July 01, 2012

Day 1 - Touchdown

Outside Vancouver Airport

Landed in Vancouver airport. Assembled the bike and met two Kiwis (New Zealanders) who were very uneasy about riding on the right so they asked me to lead them into town. One kilometer out one of them got a flat so they bid me farewell and I pondered my leadership skills. I Headed south sort of just wandering the amazing bike friendly streets in the city and the nice quiet farm lands shortly after.

I reached the George Massey Tunnel which takes people under the Fraser river. There you can take a free van service to get through the tunnel. It was a flat ride south on the highway through farms to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal where I grabbed a bit of Chinese food and caught the ferry to Swartz bay for about $15.

George Massey Tunnel 
In Swartz I just continued south on a quiet Canada day evening down the highway. Once I made it to Victoria I was flagged down constantly by herds of drunk teenagers waiting for the bus to go downtown. The first group I thought were waving because they were with the person I was staying with. I was given free booze and quickly learned these were just random drunk people.

Anyways, I made it to my warmshowers contact, Helen (who was super nice and way into biking) and we chatted a bit before turning in. I slept as hard as one does after being awake 40 hours while drinking, flying, and biking. Thanks again Helen for the comfy lodging, I'm yet to write any poetry or state into a fire :D