Train Trip across Canada - General Thoughts & Travel to Victoria, BC

General Thoughts:

We traveled without computers, so I am going to do like Cuba and do this day by day as I get through all the photos. I'll start with some general impressions:

For about half of the trip I was not feeling well. (various things) I was so glad when I started feeling better and really started enjoying the trip. My head tells me I’m not turning 70 this year, but my body does its best to keep it real.

We used Fresh Tracks - Canada - Train Coast to Coast - https://www.freshtrackscanada.com/

They can customize the itinerary to suit you (train schedules might force a date). We took their general one that went coast to coast and added on some pre and post days. They offer tours, but you do not have to use them. With the schedule of the trains being unknown we opted to use them. They offer fancy dinners that we opted out as we didn’t wish to drag along “dress clothes”. We prefer when traveling to eat more regional foods, bistros, pubs, food trucks and the like.

We don’t usually use a tour company, but with all the moving pieces of this one and the trains known to be chronically late, it seemed easier. Normally, we would have chosen the hotels and booked our own tours. So, each hotel was unique. Some were very nice, and others served the purpose and a couple we would not have chosen on purpose. The train experiences were likewise all different. The Rocky Mountaineer is in a class of its own and food, service and scenery was first class. The 3 nights we spent on the VIA Rail train across the Prairies was also nice and the food was quite good and the scenery interesting with fields, farms and lakes. Our least favorite train was the last one; the VIA Rail Ocean train as the cabin was small and the food a step below airline food. There were no domed observation car or cars to just relax in. You had your room and one small lounge. No snacks left out or drinks for purchase. Virtually no service.

All trains were late. Hours late. (over 4.5 hours in some places) Since we had no connections it only impacted our time in cities. (usually, it only impacted the time at the hotel and a shorter night) The freight trains own the rails and passenger trains take a backseat. 

All tour guides showed up and transfers from airports and train terminals were as scheduled. In Halifax we had an issue that the driver held up a sign with another person’s name on it. There were 2 sisters and a single guy that booked through Fresh Tracks and they put his name on it. So, we waited an eternity and finally called and sorted out the issue. The only other issue was at our hotel in Halifax said we needed to pay the bill. It was prepaid through Fresh Tracks, but their emergency phone number was of no use since it needed to be used during business hours and the office is located on the west coast. It was worked out later but took time trying to straighten it out. Our other nitpick was not knowing how long a tour was. Some were nearly all day and included opportunities for lunch and one was only 2 hours. Hard to plan your day. 

Every tour guide was laid back, passionate about where they live, and their talks never sounded rehearsed. Same with the staff in hotels and restaurants. It was refreshing compared to service in the States.

It was a nice mix of cities, nature, and scenery. Highlights were seeing Roy & Rondi in Banff, Victoria remains a favorite, Lake Louise for picturesque beauty, the drive to Jasper and Jasper itself. Seeing the Grizzly bears was a bit otherworldly for those that love nature and being in the presence of nature almost a religious experience, if you will, the sun glistening on the bears backs where the fur was lighter. Newfoundland was also a highlight. The people, the scenery and getting “screeched in” was awesome.

I’m sure we could have had more people in our travel group, but with Covid there were just the 3 of us that kept running into each other and were together on most tours. (some tours were part of larger groups and others just us) Two of the 3 were sisters and they really were a pain in the butt. They bitched about everything. At least one of them took an instant dislike to me and eventually Greg. They lectured everyone they met about wearing masks. (everyone should wear one for their protection) The planes and trains required them, but everywhere else they were not required. We have always been “team mask” before vaccinations, but since we are vaxed and double boosted we feel we need to just get on with life since Covid is here to stay we must learn to live with it. Everyone else can do what they like, wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, not our place to dictate to them.

So, that pissed them off (not that we said anything, we just didn’t wear them except where required). On one bus tour (or maybe it was just transport), they chose to sit behind us. I had not even sat down yet, but my seat was in a recline position from the last person to sit there and she barked I needed to put the seat up. She could have asked nicely, but that was not her way. It was very hard to put up but all 3 of us struggled to get it up. (we should have just moved rows and let her deal with it) I prefer to sit upright and not recline when touring, but had I wanted to recline, it would have been my right to do so.

On the buggies to the ice field, everyone was opening their windows to take photos. She tried to open hers’, but she couldn’t get it open. I opened mine and stuck my arm out to take a photo when she screamed "close it now" while pushing it closed against my arm. I was going to close it as soon as I took a quick photo since it was cold out there.

On one tour at the first stop she ran to catch up with the guide to tell him something. They liked our seats better and said we needed to switch. The guide relented and told us that at the half-way point we had to change seats.

On the last train the small crowd was standing around waiting for luggage. Plenty of room to stand side by side, but she stood right behind Greg and yelled “MOVE” when she saw her bag. Ours were there too, so he just ignored her and grabbed our bags.

Early on she wanted me to join her in bitching about Fresh Tracks. She seemed to think they were owed a ton of money back for various reasons. She felt someone should have handled the luggage for them (not a guided tour, just organized), every tour should have provided water (it never was promised) and the same guide that let them have our seats bought them water when she demanded he do so, the had to change rooms in a hotel since the room wasn’t closer to the elevator and on and on. Life’s too short to deal with people like her. I joked with Greg that if that had been one of the many private tours that I set up on cruises, they would have been on the “never again list” and after the first tour would have been asked to cancel the rest unless their behavior changed.

We were very lucky with weather and avoided rain for the most part and it never affected any tour times. It was a combination of cold and hot and lots of wind. We did need the variety of clothing that we brought.

I got word from Sheryl (childhood friend) that my first boyfriend (Humboldt, Iowa) had died at the age of 68. She didn’t know the cause. Sheryl said she saw him last year at the class reunion and he said he was ill. She said she had no idea it was that serious. I last saw he and his wife at the 30th HS class reunion. There were 6 of us girls and 6 guys that all hung out together in junior high. 

Well, I have tons of photos to go through (my camera started acting up so I didn’t take as many as usual, but we all know it's Greg that takes the best photos anyway) and will do this day by day as I get through them and get the blog updated. 

June 29 - Orlando to Victoria, BC – Long Travel Day

I set my alarm for 6:15 and for some reason it went off at 5:15. Of course there was no getting back to sleep for either of us.

Due to the prednisone, I didn’t get to sleep until around 3:00, so not much sleep before the alarm went off.

We grabbed lunch in Orlando which was a very cold carnitas burrito since they were out of street tacos. (they were a street taco restaurant) They had a steam table, but most of it was refrigerator cold.

The flight out of Orlando to Toronto was an hour late giving us a tight connection in Toronto to Calgary.

We arrived in Toronto, and they let everyone off first that had connections and yes, they checked. Nice that with our tight connection that we didn’t have to wait for all rows to clear.

We didn’t have to pick up bags as they were checked through to Victoria, but it still was a long slow process to go through customs.

We also had to go through security again. I got pulled over so she could check out my liquids. Nothing out of the ordinary, but she stared at it like she had never seen shampoo before.

The only place other than a sit-down restaurant (and we didn’t have that kind of time) was Subway. The line was long, and we thought we’d have to bail before ordering food, but we made it.

When Greg booked the flights, it was only one plane change in Toronto, but the airline rescheduled it to also have a plane change in Calgary with a 45-minute layover which if the plane had been on time we would not have made it on time, but the crew timed out and we waited over an hour more for fresh crew. So, by the time we got to the hotel it was 3:20AM (6:20AM our time) so we had been up for over 24 hours with some cat naps on the planes.

Toronto airport was a mess with lots of lost luggage and long lines for everything. We watched the news in Victoria and all things considered we had a much better experience than most. We got all of our luggage and we got to our destination. (hours late, but all things considered it was a success)

We grabbed a cab to Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites, where we spent 4 nights. It was a large corner room and reminded us a bit of the Marriott Residence Inn and was quite comfortable for our stay. Right near the harbor-front so very convenient. 

We had planned nothing for the next day, so that was good. We needed some rest.