Vancouver, revisited

Smiling as I bound down the street, I acknowledge the faces I'd seen months before. The same familiar sites, smells and energy of Commercial Drive. The hippie capital of Vancouver laden with organic veggie shops, vintage clothing boutiques and head shops.

The seasons have changed since I first planted my feet among the pines of British Columbia and began my journey around North America. Four months ago, almost to the day I boarded a flight from Edinburgh to Dublin; a night sleeping in the airport for a one-way ticket to Vancouver. Soaring above Canada, nose pressed to pane, I surveyed the scenery and the change from Province to Province. Newfoundland and its cliffs. Ontario and its lakes. The prairies of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. As the plane reaches Western Alberta, mountains jot up. Seemingly from nowhere the scenery has drastically changed from golden and green crop fields to jagged mountain ranges and turquoise lakes. I feel a great sense of wonder as I peer out at the same mystifying landscapes from the passenger seat of stranger's cars.

My driver, Bill dropped me at my friend's work on 4th and Maple in West Vancouver. We shake hands and part ways. I pick up my pack, my sleeping bag and my newly gifted tent and criss-cross my way through trendy Vancouverites on their lunch breaks. I gobble down a quick lunch with Quy and we hurriedly fill each other in on the last three and a half months of our lives. With the keys to his apartment in pocket I amble towards the bus. A woman unloading a car smiles when she sees me, "You look like you've been on an adventure".

And I have. I feel a deep sense of comfort being back in Vancouver. A city I had a chance to wrap my head around, to connect with so many wonderful new and old friends and the city that had welcomed me so warmly to North America, many months ago now.

When long term travelling, it's important to recharge your batteries. To revisit a place you call home with people you call family. I've come full circle by revisiting Vancouver.

It's beautiful when travelling to go with it. See where life takes you, follow your gut, say yes, be open, kind, trusting and friendly. I've been trying to follow my gut more and trust my decisions and instincts. When I was booking my ticket home to Perth, Australia I had originally planned on leaving early October but my gut decision was to stay an extra month to be in Canada for Halloween. Faced with the beautiful reality of an extra-month in Canada I decided to head West from Winnipeg.

13 days in 17 cars. 8 couches crashed. 2388kms later and I'm here. I have been shown so much unbelievable kindness in getting to Vancouver. I have been gifted a tent, a knife, sentimental stones, pasta, trail mix, road curries, peanuts, shoes, money and a lifetime of memories. I can't help but smile to myself as I leave my favourite little veggie shop, the ingredients for tonight's dinner in hand and the promise of a changed perspective in a familiar city.

#thoughts #Canada