General Archives ⋆ Page 3 of 45 ⋆ The Passenger

August 9, 2024August 23, 2024

Hard to reach

Andorra is potentially the country in Europe that is hardest to tick off your travel wish list. It is just a tiny country with under 80,000 inhabitants on 468 km² in the Pyrenees between Spain and France. There is no airport and no railway station, your best chance is to fly to Barcelona or Toulouse and take a bus ride into the mountains which lasts 3-4 hours. It is a bit unusual that the capital city Andorra la Vella is so complicated to reach but the trip through the mountains is very scenic and well worth the effort.

July 14, 2024January 31, 2025

O Canada

I hadn’t seen much of North America so far and never been to its western coastline, that was one of the very good reasons to visit Canada for the very first time. So far the country was linked in my head only to maple syrup, ice hockey and the fictive character Robin Scherbatsky from How I Met Your Mother. That was about to change but first I had to get a heavy jetlag caused by nine hours of time shift out of my head. My first stop was Vancouver where I had to discover some truth about my holiday location.

July 10, 2024January 30, 2025

Rocky Mountaineer

While travelling through the Canadian Rocky Mountains you’ll see a lot of railway tracks and if you’re lucky you can also spot a special train that takes tourists from city to city: The Rocky Mountaineer is a world-renowned luxury train that offers an unforgettable journey through the breathtaking landscapes of Western Canada and the Rocky Mountains. Unlike traditional rail travel, the Rocky Mountaineer operates exclusively during the daytime, ensuring that passengers never miss a moment of the towering peaks, rushing rivers, and pristine wilderness outside their panoramic windows. The train features glass-domed coaches, allowing for unobstructed views of glaciers, waterfalls, and wildlife such as bears, elk, and bald eagles.

July 10, 2024January 30, 2025

Time warp

Driving from Mount Robson to Jasper is a spectacular journey through the heart of the Canadian Rockies, offering breathtaking views of towering peaks, alpine meadows, and glacial rivers. As you travel east along Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway), you leave Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia and enter Jasper National Park in Alberta, officially crossing the provincial border. This transition is more than just a geographic change—it also marks a shift in time zones, as you move from Pacific Time (PT) to Mountain Time (MT), losing one hour.

July 6, 2024January 31, 2025

Beach hopping

The Pacific Rim National Park is a wonderful place on Vancouver Island with many different beaches you can try out. A road and cyclist path connect them from Ucluelet until Tofino and thereby make them easily accessible. You’ll find paid parking areas in all these places, but there is one pain: you can only pay by app and connectivity via the mobile network is sometimes bad. The best beach in my opinion is Tonquin beach near Tofino.

July 4, 2024July 31, 2024

Bear Country

The province British Columbia has the abbreviation BC, but these two letters can also be read in a different way: as Bear Country. That’s what British Columbia is. When hiking on Vancouver Island or up to the Yellowhead Mountain there are typically two potential threats: cougars and bears. While cougars and wolves are mostly shy and invisible, you’ll meet bears quite frequently; black bears more often than grizzly bears. On Vancouver Island alone there are around 7,000 of them and knowing how to react and which precautions to take is a must.

July 3, 2024July 31, 2024

Sailing

Well, the ferry boats between Vancouver and Vancouver Island are powered by natural gas and not by the winds – but nevertheless they speak of sailing between mainland and island. There are different routes but the most important ones seem to be the one going from Tsawwassen south of Vancouver to Swartz Bay (for visiting Victoria) and the one from Departure Bay (a well chosen name) near Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay; the perfect arrival point for a trip through the Sea-to-Sky community via Squamish up to Whistler.

July 1, 2024August 3, 2024

CAD

Currency of Canada is of course the Canadian Dollar (CAD, $ or C$). It is divided into 100 Cents and exists since 1871 when it became the first uniform currency for all Canadian provinces. There are coins for one and two dollars, as well as cent coins mostly showing wildlife of Canada. The banknotes from five to 100 $ currently show Canadian innovations from elements of the ISS and trains to insulin. The issue is that you’ll probably won’t get to see them as Canada has gone cashless nearly everywhere.

July 1, 2024January 30, 2025

Canada Day

Canada Day is celebrated every year on July 1st to commemorate the founding of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, when the British North America Act (now known as the Constitution Act, 1867) united the colonies of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into one country. Initially called Dominion Day, the holiday marked the birth of Canada as a self-governing nation within the British Empire. The name was officially changed to Canada Day in 1982, following the patriation of the Canadian Constitution. Today, Canada Day is a national holiday that reflects the country’s pride in its history, culture, and diversity.

May 31, 2024June 23, 2024

Pit Stop

Every year the eyes of the world turn to Monaco for the Formula 1 Grand Prix when the fast cars race through the narrow streets of the city and pass along the Casino as well as the Port Hercule. But Monaco as one of those microstates in Europe, fully surrounded by France, is always worth a visit. It is reigned by prince Albert II, became independent from France in 1489, has 40,000 inhabitants (thereof 8,000 citizens) and can be considered one of the safest places in the world with one policeman and -woman per inhabitant.