Like clockwork

It is comforting to have a plan of what is going to happen, but it is even more satisfying what it all goes as planned.  The alarm went off as scheduled and what was even more surprising was that we were both asleep at the time and not lying there waiting for the alarm to go off.  We were up and dressed in record time and summoned a taxi to take us to the Kent Station.  It arrived on time and we got to the train station as scheduled.  The train arrived and got us into town as scheduled.  We checked in our bags with no issues, got our seats allocated on the train, and had time to head back to Zeitgeist to grab a coffee before departure. 

The train is cool!  I thought that we must have been in business class as the seats are nice and big and spacious, and there is enough leg room for the person sitting in the window seat to walk past the person sitting in the aisle seat.  More room here than in aeroplanes or even movie theatres.    The trip itself was very nice too.  It is not a fast train, but it is very smooth and we had seats in the upstairs part of it so that we had a great view of the world as it passed by.

The service from Amtrak was superb –all the staff on the train itself were friendly and helpful, even down to little touches like making sure the pull-handles on suitcases in checked baggage were pulled up and ready to go once the bags were off the train.  Canadian border security was really friendly and nice too, and we had a nice conversation with an Indian couple while in the customs queue.  They live in California and were surprised that we thought it had been expensive – they said their most expensive holiday had been to Australia.

Our accommodation is in North Vancouver, and they let us check-in when we arrived at about 1pm, two hours before designated check-in.  After settling in, we decided to walk 2.4km up the road to the Capilano Suspension Bridge – and what a great idea that turned out to be.  The bridge itself is very cool; it spans the Capilano River and takes you into a beautiful forest of Douglas fir, white hemlock and red cedar.  The whole area has been developed so nicely, with walkways and a treetop walk of smaller suspension bridges.  Back on the city side of the bridge, there is a cliff walk.  The photo says it all.  It is so peaceful there; we found it incredibly restful and refreshing after four hours on a train. I didn’t even mind the heights as the outlook was so gorgeous.  It is hard to believe it is only a 30 minute walk from the hustle and bustle of the main street area where we are staying.

The final observation for the day is that Easter must play havoc with banking in NZ.  With the banks closed from last Thursday until they opened on Tuesday, it made things trickier for us to try and get money onto our USD travelcard.  Particularly when, being a day behind over here, it was already Good Friday in NZ when I realised over here.  Anyway, like clockwork, the money disappeared from our bank account on the Tuesday after Easter.  Not sure where it has gone, but I hope that it turns up on our Travelcard some time soon.