New backpacker blogs tell the real stories of what it’s like to be a backpacker through Canada & the world. Read about how the places you visit change you & the people you meet become your best friends, what traveling alone really feels like & how to make the most of 24 hours in a foreign city.
Find out how you can submit a blog & earn yourself a FREE night accommodation at Samesun hostels.
Spring has sprung & we are searching out Vancouver’s best parks & locations to soak in the sun’s rays. We are all in need of a little vitamin D after a long winter so join our weekly Park Days activity to beckon in more long summer days.
Meet in the Vancouver hostel’s lobby at 4pm.
We will supply balls for various sports games, a picnic rug or show you the way to some of our favorite green spaces in downtown Vancouver.
Make friend, catch some sun & maybe even a little exercise.
Then back to The Beaver for cheap drinks and a tasty meal.
Some rivalries will go down in history. Ali vs Frazier; Flames vs Oilers; Jedi vs Sith; Pirates vs Ninjas; Wile E Coyote vs Road Runner. But few have come together in such an epic battle as will befall the Banff Centre this February 14th as the Legendary Samesun vs HI Dodgeball Smackdown Part II.
Reigning winners Samesun have a title to defend, while the HI has something left to prove.
Are you ready to represent Samesun and become part of Banff history?
Losers buy the first round on our post-game pub crawl.
The Beaver Lounge & Restaurant is the best place to watch the Canucks Games in downtown Vancouver!
Biggest screen, cheapest drinks, great crowd, great prizes!!
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Watch the Vancouver Canucks on the biggest screen on Granville Street, as well as another 5 huge flat screens, you wont miss any of the action. We have over 100 seats all with great viewing, from bar stool in the center of the action to 10 person booths with a private TV, there is always a spot for you and some friends. The Beaver Lounge & Restaurant & Russell Brewery have some great Canucks specials to make our Vancouver fans very happy!
Now that hockey is back, we want every game to be a party. We’ve got prizes galore & great specials to get you involved & in on the action. When the Canucks WIN, so do you!!!
Here’s three reasons to watch the Canucks kick butt at the Beaver Lounge on Granville & 4 ways you can get some prizes:
1. $4 Beaver Pints every game day, we have the best value drinks around!
2. Play “Guess the score” and WIN - get your prediction in by the first period & you could be celebrating with some big beers at the final buzzer!
3.Win a FREE SPIN when the player on your table scores. Each table has a different Canucks player in the tablestand, & when they score you get a free spin of the SHOT WHEEL!!
Back at the ranch – a road into the Canadian backcountry
The number of travellers heading off on seasonal gap years and volunteer programs has become a growing trend. In November, I embarked on a short-term work-travel visa to Canada, to experience this growing trend first hand.
After a whirlwind trip and what felt like a stint on The Amazing Race, I had covered 7 cities, 5 Countries, 4 Continents, 6 Flights and 31 hrs flying time, transiting through 7 Airports in only 5 Days and a drop in temperature from 32 to – 4 degrees, before touching down in Vancouver.
This was not my end point – I hoped to follow in the foot steps of many other travellers who flock to Canada for the winter ski-season in the Rockies; exposed to endless rolling landscapes of white powdery peaks, shredding up the slopes and engrossing oneself in the absolute beauty of the wilderness.
Rather than finding myself on one of the more renowned resorts like Whistler or Banff, an opportunity arose to head out to the backcountry working on a ranch and hunting lodge. I jumped at the chance with little thought and was on a shuttle bound for the ranch located in the South Chilcotin Mountain Ranges, joined by 2 beackpackers from Germany and Ireland.
The landscape morphed with each passing hour as we edged our way deeper into the remote mountains, further away from any semblance of urban life, only rugged valley’s, craggy cliffs, skeletal trees and winding mountain passes blanketed under a foot of snow.
My companions and I glanced at each other with uncertainty as to where exactly we were heading, neither of us having experienced such pure wilderness. California Big Horn Sheep prance majestically on the steep cliff faces. The mountain passes plunge deep into icy valleys and the driver plays a constant game of dodge avoiding rocks which have fallen from the hills above.
As we near the ranch a number of bright red “DANGER-Hunting” signs jump out against the bleak landscape and this is only testament to our final destination. A remote wilderness, 2hrs from the nearest country town with cougar, grizzly’s, bob cats, wolves, moose and deer.
After arriving one can only admire the sheer beauty that surrounds you; the crisp air, the mist which eerily makes its way through the fir trees, the loud shriek of a hawk above and the neigh of the horses from their snow covered paddocks, to the cry of a lonesome wolf which echoes across the hills. The myriad of footprints that criss-cross the snow is beautiful but also sends an eerie chill down your spine knowing what might be watching you from a rocky outcrop.
It all just seems a little surreal, like the page of an adventure novel or a scene from a western movie, the setting brings alive everything I had heard about the Canadian Wilderness.
Life back at the ranch has opened my eyes and broadened my mind to the different lifestyles and places that people choose to live. It is moments like this that makes travel all the more rewarding and to test yourself in new situations, environments and lifestyles.
As H. C. Andersen wrote so poetically, “To travel is to live” and I was certainly getting my taste of the Canadian backcountry and wilderness.
copywrite
by Terence Eder
Freelance Travel Journalist & Avid Backpacker
