Fire Torpedo one!

8th June 2010

MP3 track of the day: none - my MP3 player seems to be broken (more on this later).



Weather: Sunny, dry and cool ... perfect

I woke up rather early this morning and I decided that, instead of trying to get back to sleep in the 'pig sty' of a dorm I was staying in, I would pack up my stuff and a wait my coach at the bus station.

First thing I did was to put my MP3 player on charge (as it had ran out of juice yesterday) for the journey and then start to get ready. As I looked near my bag with my camera in it I noticed a puddle of liquid, which the source seems to have started with a cup my moron of a dorm mate had knocked over. Panic over took and (as both my camera and my netbook were in the bag) I moved my bags out of the way and checked that the outside of the bags were dry ... they were.

Once ready I picked up my MP3 player only to notice that the screen had gone black. When charging usually there was a battery with the word 'charging' flashing, however nothing. I played around with it to see if it was a loose connection ... nothing. So I put it in my pocket and headed off to the bus station.

I was glad to have left the 'Samesun' hostel in Banff; sure it's not there fault in regards to the behaviour of their guests, but as every dorm seemed to be the same it did feel as though this was the kind of backpacker they were trying to cater for (the young slob ... or my brother Edd).

I arrived at the bus station 1hr 45mins before my coach was due. Once there I tried several ways to charge my MP3 player (through this netbook and a normal socket within the bus station ... nothing). For the rest of the time I spoke to an Aussie who was working in the bus station and who was also a professional wedding photographer with too much work on (which is good). He had a Nikon D700 (very nice bit of kit) and a 50mm lens which he said was superb. He also must have been the happiest Aussie in the world (for 8:00am in the morning); he chatted to everyone and was a really nice fella.

Anyway my coach arrived and I was greeted by a very happy and helpful driver; however I was not so amused ... I had a 12hr trip and no music. There was only one hope, a girl I had met in Jasper and 2 days ago in Banff (Lilly) said she was going to be getting on this coach at Lake Louise and hopefully the case was still true; then I would have someone to talk to.

After an hour we pulled into Lake Louise and there she was ... few! All the way we chatted about lots of subjects (including what annoys us about Canada ... with hindsight probably not the best subject for a Canadian coach). There were few moments of comedy, apart from a gentleman, to our left, who fell asleep and snored like the sound of a British WW2 battleships sonar when it detected a U-boat ... very funny.

Also after we switched drivers the second guy must have always wanted to be a tour guide and he picked out bits for us to see; the best one was a waterfall in which a few people got their cameras ready ... only when we got there if you blinked you missed it.

After a tea stop we got back on the coach, had another change of driver, and were told that 'it was government inspection time' and that our coach could get stopped and everything would have to be searched. This driver was a bundle of joy, he made it sound like we had a 99% chance of being searched and therefore we would be delayed an hour. He also said that we would be arriving late into Vancouver and he then spent the next 10 minutes telling us why in a very depressing manor.

Luckily Lilly had her netbook on her and around 40 films on a hard drive. We sat down and watched 'The meaning of life' by Monty Python ... quite funny but very rude.

Just before Vancouver we were pulled into the government inspection area; the coach crept along to the nearest guard only to be told to 'go on our way' as the police had just stopped a truck and were busy pulling that apart. As we pulled out a cheer from the passengers erupted and everyone breathed a sign of relief as we new we weren't going to be delayed another hour.

We finally arrived in Vancouver at around 10:15pm (should have been here at 9:30pm). Normally I try to arrived at my new location in daylight as I don't like walking, with all my stuff, on my own at night. Also I had heard mixed reviews of the area in which I was staying, I was a little worried. Anyway as soon as I got out of the bus station I said goodbye to Lilly (as she was staying in a different hostel) and I walked to my hostel. The walk was fine; it was only 5 minutes from the bus station and along a main road, so no problems. The hostel is very nice and I've only got one other person in my dorm (who is tidy and doesn't snore ... bliss).

Looking at my average I've gone up AGAIN ... £52.13. Not sure how this has happened as I haven't spent allot recently (I think). Still, I'm not in Vancouver and my hostel is only $20.00 a night and so I hope to save a bit of cash whilst I'm here. I hope to get the average knocked down below £50.00

Still the word awesome is the bane of my life (but is being used less); tax still isn't added onto prices and the Canadians can't do cake or chocolate (plus all food seems to be expensive). On the plus side everyone is very friendly and the Rockies has been amazing ... I just hope Vancouver is too.

Should get a good sleep tonight; tomorrow I need to head into town to fix my MP3 player and purchase a little bit of stuff.

Toodle Pip!