Hello Vancouver

New thing today, traveled to the West End of Vancouver BC. We have some family visiting Vancouver BC and decided to be tourists with them for awhile, so we are staying together in a hotel in the West End of BC. There are a few firsts in here with this.

First time voluntarily choosing to travel minimalist/light with one roll-on carry-on for a 2 week trip. Decided to pack light and be mobile. This was a goal, but ended up being a real treat because of our next few firsts.

First time taking the SkyTrain and Bus un-escorted through new territory in Vancouver. At the airport we had the option of taking the public transportation or a taxi to our final destination. If we had taken a taxi, it would have been more expensive, more sure and simpler time traveling. Since we had packed light and were feeling adventurous, decided to try for public transportation. It was a good experience. I was a bit worried because I didn't know if we would be targeted for theft or hustled due to our carry-on luggage. I put on my city girl attitude, and asked help from very nice locals, and we were able to find our hotel easily and cheaply! Amazing and fabulous and surprised how well it went. Unfortunately we didn't know we had to only use coins on the bus, and we were short a bit, but our bus driver was nice and covered it for us. Awesome!

First time roughing it in the living room of a hotel vacation condo. The relatives got a teeny tiny little one bedroom unit in the area, as it was the most economical. I am guessing it's about 500 square feet for a bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and such. This is where the minimal packing really helped as we don't have much room at all.

First time at one part of Stanley Park. Stanley Park is HUGE. We ended up walking through a new bit of it and we expect to discover more as we go.

Anyway traveling always brings about a ton of new firsts, so yes, more to come :) Hello Vancouver!