Vancouver, BC, Canada

I'm in Canada! yay for me.

A hell of a long travel day yesterday, getting up at 4.45 am (1.45 am Vancouver time) and flying out from Boston to LAX, then LAX to Seattle and finally Seattle up to Vancouver, getting into my hostel at 7 pm at night. That said, I didn't really mind it - I am so used to long travel days that it really doesn't phase me. Each flight is a little boring, but I read a book, magazines, watched Seinfeld etc. In between the flights there is a bit of running around - I only made my Seattle flight by 5 minutes having to wait for luggage and run around LAX in the heat (I couldn't check my bags all the way through as it was a different ticket and airline). Also I got SSSS marked on my boarding pass, which thanks to Kingsley I knew meant SEARCH so I was expecting it, as I was flying out of LAX on a one-way leaving the country, non-US citizen, ticket. It was painless and didn't take too long so I can't complain. The entry into Canada was fine, no queue at the new visas area. I got my working visa and I can stay in Canada until 20 October 2010 (20-10-2010! nice date). I can work as anything except in childcare or health (no disappointments there) and I can't study (not worried about that one either!).

Today I've gotten off to a great start, getting a new cell, a mailing address (mail ME a postcard why don't ya! :)) and a Lonely Planet for Vancouver (not essential but good to get a lay of the land) and a nice laminated pocket map.

My new cell is +1 604 710 6430 and I can receive txts for free so txt me all you want. It's 5 pm in Vancouver at 8 am Perth time, so figure out the times to call...

Vancouver seems great, the people are all nice so far and Canadians can actually understand the Australia accent so there is no problem having to repeat myself every five minutes. There is an Urban Outfitters (casual clothes) and a Banana Republic (work clothes) so I'm super excited and happy to be able to buy some nice new clothes! Well, at first I'll be buying only the essentials in order to remain warm and get a job, but once I've got some money I'll be set to get a nice new wardrobe. They also have H&M, Zara, Club Monaco and heaps of other cool and sometimes cheap places to get some nice stuff. Yay for no more Australian crappy chain stores like Portmans and Sportsgirl!!

I'm checking out an apartment tonight, a room+bathroom shared with a dude so I'll see how it goes. If not, plenty more ads on craigslist. I'm hoping to get out of this hostel ASAP!