Okay I am trying to book some places for my scouting trip (leaving Tuesday) and want to stay somewhere around Vancouver for a day or so to look around. I have no idea where to book when it comes to:
Mission
Maple Ridge
Burnaby
West/North Van
etc. and so on
The only thing I have decided is to avoid Downtown Vancouver.
So, where is a good area to aim for (or avoid at all costs) if I want:
- to see the area (so close enough I can just drive to other areas and see them
- fairly safe/relaxed
- not going to cost the moon (which it seems the downtown does and parking is probably a drag in that area I would assume).
BTw the plan the AAA came up with didn't have me in the area at all but jumping right from Chilliwackto Victoria so now I am figuring I'll skip Chilliwack and go straight to Vancouver area instead. So I don't really have time to get them to give me tips (they weren't that speedy I found).
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If you havent booked your hotel in Kamloops yet check out the Hampton suites. We always stay there when we travel through and it is great. Pet friendly, free breakfast, nice and new & clean.
The drive from Kamloops to Victoria is a long one but do-able. Once you pass through Langley/ Surrey the traffic will be heavy pretty much no matter which way you go. We just did this drive for our move from Alberta to Victoria ( through Jasper), but stopped for the night in Abbotsford.
Just think- no winters here! Whoo hoo!!
Have a great trip!
Enjoy the trip. Technology aside, you will have fun.;)
EDIT: PLEASE EXCUSE THE CAPS. I CAN'T SEE THEM UNTIL I POST AND I'M TOO TIRED RIGHT NOW TO GO BACK AND CHANGE THEM. SO NOT SHOUTING, JUST TIRED AND SLOPpY TYPING RIGHT NOW.....argh they they go again, sorry. Stupid Microsoft keyboard.
That helps me a lot actually.
I was looking at the Sandman and Accent inns in Richmond and both seem near the airport and then I checked the scale on the map... more like 4K+ away so that may mean their aren't planes blasting overhead.
I made a decision last night to skip Vancouver on the way out just to avoid the confusion (I'm so tired of looking at hotel reviews, maps, sites...have to say AAA wasn't very helpful as so far I've yet to book any they listed for me. Their books and maps have been more help than having them do the plan for me). Anyway I decided to jump right from Kamloops to Victoria. the only problem is that probably puts me trying to hit the ferry on a Friday afternoon so finding out about routes to avoid is good as it's entirely possible I could hit a rush hour. So continue to post with detailed directions for getting to the south ferry from the #1 and avoiding traffic if you can.
I'll be checking in here from my netbook (just as soon as I figure out how to work it... we are talking PC stuff and a Mac person here) and the places I've booked all claim to be wireless so fingers crossed.
the plan now is to stay in Victoria 3 days (NEXT WEEKEND) and while I am there I will see about either staying longer or figuring out where to park myself in Vancouver AND PLAN OUT THE PATH BACK STOPPING FOR MORE TIME IF NEED BE IN SOME PLACES.
BTW it sure pays to wander the web. I was looking for ferry info and up pops a deal Victoria is running where if you stay 2 days they pay the ferry. Bonus, so I called them and they booked the same place I was going to book, for less than I got quoted as their best rate (which was lower than AAA price SO I WASN'T COMPLAINING) and they upgraded the room to a bigger one for no charge. Talk about pleased with that find. Saved me over $180 in room charges alone, never mind the ferry ($58 one way).
I've also decided to leave tomorrow (instead of Tues) right after a mover does his quote visit in the afternoon. I think better to do try and get to Fernie (my birthplace that I haven't been to basically since so that should be interesting since it is more a ski resort town now) vs trying to get to Nelson in one go. I could just imagine my back and cranky dog doing 8 hours the first day out so rethought that.
So a bit of a rush around today trying to jump everything up a day with getting ready to go. I just finished giving Eb a bath so she's nice and clean (and zooming around right now as freshly cleaned dogs do). She is not impressed at all with baths and hair dryers but she's clean and at least sort of dry). It was pack or wash the dog, pack or dog and dog won as I am imagining I CAN pack pretty quickly tomorrow morning (fingers crossed) I just hope the guy is on time tomorrow so I can get out of here and hit Fernie before dark.
Still got TO pack and figure out my new phone and netbook and camera. HIGH TECH HITS DBD IN ONE BLOW AND I HAVE A FEELING FERNIE WILL BE A BIT BORING SO I WILL HAVE TIME TO FIGURE THEM OUT THERE.
SO COUNTDOWN TO ADVENTURE STARTING, APPROX. 14 HOURS FROM NOW. I HAVE SO MUCH ON MY MIND TO REMEMBER TO GET READY I HOPE I CAN SLEEP.
I find it rather hard to navigate the hotel-finding sites. I googled "pet friendly hotels" for Richmond and got results, but then the addresses were not on the same page and I had to click for the websites to see if I recognized them. I was also kind of surprised to see so many with Vancouver Airport in the name, as there are only a couple I'd consider really close to the airport-good for business I guess! Richmond isn't really all that big though, and without traffic you could get across it in 15 minutes.
The Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel is the one I think used to be The Richmond Inn many years ago. It's centrally located, close to the most popular mall (Richmond Centre) and many restaurants. My wedding reception was there back when I knew it well. I can recall only 5 Richmond Hotels back then and this was one of the nicer ones. Now there are little hotels everywhere, in preparation for 2010 perhaps. I think that one was pet-friendly, buy you should double-check. Safety-wise, I like the area of this one because it's a busy area. Generally though, I know of no particular area I'd consider unsafe in Richmond, so long as you'd use the same street smarts you practice at home.
The only 'review' I've heard recently about any Richmond Hotel was from people in dh's family who came out for a wedding we attended over summer. They live further north now, and they like the Holiday Inn Express Riverport when they drive down. It's a bit of a 'no frills' hotel that is quite new, and near an ice center, theater, and pool. It suits their needs, but other than its close proximity to the tunnel you'd travel through to head toward the ferry, I'm not sure. When I first found out about it I thought it was kind of out of place, but dh says one of its niche markets is kids who are in town to play hockey. I don't recall if it's pet-friendly.
Speaking about the tunnel (George Massey Tunnel) you should avoid heading south through it at all cost between 4pm and 6pm. The intersection of Number 5 Road and Steveston Highway is heavily congested at that time. There's always a long, SLOW lineup of cars on Steveston Hwy. waiting to get through the tunnel. It's a 4-lane tunnel that swaps out to a 3-lane going the busy way during morning and afternoon rush hours. Highway 99 southbound is most often unbearably busy at that time.
The one called the Vancouver Airport Travelodge has a Pantry restaurant in the lobby, and I've been to that Pantry. (they always mess up my Sunshine Salad, lol) This location is just off the the street that Costco, Pier1, Michaels, Ikea, and Home Depot are on. (Bridgeport Road) North of that there is just a bit of residential area-mostly warehouses and business use though. For kicks I called to see if they allow pets, not wanting to go back to google, and I called the 1-800 number. I got a call center in India (long story I'll skip, lol). In the end I googled to find the real number for the place, a local call for me, and found out it's pet-friendly. (I shared my views about off-shore call centres and job losses with he who answered-I'm sure he's SO glad I called, lol)
You can use google maps to get a satellite view of any hotel you are thinking about, just to see how the area looks. Richmond is flat, and although there are a few tall buildings there are no skyscrapers.
People always mention Steveston Village when speaking of Richmond. The one hotel there, the (old) Steveston Hotel, is not pet-friendly. Steveston Village is nice to visit in the day but a recent rare night out I had on a Thursday with friends who wanted to grab a bite in that area did not work out. We got there about 9:10 pm and all the restaurants the group wanted to try were closing. See it earlier if you go-daytime is best. (maybe restaurants there are open later on weekends)
I've taken the ferry to the island 3 times in my life-can't help you there! Actually I don't know if any of this helps at all, lol!
Yes, Pearl has it about right. As far as I can tell it looks like Richmond would fit the criteria for near the ferry, close enough to drive to the other areas. They have a lot of places out by the airport that take dogs (I have the guide books and have been checking out sites like traveladvisor). The problem with Vancouver is they split all the accommodates between the various cities in the area so you have to go one by one and since I am not familiar with any of them I have no idea of which have the best access given traffic and little things like being safer etc.
Go to expedia.ca and you can search for hotels with prices and ratings and reviews.
Best area would be south of airport in Richmond/Surrey where you can hop on the new Skytrain to go downtown and being south is where you want to be to go to the ferry.
Another option would be to go to the island through Horseshoe Bay and end up in Nanimo and drive down to Victoria. If thats a choice you could stay in PoCo area or the north shore and hop on upper levels hghway to HB.
Now if the Olympic pre games spirit hits you you can also drive up to Whistler and see how much it has changed in order to get ready for 2010. That's an easy drive up and down that could use up a day.
1. Do you require a hotel that allows pets?
2. Do you want to stay close to where you will take the ferry to/from Vancouver Island?
3. Would you be taking the ferry between Tssawwassen and Victoria, or between Horseshoe Bay (downtown) and Nanaimo? (had to ask DH about the routes as I harrdly ever use the ferries!)
I don't know if I'll have helpful suggestions, but I thought these questions may help find what you need.