Canada, Vancouver

The last week of my incredible journey... Since I had booked my return flight from Vancouver from the very beginning, there was a city trip at the end.

From Cancun, I flew to Vancouver via Los Angeles. In LA, I had a 10-hour overnight layover. I intentionally chose the flights to experience staying overnight at an airport. I grabbed a blanket from the first flight and made myself as comfortable as possible on a bench with warm clothing. I kept the important stuff (passport, Mastercard, phone, etc.) hidden under my clothes and held onto the daypack under the blanket. I placed the backpack partly behind me or under my legs. In total, I slept for about three hours, as I was constantly woken up by passing or snoring people. One of the people sleeping next to me took snoring to a whole new level (and I thought my military time had made me immune to snoring people...). It was definitely an experience worth having, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

I took a taxi to the Samesun Backpacker Hostel and went out right after lunchtime, as my hunger was greater than my lack of sleep. I walked to the waterfront and took a 40-second ferry ride to Granville Island - the island is less than 100m away from the shore! Here, there is the Granville Island Public Market - comparable to the Streetfood Festival in Zurich, except that it is open year-round. A culinary highlight for all food lovers :) From the island, you have a great view of the Granville Bridge and part of the city. After eating, I walked around the island, took the ferry back, and went to the hostel.

The next day, after the usual hostel breakfast (bagel with jam or cream cheese), I explored a large part of the city on foot. First, I went to Canada Place by the harbor, which has various artworks (Olympic Cauldron, digital Orca, and The drop). There, at Jack Poole Plaza, I treated myself to a delicious meal at the 'Cactus Club Cafe' - insider tip: Modern bowl with Salmon and grilled Avocado! Here, I met Sydney, a bartender at the Cactus Club. She had just finished her shift and sat next to me to eat as well. Sydney works in the fashion industry as a freelance makeup artist and thought it was great that I was from Switzerland - she was probably interested in international contacts. It didn't bother me much, as she showed me various places in Vancouver in the coming days and gave me insider tips. I enjoyed the conversation and got along well with her, so I went to watch her beach volleyball game in the evening. This game took place at Kitsilano beach, which was perfect for watching the sunset. I walked to the beach and thus saw another neighborhood of Vancouver. After the game, we had Thai food and finally walked home (she lived a few minutes' walk from my hostel).

The weather was perfect the next day, so I rented a bike and went straight to Stanley Park. A complete loop of the park is about 8km and has various viewpoints of the city or the long Lion Bridge. I spent several hours in the park and rode through all sorts of paths. I almost dropped the bike in the lake because I wanted to take a great photo with the panorama in the background. The bike didn't have a stand, so I secured it with some stones - luckily, the bike didn't fall backward into the water, but forward. After returning the bike in the evening, I leisurely walked along Robsin Street (shopping street) up and down, pretending to buy something (I didn't have the money to treat myself anyway xD).

I spent the second-to-last day with Sydney. She took me all over the city and to the beautiful neighborhoods of Gastown and Chinatown. The details of the houses or the many alternative small shops were particularly impressive. We had 'lunch' together late in the afternoon and said goodbye to each other. I spent the evening thinking about my journey and felt strange (definitely also sad) that it was over now...

On the last day, I packed my backpack in the morning and spent the afternoon in a park near the hostel. Here, too, I thought about many moments of my trip, but also about my family, friends, and acquaintances in Switzerland, as I really missed them. Of course, many can say that nine months is not a long time... However, this was the first time for me that I was traveling for so long and also 'alone'.

I arrived at the airport three hours before my flight with the SkyTrain because I didn't want to miss this flight for anything in the world. Before boarding the Airbus A380, I treated myself to a cold beer to celebrate and imagined what it will be like to see everyone again. I was especially excited to see my brother! Of course, I was also looking forward to seeing my family (Mom

I was never the greatest (or best) writer, but I enjoyed filling this blog with posts. It will also be useful to me as a medium if I want to look back on this journey in the future. Who knows, maybe I will continue this blog for my future travels...

Regarding the nine months spent, I can only say that it was the best decision of my life. There were certainly not only positive experiences, but I also learned something from the negative experiences. Every franc spent on this trip was worth it because I not only grew intellectually but also personally and especially humanly. I met people from different countries and cultures and made friendships with incredible people from all over the world. I can only recommend everyone to have such an experience.