A Muse's GuideFood, technology, yoga and music. . . is there anything else?

As I noted a couple weeks ago, I have planned a trip to Hawaii during the two weeks of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.  Aside from getting away from the grid-locked traffic, the excessive tourists, and the basic hectic insaneness that comes along with the Olympics, I feel @nachoman and I deserve some time off. We are heading out to Waikiki/Honolulu in Hawaii, which has its own masses of tourists, shopping and traffic, but at least we will be able to retreat to the beach, surf, and enjoy the hot weather.

The biggest problem with flying into another city to enjoy a vacation is the late night flights.  By the time you get off the plane, get your luggage from the never ending carousel of black bags, finding the sign with your name on it for your transfer from the airport to the hotel, and then finally checking in at the hotel front desk, you likely are famished and tired. Since we need to be careful about allergies, its not like we can just order a pizza to the hotel room at 2am, in fear of a vegetarian pizza having pork products on it (finding a hospital in a foreign or different city can be difficult when you don’t know where to go). So what am I going to do about it this trip? I made sure our hotel has a FULL kitchen, with rice cooker, microwave, stove etc.  But if we are arriving at the hotel at 2am, where am I suppose to find groceries? Problem Solved. I will do the same thing I do back in Vancouver, have my groceries delivered (sadly they wont all be organic and local – there goes my trying to only buy food within a 500km radius).

The Aston hotel chain in Hawaii has a partnership with a local grocery delivery service - Island Grocery Service.  Not only am I ordering my groceries ahead of time, when we arrive in our hotel room, we will have our fridge and cupboards fully stocked with the groceries I have ordered.  I can’t think of a better way to start our vacation.  Not only will I have my favorite snack foods available to munch on once arriving at the hotel room, I will be able to make a full breakfast of eggs, toast, waffles and orange juice without having to trek around the next morning looking for the grocery store. Yep, I would say paradise.

Hopefully it all works out. I will keep you posted after I return.

Mahalo for reading!

Aloha!

Deanna

It is the Thanksgiving (Canadian) long weekend, and one of the busiest traveling weekends of the year. Many people travel from Vancouver to Vancouver Island (Victoria) quite frequently, and even more so on this long weekend to visit family and friends. Yesterday the Spirit of Vancouver Ferry (the Tsawwassen – Swartz Bay Ferry) had a standby generator set on fire, which of course has completely setback the ferry schedule for the weekend. (There were no available reservations for the ferry routes either)

If you were to arrive at the BC Ferries terminal in Tsawwassen (Vancouver) this Saturday morning, you would be in for a big surprise. Not only was the Highway leading to the ferry terminal backed up, but there was a 3.5 to 4 sailing wait looming over every vehicle waiting in the long line ups to even reach the toll booth to pay. While there was a ferry almost every hour, if you were trying to catch the 11am ferry, I hate to say, you likely were going to be arriving in Victoria (Swartz Bay) by 4:35pm at the earliest. (Not exactly the most enjoyable way to spend a Thanksgiving Saturday).

I have run into numerous problems like this over the years, going back and forth between Vancouver and Victoria, where there are 5+ hour sailing waits for a 1hr 35 minute ferry ride. Not my cup of tea.

So today I wanted to go and surprise my grandparents and have some dinner with them, just pop over on the 11am ferry and go home on the 7pm ferry. Between the outrageous price of vehicle fares and the long line ups and waits, I couldn’t justify spending over $150 on a day of travel. But wait!

Ahh the zen of motorcycle riding (so peaceful and relaxing), a little hint. . . You don’t have to wait in the line ups at the ferry, and you get a half price vehicle fare on BC Ferries. So @nachoman and I rode off this morning over to the island, to go visit in Victoria. Not only did we show up at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal at 5 minutes to 11am, we were able to hand the cashier our money and drive past all the lanes of waiting traffic and hop onto the 11am ferry.

Deanna Gets on the Ferry without having to make a Reservation or Wait in Line

We were able to arrive in Victoria shortly after 12:30pm, visit with my grandparents, have some dinner and then hop back on the Highway to get on the 7pm evening ferry (Which I must say is quite the nice ferry, it is one of the new Coastal Celebration Ferries;  cushy seats, ample legroom and a wonderful German sounding female elevator).  You really must try it out sometime, the regular seating is so comfortable that you don’t even feel the need to go to the Seawest Lounge upstairs.

All in all, by taking motorbikes to get to and from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, you save money, save a ton of time, and you also are helping help the environment by using a vehicle that has a lower environmental impact.  Best of all, it is a fun way of getting around.  Yes it is cold out, but with a heated jacket and layers of leather and Lululemon apparel, I am never cold (while on the bike).

So next time you are stuck in the long ferry line ups, wishing you had an easy way to get on the ferry sooner, take a peek at the front of the line up (usually in lane 1), where you will find some happy riders about to get on the ferry without waiting.

Cheers everyone, I’m going to relax with a cup of hot chocolate after a long day of travel and visiting.

~Deanna

Ahh. . . The 5 minute wait to get onto the ferry. How can you go wrong?