pubs Keyword
Victoria
Back in January back in Sydney I met three very wonderful Canadians who were adventuring around the east coast. I chatted to Magena, Carlee and Kari often trying to learn what I could about Canada, knowing that in 8 months I would be seeing their homeland for myself. They convinced me that Victoria on Vancouver Island would be a great place to visit and I am glad I took their advice.
Vancouver Island lays off the west coast of mainland Canada. Getting there is pretty cheap and reasonably easy. I jumped on a bus from downtown Vancouver, then took a cheap yet HUGE ferry to the island. The cruise was fantastic, I am not sure how long it took in the end, I spent most of my time just watching the islands go by and enjoying the view. It could have been an hour, probably more, but I am not really sure.
After the enjoyable ferry ride I jumped on a bus to Victoria, where my hostel was located. Victoria is a beautiful little town, very cosmopolitan yet small enough that much of the city shuts down at night. As has become a bit of a feature of my trip I managed to time my visit at EXACTLY the wrong time, with the Victoria Fringe Theatre festival starting on the day I left the town.
The hostel was pretty good but not brilliant, luckily I didn’t spend too long within its walls. I met up with Emmet, a Californian I got to know in Vancouver and we hit up a local bar called Big Bad Johns. It was a cool little place with a great atmosphere. We downed a few beers there before heading back to the hostel. Back there we met Sarah from Quebec and chatted for a while.
The next day I headed out with Emmet, Sarah and her friend whom I forget the name of for a swim in the freezing waters off the coast. I couldn’t spend more than a few moments in the water before I was numb, but the sun was warm and it was nice to get out of the city for an afternoon. We grabbed some lunch and said farewell to Sarah who was headed back to Quebec that afternoon.
Now, remember those three Canadians? Luckily for me they were all back on Vancouver Island and invited me out for a drink to catch up. It was great to see someone you got to know 8 months ago again in their hometown on the opposite side of the world. It felt pretty surreal and it was nice to hear their stories of adventures from their travels. We had a drink in Sidney and the girls showed me around the small town. Magena gave me a lift back to my hostel, something I am very grateful for because the busses had stopped and my clipper to Seattle left early in the morning and I needed to pack.
New Edinburgh Pub Crawl
I’ve been doing a lot of drinking in Scotland. When in Rome and all that. Last night in an effort to satiate this alcohol fueled demon that seems to inhabit me whenever I stay in a hostel I joined the New Edinburgh pub crawl. The tour, organised by the same company that ran the walking tour I went on earlier in the day, took in about 5 pubs and a night club. Starting the tour at the Bank Bar, 70 people gathered together in the cold and fog and drink tokens in hand trudged the streets.
I made a few new friends, dominated the video pub quiz (scoring a share of the 10 pound payout), and drank, drank, drank. It was a great night, but I lost everyone at the Hive. I hit up another club, and headed home about 2am. For anyone looking for a great tour group to explore Edinburgh with, I don’t think you can really go past the Sandeman’s New Edinburgh group. Fantastic stuff.
In other news I managed to score a room at St. Christopher’s, the hostel I’ve been at the last two nights, even though I left the booking until this morning. Pretty lucky, as the interwebs were telling me the whole of Scotland is booked solid.