(Complete!) From Calories in Calgary to Snacking in Seattle (trip & food report May 2019)

[Wordsworth]

We breakfasted in the hotel again this morning, I went back to the banana coconut overnight oats I enjoyed so much on the first morning, and I finally remembered to take a photo of my second plate too!

After breakfast we headed back out to the shops. In Calgary I’d spotted a bag in Coach I rather liked and I’d seen it again in Vancouver yesterday. After returning to the hotel we’d checked the Canadian sale price (plus tax) versus the UK price and worked out it would be about £50 cheaper here. Obviously that was such a bargain I had to go back today and buy it!

I’d also held off getting hand washes from B&BW yesterday as there was no multibuy on; this morning I’d got an email announcing both the multibuy and a percentage discount, so I picked up some of our fave scents (DH has even started to have an opinion, at home pre-holiday we were using Black Cherry Merlot and he asked got more of that!).

We also popped to the supermarket to get snacks for the train later - I still had the Lays earlier in the report plus some granola bars, so I just got water, while DH got some crisps and a blood orange Diet Coke. No photos of those though!

We returned to the hotel, packed up our last purchases, and checked out shortly before 12. We left our luggage with the concierge and headed out for a walk around Gastown.

We started at the steam clock.

Then wandered the area a little, checking out some of the gift shops. Maple sugar was ridiculously expensive in them!

It was at this point that we inadvertently headed in the wrong direction and found ourselves in downtown eastside, the poorest area of Vancouver. I think there was a health clinic on, because there were lots of people taking what I assume was methodone in the street. I haven’t seen anything like it before and it was sobering to see, given how rich the rest of the city appears in comparison. At no point did I feel unsafe, but we decided it would be best to quickly carry on through to Chinatown. (Speaking to others on our return, this is apparently quite a common ‘wrong turn’ for tourists seeing Gastown.)

Here we headed into the Chinese garden for a look around.

Then we made our way back to Gastown to get some lunch, knowing we would be spending the evening on the train. We ended up at a restaurant right across from the clock, where DH ordered pasta while I went for a burger.

My portion was huge in comparison to DH’s and he was sure I wouldn’t finish it...but of course I did!

We then had a final look around the shops before heading back to the hotel to collect our luggage and arrange a taxi to the station.

We got our luggage first and tipped the concierge who brought them out (which really excited the front desk guy for some reason - perhaps it’s more unusual in Canada?) before both visiting the bathroom and retrieving the stuff we wanted to carry onto the train from the cases.

It was the friendly concierge who DH had chatted to who was on duty and once we were ready to go he called a taxi for us, but then he spotted the hotels shuttle driver and decided he would ask him to take us down instead, on the basis it would be free! Guess the tip worked we also tipped the driver, who was nice and chatty too.

Our Amtrak Cascades train was due to depart at 5.45 and all the info really said was that you had to be there an hour before, but I’d read a few things suggesting that was the absolute minimum time requirement given you pass through immigration and get your Passport stamped for entry into the US before boarding the train. So we were there for 3.45 just in case, and we weren’t anywhere near the first.

Boarding wasn’t due to start until 4.20 and the security guard at the desk was advising people they couldn’t queue up until then, so we grabbed a seat and filled out our white customs form.

The staff started organising the queueing area at about 4.10. There were two lines - one for business class and one for coach. I’d booked the former basically the day the tickets were released to get the cheapest price. This gets you priority boarding, a bigger seat and a money off voucher to use on board - we didn’t use ours.

Your seats aren’t assigned until ticket check - I requested the “water side” (right side of the train) as I’d read you got the best views there. We were given our seats then we progressed to passport check - there’s a line for US passport holders and another for others. Fingerprints and photos were taken, customs form and passports stamped and handed back (the form is collected later at the border).

You could check your large bags into the baggage carriage on the platform (they have to weigh less than 50lbs, or you have to take them with you) so we did this and clarified that they should be collected from the carousel in Seattle.

Then we got on board!

Everything was very smooth and we were some of the first on board. The woman who assigned seats turned out to be the on board attendant and she was very good at her job - she assigned people going to the same place to the same coach, tried to give everyone waterside seats and explained what would happen when we actually crossed the border (the train stops in a siding, then US immigration officers board, check passports and collect forms. It took less than 10 minutes in total).

And, in something that would be unheard of in the UK, we actually departed a few minutes early! I guess everyone they expected was on board by then...

The train itself was a bit dated, but the views made up for it!

The journey was uneventful and we arrived in Seattle a few minutes early, just after 10pm. We had a short wait at the luggage carousel for the bags, then we grabbed a taxi from the ones waiting outside to our hotel, the Hyatt at Olive 8. Check in there was also smooth and soon we were in the room and ready for bed.