Vancouver to Tofino
This is part of a continuing series from my travels in Canada. You can read the previous blog post here. I've been on the road for nearly a month now! Currently sitting at a hostel on the waterfront in the small surf town of Tofino on the western coast of Vancouver Island. It's pouring down rain outside and I'm staring at a fire through glass with a attractive girl on the other side, trying to avoid her catching me looking. This Canadian guy is playing cover songs on acoustic guitar while a girl from Germany sings along. I feel right at home since he just played a song by the Austin legend Shakey Graves. I'm quite enjoying the hostel life. It's a great way to meet interesting people from around the world, always affordable prices, and close to the main attractions. It would be cool to try couchsurfing as well, but my requests have so far been denied. I took a break from reading Born To Run, a new autobiography by Bruce Springsteen, to write this short blog post. The drive (roughly 3.5 hours) to Tofino was beautiful even though it was cloudy, icy and raining most of the time. The last quarter of the drive was truly exhilarating along super curvy roads through dense vegetation. I woke up early this morning in Vancouver, packed up my belongings, and went to retrieve my car from the parking garage. The gate was closed so I waited patiently until a guy pulled up with a key card and let me in. Afterwards, I checked out of the hostel, exchanged pleasantries with my roommates, skipped breakfast, and took off for Horseshoe Bay.
In order to reach the island proper, all vehicles must first park on a giant "cruise ship". This was my first ferry ride and it was pretty exciting. Everyone gets out of their car and walks up to main seating area. I decided to hold off on the overpriced food and picked up this new book by The Boss. I've been a fan of Springsteen's music since childhood. He's such a masterful storyteller and I look forward to reading about his life story in my free time during this journey to Portland, or wherever it is I wind up. I don't particularly want to stay in one place for an extended period of time. There's so many beautiful natural wonders I look forward to seeing in Washington and Oregon! I'd much rather continue exploring national parks and camping all the way. Then it's just a matter of providing fuel for my body and car. Why pay monthly rent for a house or apartment when you can live in sync with your traveling dreams on the road and meeting awesome people along the way. The question remains, how do I make money without having a traditional job? No different than being a young, creative entrepreneur living in Austin. It's definitely possible to find work on the road without being tied down to a particular place. There's so many opportunities, you just have to know where to look. My goal before leaving Canada is to license aerial video to Tourism Vancouver. I already sent an email requesting to set up a meeting upon my arrival back in the city. I want to be in Victoria, the capitol city of British Columbia, for Christmas. I don't have any exciting plans for the holidays and that's just the way I like it! I will miss my friends back in Austin, although I probably won't call anyone since my phone service is nonexistent in Canada and I'd rather not incur extra charges. Same goes for family. However, I'm constantly keeping everyone updated on my whereabouts via social media.
Hopefully the weather improves tomorrow and I can finally take surfing lessons. I may be able to find someone around the hostel to give me free lessons since this is my first time. I was excited to capture aerial video of whales off the coast of Tofino, unfortunately, this is the worst season for whale-watching. I'd also like to explore the many national forests on the outskirts of town. There's still many other things to do over the next 3 days...
The world is your oyster, where will you choose to go?
P.S. Fuck Donald Trump!
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