Hello everyone! After a long hiatus, the trip reports are back! I hope you’re just as excited as I am to be sharing  my travel experiences again. Before we get started, I just wanted to apologize for the lack of trip reports for my Singapore trip in December 2022. I was busy with school so didn’t have the time to write and before I knew it I had forgotten the finer details of the trip. I know I could still write them now but I thought that since this new trip is fresher in my brain, I’d rather focus my energy on these new trip reports instead. 

But don’t worry, as you’ve already seen I’ve got a bunch of other Singapore content up on the site (with more on the way). But yes  I’m now fresh off a trip, and to a new country to boot, and will commit to doing these trip reports for the 6 days I spent galavanting across, well you already know where from the title of this post: Vancouver, BC!

Ever since I moved to the US, Canada has been on my bucket list. But because of school and monetary reasons I didn’t have the means to go there. UNTIL NOW! I’m so excited to share with you everything I saw, did, ate, and experienced in the Great North. From my day where I visited over 15 tourist sites to my mystical day at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, and everything in between. So grab some poutine, snuggle up in your coziest Vancouver-branded shirt, and get ready to feast on another trip report!

Subscribe to my Youtube channel @ Stephen Flores Travel, like me on Facebook at Passport Perspective, and follow me on Instagram / Twitter / Tiktok @StephenJFlores. And now let’s get on with the itinerary!

Background

I graduated from Loyola Marymount University with my Masters in Writing and Producing for Television in May 2024, and I knew I wanted to celebrate my graduation by going somewhere, but for some reason I never considered Canada. 

I always thought it would be expensive to travel there, especially in the summer, and add to that I would have to apply for a visa to go there since I’m a Philippine passport holder. So I set my sights on places like Mexico, preferring to go somewhere cheaper than the US.

I was working on my finances one day and saw that I had about $700 dollars in credit card points that I had yet to claim. This was on my Bank of America travel rewards credit card, and I thought to myself that I should go somewhere with these points to celebrate my graduation. I also had travel credits with Alaska Airlines from a previously canceled trip, so I decided to go to the cheapest place in a new country that I could reach using Alaska Airlines. 

Belize was an option, but the price for a seat on a roundtrip flight was more than my travel credit. The Bahamas seemed fun, but it’s the height of tourist season and a trip there would surely cost more than $700 (and I’d have to get a visa). So my sights then moved north, and I looked at both Vancouver and Toronto as possible places to visit. But I only seriously considered them when I found out that Canada was allowing Filipinos with a valid US visa to enter Canada without requiring them to get a Canadian visa, which was one less hurdle I had to overcome to go there. 

Of the two cities, I eventually leaned more towards Vancouver, as traveling to Toronto would require a long flight from Los Angeles and would require more money than the $700 I set aside for the trip. This was mostly because I would want to see Ottawa and Niagara Falls as well when I go there, meaning it’ll be a much bigger trip. 

That being said, I also want to see other places in British Columbia like Victoria and Whistler, but based on my research Whistler is more fun to visit during the winter, and Victoria is basically it’s own little area that you need to dedicate a separate trip for. 

Add to that everything I budgeted for Vancouver, including attractions, transportation, food, and accommodations, fit into my budget, and next thing I knew I booked a flight to head to Vancouver in late June. 

Looking back, this was actually such an insane thing to do. I booked my flight on June 6 and my trip started on June 24. That’s less than 3 weeks to plan, prepare a budget, and get all my ducks in a row to be able to go there. But it turns out researching and planning this time around wasn’t too difficult. 

Unlike Singapore where every itinerary I found online was recommending different things, everyone who’s been to Vancouver seems to be in agreement on what the highlights of the city are. Looking back on it, I really only paid for 7 tourist attractions: the Vancouver Lookout, VanDusen Gardens, Bloedel Conservatory, The Museum of Anthropology, the Museum of Vancouver, Capilano Suspension Bridge, and Grouse Mountain. The rest of the must-sees were all free, such as Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, the West End, and Downtown. 

I was able to find a reasonably priced Airbnb too. It wasn’t located downtown but was close to a bus stop that had frequent buses that went there. I could basically go anywhere from my airbnb, which was really convenient and, in my opinion, a lot more value for money than getting an airbnb or hotel in the city. Plus it was located in a residential area and directly across a local supermarket, which made it feel more authentically Vancouver than if I had stayed at a hotel.

Planning

This trip required minimal planning compared to my last trip to Singapore. Singapore had a lot of moving parts i.e. attractions that were only open for a certain amount of time. Vancouver’s biggest attractions are mostly free to enter and reward spontaneity and exploration over planning. I spent some time walking through areas like Stanley Park, Granville Island, Queen Elizabeth Park, Gastown, West End, Downtown, and Kitsilano. 

Vancouver is very laid back compared to Singapore in that sense. Singapore seemed to be like sight after sight after sight. Vancouver was more about discovering hidden corners of the city.

So I did what I usually do and made a list of everything I wanted to see and grouped them by geographic location. I stuck to geographic location for the most part, but as you will read in future posts, I kind of went berserk on my second day as I crammed in more than I should have because I wanted to take advantage of a sunny day.

Which brings me to another point about traveling in general: really learn how to pivot and change plans at the last second. It’ll take a bit of reorganization, but things can pop up, like bad weather, that can throw your plans for a loop. So always have a pivot mindset and be prepared for plans to change.

This post is just meant to be an intro to the trip reports, so I’ll leave you all here for now! Next post will focus on my travel day and how I ~almost~ was not allowed to board my flight from Seattle to Vancouver. Stay tuned!

Vancouver, Canada ‘24 Trip Report Part One: Almost Denied Boarding & The Most Beautiful Park

Vancouver Canada ‘24 Trip Report Part Two: The Most JAM PACKED Day Ever Part 1

Vancouver Canada ‘24 Trip Report Part Three: The Most JAM PACKED Day Ever Part 2

Vancouver Canada ‘24 Trip Report Part Four: Museums Galore!

Vancouver Canada ‘24 Trip Report Part Five: 200 Feet in the Air

Vancouver Canada ‘24 Trip Report Part Six: Climb Every Mountain