Amanda PhillipsEarlier this year, Barrhead Travel ran a competition to win a holiday with Scottish Wedding and Honeymoons. The lucky winner was Rob Mackie and he was treated to a once-in-a-lifetime trip that would include Victoria, Vancouver, and travelling the Rocky Mountains on board VIA Rail. Rob thoroughly enjoyed his experience and kept a journal, which he has kindly agreed to share.
Maggie and I tied the knot in early April, and after a couple of weeks of recovery, we set of for the holiday of our dreams, our honeymoon travelling across Western Canada.
Our two week trip was a wonderful way to sample the best that Canada can provide. We started off in Vancouver, a beautiful city with skyscrapers towered over by the mountainous backdrop. Vancouver was a great place to wander round – seemed almost every block brought a new part of town. A cycle round Stanley Park is a must, and brought our first meeting with wildlife, watching Canada Geese in their home environment! From Vancouver, we took a ferry across to Victoria, which provided ample opportunities to wander, and to visit the local Orca pods.
We had two quite different aspects to the trip. Vancouver, and to a lesser extent Victoria were bustling metropolises, whereas the next week was spent at a far slower pace. No-one ever seemed to be in a rush to get anywhere, taking your time seemed to be a local mantra, and this suited us just fine. The second part of our holiday was all about scenery and wildlife. Over the week we saw long-horned sheep, elk, white tailed deer, mule deer, a cougar, a bald eagle, black bears and more grizzly bears at close quarters than I usually would have chosen.
Our next stop was an overnight train to Jasper. Quite an experience, we fell asleep in the relatively low-lying Vancouver suburbs and woke up to snow-capped mountains and sensational scenery.
Staying in Jasper was something else. The lodge was right on the lake, and the glacial water was so clear you could make out the outline of every single stone. We could have spent days lounging in a canoe. We were lucky to have a personal guided tour of Jasper National Park by a very well informed tour guide who was the reason we saw so much wildlife. Maligne Lake and Medicine Lake added to the beautiful sights.
Next stop was Lake Louise. The trip was a guided bus tour down from Jasper. The tour took in a couple of different experiences, including the Jasper Park Walkway and the Glacial Icefields, both well worth a stop before a holiday highlight: we found ourselves within 5metres of a fully grown grizzly bear. Entirely unfazed by a busload of camera-happy tourists, the bear sat for a while before casually sauntering off. For those interested in wildlife, Canada is a must: the opportunity to observe a variety of animals from such close quarters is awe-inspiring.
So we made it to Lake Louise. We only spent 14 hours in Lake Louise and this was by far my biggest regret. Lake Louise is a phenomenal sight, a luxury hotel on the banks of the clearest Lake I have ever seen. With an early morning start, sitting on the banks of the lake without the slightest noise was a sensational to behold.
Our final stop was Banff, and it was a lovely way to end the trip. Slightly larger than the last few places, it had a lot to see and do, with walks in every direction out the tow. Another highlight was lying in the heated pool, watching the darkening clouds rapidly coming in over the mountains, and not feeling the need to care one little bit.
Our trip was a fitting way to round off our wedding experience – there was enough to see and do that my wife was not bored, but there were enough time to spend lounging in pools to keep me happy. Canada was a fantastic place, where the portions are huge and the people are friendly. We stayed almost exclusively in Fairmont hotels, and the staff were universally polite and would go out of their way to help you with anything. Each hotel had a view of wonderful scenery – I never tired from waking up to the view of a mountain towering above. There was a lot of travelling between different towns and cities, but this was compensated by the different scenery and places we got to see. It was an experience which I hope will not be once in a lifetime, and I look forward to one day sitting in a canoe on Lake Louise, watching the world go incredibly slowly by.