are different. And at how if you would take away sight, people would still find something else to discriminate on.

Sorry for that depressing part.

On a brighter note. The villain in the show is a Dutch actress and she is amazing.

One last thing. The fighting is brutal. Absolutely brutal. BUT SO GOOD.

OK. End of fangirl raving about See. Go watch it!

Here’s a map with some spots I’m dying to see. This article was very helpful in identifying filming locations.

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virgin river

I know, you must be getting a whiplash here, but from post-apocalyptic brutal action and science fiction, we’re moving on to romantic drama Virgin River.

For some lighter television, I’ve been watching Alexandra Breckenridge (US) and Martin Henderson (New-Zealand) play a super cute couple in a beautiful fictional Californian town called Virgin River. You guessed it, Virgin River is not in California at all – it’s actually Vancouver and several places in British Columbia.

Originally a book series written by Robyn Carr, Virgin River is about Mel Monroe – a nurse practitioner looking to start over after several traumatic events in her life. She lands a job at a small practice in a remote town in northern California and says goodbye to her city life in Los Angeles. Virgin River turns out to be a lovely place – not just for its beautiful location but also for its strong community. Being new in town comes with its challenges though. Insert a handsome guy with some issues et voilá, we have a romantic drama that I can binge. Sappy as all this sounds, I’ve enjoyed watching this show quite a bit. The scenery definitely contributed to that.

Sadly, my current only way of visiting Virgin River is Netflix but I can’t wait to visit some of the locations myself soon! One of them would be Squamish, just an hour drive north from Vancouver, where you can find Jack’s Bar from the show. THOSE MOUNTAINS! I simply must to go there. I mean… Seriously, just do a quick Google images search on Squamish mountains and you’ll get it.

There’s so much more coming. Next time, another two shows that I love that were shot in and around Vancouver!

I moved to Canada Oct 18

I am moving to Vancouver

Hi! I’m Indira from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In a few months, I am embarking on a very exciting journey… I’m moving to Canada! It still feels so surreal to say it, but the colder it gets outside, the more I realize that my departure date is coming closer. Shortly after the New Year, I’ll be hopping on a plane to Calgary and continue down to Vancouver. Would somebody pinch me?!

hello, welcome to vandira

Back in the day, in my teenage years and early twenties, I loved blogging and journalling. I always had a camera within reach to capture everything around me. I have such a big photo archive from that time! As I lost the rhythm of blogging and started to focus on other things, my photo archive was no longer expanding as much as it used to.

With such exciting things ahead of me now, I’ve felt super inspired to build a blog again – it’s such a nice way to capture special moments and share experiences. So here I am, with vandira.com as my little corner on the Internet where I can document my experiences. For myself, for my dear friends and family back home, and for anyone else interested in how I cope with living abroad!

british columbia

After a trip to Vancouver back in March 2022, I was so sure that this was the area. The tiny bit of British Columbia I saw during that short trip was so breathtakingly beautiful! I can’t wait to familiarize myself with Vancouver as a local and see much more of BC!

The picture up here was taken on Vancouver Island on a day full of hiking and discovering beautiful towns and staring at gorgeous views. I can’t get over this place and its mix of everything I could wish for in terms of nature and how this area is situated. The city, the ocean, the mountains, the beaches, the wildlife… All of that so close together, yet this place is massive! Am I really moving to Canada? WHAT?

reality check

OK, before anything else, let’s take a step back and do a reality check (or, better phrased as what the heck am I doing?).

I sold my house (cry)
I resigned from my job (cry cry cry)
I got rid of a lot of stuff (not so much cry)
My home country is 4% of the size of British Columbia (gulp)
My home country is 0,4% of the size of Canada (are… are you getting this? My home country fits into Canada almost 240 times!)
Meanwhile, Vancouver’s city is just 35% of the size of Rotterdam. Maybe this is what makes the idea of living in Vancouver more manageable for my brain to grasp (sigh, I love Vancouver)
I can’t bring my two kids. I’m leaving them in the Netherlands to fend for themselves.
Just kidding, I don’t have kids. I have two cats and they will be staying with their grandparents (CRY!)

Looking forward to sharing my journey toward and in Canada with you all here! See you next time!