The start of our holiday- Vancouver and Central parkrun (Burnaby)

So I’m home now from a wonderful holiday in the USA and Canada. I’m going to recap in several parts in the aim to keep each post a readable length!

Our trip started on a Thursday night with a train up to Manchester. This was on one of the hottest days, and of course the trains were delayed- we ended up waiting for a couple of hours at Milton Keynes, and even looking up Manchester airport parking options in case the train was cancelled. Thankfully it turned up in the end and we got to our hotel at about midnight.

After a little walk around Manchester first thing on Friday, we got the train to the airport and flew to New York (due to catch a flight to Vancouver later that day). Luckily we got to the airport nice and early because although we had checked in, when we got to drop off our bags we were told (very nicely) that we also needed the Canadian version of an ESTA (these didn’t exist the last time we went to Canada)- we applied over our phones (fiddly doing the long form on a small screen) and could show the email as proof so we were OK to fly. The flight was fine- we were upstairs on the plane in a sort of exit row, and I had an empty seat next to me so we felt like we could spread out. I watched a film (the one about Ted Bundy), and started watching the new Mary Poppins but the time went quickly and we soon landed. Then, because I had changed my name after getting married, I had to have a new USA ESTA, and so we had to join that queue (vs returning ESTA which was a far shorter queue), and I am not kidding you we were in that queue for well over 2 hours. Luckily our connection was a long one, and after finally getting our bags, re-dropping them  off and re-going through security (my most hated part of travel) we walked up and down by the gates to make sure we were tired for the second flight. I had a slight panic because before boarding they called out my name, saying they needed to see me at the  desk, but it turned out they were checking the Canadian ESTA (so lucky I could show them the email on my phone) and were checking every single person- I just happened to be one of the first names they called. As someone who gets easily panicked this didn’t really help any pre-flight worries!

For the NY-Vancouver flight, as soon as the flight had taken off I put on my headphones and eye mask, and loaded up some sleep stories from Calm, and although I woke up each time the story ended, I could just put on a new one and then drift off.  Immigration in Canada was far quicker, and after getting our bags and a taxi we were in our hotel at about 1am (which I think was 9am UK time)- as I was setting my alarm I heard that my dad was on his way to parkrun at home which was a weird thought!

When we booked our trip I had planned to go to Richmond Olympic parkrun, which is near to Vancouver airport and would have meant a 40 min Skytrain ride, but a few weeks before then I had seen (on the parkrun Canada facebook page) that a new one was launching (Central parkrun in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver) and this was only a 20 min Skytrain ride away result! Luckily they don’t mind people turning up to inaugurals in Canada, so I was OK to head there. Although I’d set my alarm, we both woke up before and Andy walked with me to the train station (he knows I have a terrible sense  of direction, and I had no data on my phone for Canada, and I had downloaded the Vancouver map but directions don’t work when the map is offline).

I was slightly apprehensive about finding the start, but I needn’t have worried because I could see the parkrun flag from the platform!

Me with my tired and slightly nervous face on the way, with my watch, train ticket and barcode- DFYB.

I chatted to a few tourists including one from Bristol who had been to a parkrun in Seattle the previous week, and the core team chatted too. They were worried that not many people would turn up, but they had 116 runners in the end.

The park was gorgeous and I was so glad that I chose to go there. (Despite it’s cool name, a few locals said that Richmond Olympic parkrun was like running up a gulley? and not particularly shaded- it’s out and back and possibly not so scenic). The park was filled with huge redwood trees, so it was lovely and shaded. There were black squirrels which I’d never seen before (despite looking out for them in Letchworth as there are some there). The route was two laps, and it went past ponds, clearings in the trees where loads of people were doing tai chi- with every turning there was a new view. Towards the end of each lap there was a slight incline, but nothing that you could call a hill. It was just beautiful.

(A few blurry photos from while I was running)

From their facebook page- I’m there in my apricot Ellenbrook Fields vest – too hot for t-shirts!

The two lap nature meant that you ran through the start/finish area which meant lots of lovely cheers from the teams. Lots of people were thanking marshals on the way around, which always makes me very happy.

After finishing and scanning my barcode, I chatted to a few other tourists for a little bit. I was trying to do a selfie with the sign in the background, and failing miserably (I still can’t get the hang of it, and always move the wrong way to where I need to move to get the right bit of background in) so someone offered to take my photo very kindly. I had sent Andy a text (no data in Canada for me) but it hadn’t sent so I didn’t want to hang about too much in case he worried, and of course we wanted a day in Vancouver so I got the train back. (My time was 28:31- this came through on email later in the day)

Yay- a new flag on Running Challenges!

After breakfast (in fact, second breakfast as I’d eaten a brioche roll when I’d first woken up as I already felt pretty hungry and hadn’t eaten anything since before the flight to NY, a good while ago by that point) we headed out for a wonderful day in Vancouver. It really is such a beautiful city. I think anywhere with water is vastly improved (lakes, rivers, oceans) and combined with the mountains in the background and the masses of green trees it is a perfect combination. We walked to Stanley Park and watched seaplanes taking off, watched for cormorants, seagulls and starfish on the beach, headed into the park for a bit to admire the collection of totem poles, and then walked back to the centre. I thought I would feel more tired, as the time difference is so huge, and we did sit down on a bench for a bit, but other than that we kept walking.

Once in the centre we had to stop by a David’s tea for an iced peach tea (so good), and then went to get an early dinner in a pasta place. I could not resist popping into a Bath and Bodyworks (I love their hand sanitisers) so I picked up a few bits for the holiday. We had seen this amazing bakery close to our hotel, so on our way back we stopped to get an evening snack- pretzel for Andy and a dark chocolate and cherry scone for me- so good.

We didn’t stay up too late as we had an early start- our train to Portland was leaving at 6.30am- I’ll save that for next time.

Are you a fan of flights?  Where is the furthest you have travelled to a parkrun?

Tell me about your favourite city…