jim was generous enough to take me to british columbia for four days as a travel companion.

we left on august 19th, arriving in vancouver that afternoon.

we stayed at the opus hotel, which was marvellously decadent, right smack in the middle of the trendy yaletown.

with nothing on the agenda until that evening, we took a little stroll around until it was time to have dinner with a couple of jim’s friends.

the next day, we went to visit stanley park (as beautiful as i’ve always heard) before doing a little shopping in gastown (all along its cobblestone paths, into a number of the cute boutiques).

it was off to victoria early the morning after. we took the ferry and spent most of the three hour trip in the breakfast buffet room, which had a beautifully serene view of the water and the islands in the distance as they came closer and closer and passed us by.

upon arriving at victoria, we took a walk along the harbour before visiting the royal british columbia museum. and then we had afternoon tea at the empress hotel, which tasted as legendary as jim had earlier promised.

we took the float plane back to vancouver in the early evening, and i took a little nap even though the view was stunning. i guess i just wasn’t used to waking up so early.

we had to wake up even earlier the next morning to catch the rocky mountaineer to whistler. we opted for the dome service that they provided and it didn’t disappoint. they served us a wonderful breakfast and the transparent walls and ceiling made for a spectacular view as the train ran past the coast of the waters and further into the mountains.

whister itself was breathtaking. british columbia really might be the most beautiful province canada has to offer.

we took the same train back and it was off to toronto the next morning.

there are not enough words to describe the experience – beautiful, serene, spectacular, cleansing, decadent, magnificent – the list goes on and on and on.

i’d never been to vancouver before, and jim made sure my first time would be truly unforgettable.

thank you, jim.