And they're off...

Well - suddenly it's stopped being a surreal future, and instead it hits home as "here and now". As I'm writing this we've just got thro…

2 days in...and loving it.

Well, we've been in Canada since Wednesday evening, and we're sitting in a coffee shop now, updating our diary. Our first impressions? C…

Wow!

Well, we've had a bit longer to get used to it now, and to recover from the jet lag. And it really is fantastic to be doing this. The chil…

Lakeside Gardens - Living in the garden shed

We're staying in a little lakeside cabana (if ever there was a good example of marketing, this must be it - in England we'd call this a "s…

Leaving Salt Spring Island...and on to pastures new.

Today we had to leave Salt Spring Island, as it was time to go to Victoria, on Vancouver Island (a very quick geography lesson was needed…

Whale watching

We'd been offered three choices for whale watching - a rigid inflatable (zodiac), where you sit in the full immersion/survival suit for 3…

Being normal

Today was the closest we've been to normality. A family we'd met on Salt Spring Island invited us over to their house for lunch. Alix an…

Sealing a great trip to Victoria

Yes, I know, it's an awful pun, but it is late at night as I write this, and my good jokes don't work late (aha, says Uncle Euan, your go…

Vancouver - Back to the City

We were back to the same downtown hostel we originally stayed at. That was quite nice for us all - somewhere familiar and a kitchen where…

Hire Cars, and Higher Costs

We've learnt a lesson today - that booking a car in advance on the Internet is MUCH cheaper than waiting until the last minute and trying…

Roasting to the Rockies

We've left the coast, and are heading towards the Rockies. Today we completed the first part of the journey, from Squamish (right on the…

Squilax, Shuswap Lake

Our current hostel (HI Shuswap Lake at Squilax) is exciting because most of the accommodation is in "cabooses" - these are the carriages…

Fire, Smoke and Evacuation

Well, we've had our first bit of real tense-excitement now on our trip. The area that we are in has been declared a "National Emergency Ar…

Revelstoke - Oasis of calm

We're now in Revelstoke, a calm and peaceful town between the smoke and fire around Kamloops, and the tourist-filled roads of the Rockies.…

May the force be with you (in Jasper)

Today was our first full day with the BBC crew, and because of last night's late finish, we had a lie-in until 9.00, then met them at 10:3…

Down the Icefields Parkway

Before I write any more, I have to say "WOW". Today we drove down the most amazing road, the length of the Rockies from Jasper to Banff.…

Banff - Expensive, tacky and beautiful

When we arrived in Banff last night, we found out that the hostel is about 50% more than on the coast (around £40 for a family room, compa…

On the road with Auntie Beeb - Day 5

Today was a day of moving, and not moving. The plan was to leave Banff and end up in Revelstoke. Along the way we were stopping to see Kic…

Revelstoke - a spiffing city

Today we woke up in Revelstoke in the SameSun Hostel (it's good - a wooden building with solid oak floors, nice staff and friendly guests)…

Kelowna - nice but wasted time

Today we woke up in Kelowna. The hostel, which is much more friendly and informal than the others we've stayed at, had a keg party last ni…

Driving, driving, driving me mad...

Today we moved from Kelowna to Vancouver - it's a distance of around 400 kilometres - 250 miles. (Here's an odd thing - although Canada is…

Vancouver at warp speed

Today was "the Vancouver day" for the BBC. We had to pack in a complete filming section for the whole of Vancouver, and boy, did we pack i…