Week 57 - Starting the Adventure in Canada

On Tuesday, our flight to Vancouver, Canada finally took off. You can fly directly from Nadi, Fiji. The flight lasted 12 hours and we flew over the International Date Line.

We departed on June 2nd at 10 PM and arrived on June 2nd at 2 PM. So we experienced June 2nd twice - it was a bit confusing for us ;-)

We are now 9 hours behind Germany. So far, we haven't quite internalized it, which is why this blog post is coming a bit late. We promise to improve :-)

Before entering, we were a bit nervous because you have to have certain documents ready and the officer ultimately decides whether you get the visa or not.

In the end, it was no problem at all. The young officer didn't want to see a single document and issued us the work visa for 1 year without further questions.

After that, we went straight to the outskirts to New Westminster for our housesit. Fortunately, we found this a few weeks ago. Nora, the host, invited us to come directly from the airport, even though she was traveling the next day.

We feel very comfortable in the small apartment with the cat Stevie.

Unfortunately, our timing is not great since the World Cup starts next week and there is a game here in Vancouver on Saturday. Hotel prices are currently abnormally high, and the locals already mentioned that next week it's going to be crazy. Next to the stadium, there is a large fan festival open every day. Maybe we'll join in on the madness for a day, but we aren't really into the crowds.

One day, we took some time to go to downtown Vancouver. Like many cities outside of Europe, there isn't a beautiful city center here either. We wandered aimlessly through the streets and just went with the flow. The main street in Vancouver's oldest district (Gastown) was our favorite.

We also went to the shop of Vancouver's football club. Since Thomas Müller has been playing here since last year, it was a must for Julian. In the shop, only Müller jerseys are for sale, but no other names :D The seller also told us that never before have so many jerseys been sold as in the last season. Julian hasn't decided yet if he wants to spend that much money on the jersey.

The World Cup is definitely not helping with the car search. Some Canadians are on vacation now, so we can't look at all the cars we wanted.

We are looking for a pickup with a camper cabin for our time in Canada. Quite common here and reasonably priced (unless the cabin is too new ;-)). Our van from New Zealand would simply be worth double here. However, we are excited for something new and hope to find the right vehicle with a cabin.

This week we had a few viewings, and there was actually one that we could envision. However, we still have the final viewing tomorrow, and then we will make the final decision. So the chances are good that we can start our road trip next weekend.

To ensure that this goes smoothly, Franzi exchanged her driver's license for a Canadian one. This gives us a 40% discount on car insurance. Franzi received a temporary driver's license directly at the office, and the card will be mailed in 2 months. We don't know yet how we will handle this, but we will certainly find a solution.

We have also opened a bank account. So not much stands in the way of our road trip, and next week will definitely be exciting with important decisions and appointments ahead, such as buying a car and insurance.