Day 1: Vancouver

December 30, 2025

Marius sent along his parting "shot", and it appears the Grampies are successfully under way!

One, two, three, four, ... five six seven eight bags, we're good!

The first big excitement for today was scheduled to be the included breakfast at the Abercorn. But the first part of this, meeting the people in room #205, was not going to happen. If a door sign can be petulant, this one was:

#205 has sprouted a Do Not Disturb sign!

The first impression of the breakfast layout was more disappointing than we had even expected. Paper plates, plastic utensils, and a few containers of corn flakes. But once we looked deeper, some critical components did emerge. Dodie discovered the container of peeled hard boiled eggs, and a cooler held mini yogurts. There were (sort of) croissants, and even (sort of) bagels. The bagels, once sliced with the plastic knife and double toasted, developed some flavour. Combining with a sliced hard boiled egg almost produced my customary Egg McBagel. This kind of privation is probably a good half way house training for Mexico. We expect to be scrounging breakfast at times from the OXXO convenience stores. (Actually, OXXO carries a yogurt brand called Disfruta which is better than what we find at home.)

Once toasted, those bagels are fairly edible.

Well, it's a one jammer - and here is the one jam!

We had brought these emergency supplies from home, but the Abercorn was not so bad.

Although we would expect the clientele of the Abercorn, which is by the airport, to be mainly travelers, it did seem to be a window on the local population here in Richmond, or at least in Vancouver. The people were 1/2 of Chinese origin and 1/2 of Indian origin. The remaining two - us! - are also originally of immigrant origin, though we are from Eastern Europe.

We stashed our gear in the Abercorn's storage room, to wait for our evening airport shuttle. Then we walked off, our goal what would be chosen by any small town Canadians hitting the big city: Ikea!

So we said goodbye to the Abercorn for a bit. It's outside appearance was cute, but a chat with the cleaning staff might help:

But inside and deeper in - like behind our night table - not so much.

Abercorn to Ikea

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We started our walk through Richmond, the city that includes the airport. I had expected to find a lot of interesting Chinese restaurants, since depending how you measure, Richmond is 54%-74% ethnically Chinese. The equivalent East Indian figure is perhaps 10%. In fact though, along our Bridgeport Road route there were few restaurants. But here is one that is both Chinese and Indian!

One interesting storefront showed the strong Chinese influence, though I didn't know they were so into chess:

列治文国际象棋冠军队 means Richmond International Chess Champion Team

Bridgeport Road otherwise featured dozens of flooring, window, and kitchen stores.

Richmond is not a people friendly place, being criss crossed by big roads. We did find what looked like a friendly pedestrian/bike path, but it soon petered out or wandered off somewhere:

Not so pleasant, but with some kind of bike route.

We were pleased to see a Red tailed hawk overlooking the scene. Not sure what that "7U" is all about.

We came to "Sweden Way", which was a good sign, and soon we were at Ikea:

We had a dandy time at Ikea, seemingly touching and commenting on most of the 10,000+ items they carry. My favourite was a wood topped moveable island/bar, and large bamboo based cutting boards that I thought could be glued together to make a cheap counter top. Not that we need anything like that, and of course we are not carrying it to Cancun and back!

Other stuff we liked:

But every bathtub in the place was a miniature. What are they thinking?

The Ikea restaurant was very large, with all kinds of seating, but there were also quite long lines for what were really very reasonably priced meals. I stood in a line for a bit, but got frustrated, and we just ate stuff from our backpack. They also had food items that you could buy and take away - like Lingonberry jam, but of course we could not take it to Cancun and back. One day maybe we'll drive over here with the Eurovan and load up on cutting boards, jam, and other stuff we don't need!

After some happy hours, we found our way back to the Abercorn, and have been sitting around the lobby, writing this entry. There are still more hours to go before our shuttle to the airport, which will then allow us to wait additional hours for the flight to Cancun. Next you hear from us, it will be tomorrow and we will have been walking on Cancun's "famous" highway 307 to the bike storage facility, while trying to spot some tropical birds and flowers. Stay tuned!

Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles)
Total: 8 km (5 miles)

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Eva WaltersSo glad to see the two of you looking so strong and healthy hauling your big bags around, not to mention walking all the way to Ikea. Good going Grampies! We look forward to following your Yucatan adventures.
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3 weeks ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Eva WaltersThanks Eva. By tomorrow morning the real fun will begin in sunny, warm Cancun!
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3 weeks ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesAnd walking all around Ikea, sometimes even defiantly contrary to the direction arrows!
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3 weeks ago

Karen PoretFrom Canada to Sweden to Cancun. WOW 😂 You are “seasoned travelers”!
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3 weeks ago