Sunday 19th of July - After 12 hours and 50 minutes of travelling, two flights, one short stop-over in Reykjavik, a long but successful wait for our luggage and the first few kilometers with our new rental car we finally arrived in our first hotel, the Pacific Gateway Hotel in Richmond / Vancouver. It was already around 6am Swiss time by the time we had eaten something and were ready to fall into bed. But then the light outside was so stunning that we had to go for at least a little walk along the Middle Arm Fraser river and take a few photos.
Monday 20th of July - Feeling still a bit tired, but much better, we got up quite early to catch the ferry from Tsawwassen to Nanaimo the next morning. Even though our navi Anke had a fondness for intricate ways to get to a destination, we arrived on time. Boarding the ferry was much easier than I had feared, it was actually no problem at all. All the ferry rides on our trip were definitely a big favourite of mine - being outside and on the ocean, moving without me driving and often with a cooling wind - it is just a great way to get from one point to another.
Once on Vancouver Island we headed towards Port Alberni. But before we drove there, we had a break at the Old Country Market in Coombs where we ate lunch and then we all had one of these huge ice creams. These were actually the small ones - I can't imagine anyone eating two scoops like that...
In Port Alberni we stayed at the Hummingbird Guesthouse. We had a lovely, spacious room with a view over the patio and the garden. There was a hot tub, a couple of blueberry bushes with ripe berries ready to be eaten and a huge garden where Yannick and I played American football.
In the evening we went to explore Port Alberni. Because of our jetlag all we managed was a little walk to the harbour, dinner at the Starboard Grill and a few windy moments at the pier.