- Joined
- Jan 23, 2003
Welcome to my trip report 
this holiday was our treat to ourselves to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary and also was extremely precious as it will be our last family holiday with our three DDs. I think I've said that at least three times but this time I think it really will be!
Our anniversary was actually in May but due to work, uni, college, GCSEs our holiday had to take place in the summer holidays. It consists of a few days in Vancouver before an Alaskan cruise aboard the Disney Wonder followed by a week at Disneyland.
Wednesday 31st July 2013
The dogs had been dispatched to their holiday home aka the kennels the previous day so we had a leisurely morning finishing any last minute packing, completed on-line check-in, made sure the house was tidy as my sister was coming to stay and waited for our shuttle car to drive us to Heathrow.
We'd booked two rooms at the Travelodge T5, they were clean and comfortable and we had a good view of planes taking off and landing from the window.
I'd read on Trip Advisor that there was a good pub nearby so we decided to see if we could find it. Less than 10 minutes walk and we came upon The Golden Cross - excellent food and much nicer surroundings than the Travelodge bar. Sorry but no food photos, my DDs would divorce me if I took any in this country, I can just about get away with it on foreign soil!
After a really lovely meal we walked back, watched some TV and tried to sleep - so excited!
Thursday August 1st 2013 - Day 1
We were up early, packed and checked out by just after 8:30am. We'd bought our tickets for the hoppa bus from the machine in the lobby the previous night (thus saving 50p each) and it didn't take long to get to Terminal 5. However it seemed to take forever to drop our bags and go through security (think we get very spoilt by twilight check-in at Gatwick!) and although we'd planned on going for breakfast, by the time we'd bought some perfume and new straighteners we were worried we'd be pushing it for time so settled for meal deals from Boots instead.
Before long our flight was called and we settled into our chosen seats at the back, the last row of three and the first row of two behind them. We'd chosen to fly British Airways because not only had they come up the cheapest but their cabin allowance is also a very generous 23kg. The flight was very pleasant, I watched The Big Wedding, The Bling Ring, Identity Thief and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. I can't remember exactly what the meal was but it was fine and I do remember eating Bryan's couscous salad as well as my own!
Flying over Greenland
and the Rockies.
We arrived just after 2pm and after retrieving our luggage went to the 7-Eleven shop in the domestic terminal to purchase tickets for the sky train. We were able to purchase a book of 10 tickets for $31.50 which was perfect for us and meant we were able to avoid the $5 per head surcharge which is added to journeys starting at the airport if we were to buy our tickets from the ticket machine - many thanks to folk on the DIS and Trip Advisor for this tip.
The sky train took less than half an hour and we were checking into our hotel, the Pan Pacific, by 4pm. We'd originally booked the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre on a really good rate which we could cancel without penalty but the Pan Pacific had always been my first choice and when a good offer came up we decided to change - the fact we wouldn't need to use cabs and would be able to watch the Wonder coming in on Monday morning helped make it a very easy decision!
We had two lovely rooms with fantastic views, our DDs' room was just down the corridor and was identical apart from they had two queen beds.
We were starting to feel tired, after all it would be gone midnight back in the UK, so thought we'd grab a quick bite to eat then get to bed. You can access the Waterfront centre foodcourt from inside the hotel (so convenient!), we chose to eat at Fatburgers and weren't disappointed, the burgers and fries were great for fast food.
We took a short walk outside the hotel to get some fresh air before going to bed.
This is the Olympic Cauldron.
Tomorrow ~ hoping to see the rafting otters.
this holiday was our treat to ourselves to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary and also was extremely precious as it will be our last family holiday with our three DDs. I think I've said that at least three times but this time I think it really will be!Our anniversary was actually in May but due to work, uni, college, GCSEs our holiday had to take place in the summer holidays. It consists of a few days in Vancouver before an Alaskan cruise aboard the Disney Wonder followed by a week at Disneyland.
Wednesday 31st July 2013
The dogs had been dispatched to their holiday home aka the kennels the previous day so we had a leisurely morning finishing any last minute packing, completed on-line check-in, made sure the house was tidy as my sister was coming to stay and waited for our shuttle car to drive us to Heathrow.
We'd booked two rooms at the Travelodge T5, they were clean and comfortable and we had a good view of planes taking off and landing from the window.
I'd read on Trip Advisor that there was a good pub nearby so we decided to see if we could find it. Less than 10 minutes walk and we came upon The Golden Cross - excellent food and much nicer surroundings than the Travelodge bar. Sorry but no food photos, my DDs would divorce me if I took any in this country, I can just about get away with it on foreign soil!
After a really lovely meal we walked back, watched some TV and tried to sleep - so excited!
Thursday August 1st 2013 - Day 1
We were up early, packed and checked out by just after 8:30am. We'd bought our tickets for the hoppa bus from the machine in the lobby the previous night (thus saving 50p each) and it didn't take long to get to Terminal 5. However it seemed to take forever to drop our bags and go through security (think we get very spoilt by twilight check-in at Gatwick!) and although we'd planned on going for breakfast, by the time we'd bought some perfume and new straighteners we were worried we'd be pushing it for time so settled for meal deals from Boots instead.
Before long our flight was called and we settled into our chosen seats at the back, the last row of three and the first row of two behind them. We'd chosen to fly British Airways because not only had they come up the cheapest but their cabin allowance is also a very generous 23kg. The flight was very pleasant, I watched The Big Wedding, The Bling Ring, Identity Thief and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. I can't remember exactly what the meal was but it was fine and I do remember eating Bryan's couscous salad as well as my own!
Flying over Greenland
and the Rockies.
We arrived just after 2pm and after retrieving our luggage went to the 7-Eleven shop in the domestic terminal to purchase tickets for the sky train. We were able to purchase a book of 10 tickets for $31.50 which was perfect for us and meant we were able to avoid the $5 per head surcharge which is added to journeys starting at the airport if we were to buy our tickets from the ticket machine - many thanks to folk on the DIS and Trip Advisor for this tip.
The sky train took less than half an hour and we were checking into our hotel, the Pan Pacific, by 4pm. We'd originally booked the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre on a really good rate which we could cancel without penalty but the Pan Pacific had always been my first choice and when a good offer came up we decided to change - the fact we wouldn't need to use cabs and would be able to watch the Wonder coming in on Monday morning helped make it a very easy decision!
We had two lovely rooms with fantastic views, our DDs' room was just down the corridor and was identical apart from they had two queen beds.
We were starting to feel tired, after all it would be gone midnight back in the UK, so thought we'd grab a quick bite to eat then get to bed. You can access the Waterfront centre foodcourt from inside the hotel (so convenient!), we chose to eat at Fatburgers and weren't disappointed, the burgers and fries were great for fast food.
We took a short walk outside the hotel to get some fresh air before going to bed.
This is the Olympic Cauldron.
Tomorrow ~ hoping to see the rafting otters.
A trip report - hurrah
