Carrying my bags I left the hostel at around 9pm, and headed back towards Union Station to take The Canadian all the way to Vancouver. Originally, I had planned stops in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Jasper, but really, I was out of time and decided that I would have to head all the way to Van in 3 days. I boarded the train and took the best window seat I could find, trying to consider what I would see out of the train. As we travelled through the night, I ventured around the train and hung out in the viewing room before eventually falling asleep in my chair. Awaking the next morning, I wandered around the train and eventually jumped out at Winnipeg for a quick wander. Originally I would have had the best part of a morning there, though, the train was delayed and I had an hour, even less, to take a quick look. Soon we were off again, stopping along the way over the next few days in Saskatoon, Edmonton and eventually Jasper. During this time, I thought about Christmas and decided to ask my family in Texas if I could visit. With a resounding yes, I soon booked a flight to Dallas-Fort Worth for two days after I reached Vancouver. For the rest of the trip, I interchanged my time in my seat listening to music and also in the viewing room chatting to a variety of travellers and people heading to see their families for Christmas, and spending late evenings in the quiet listening to the rattling train tracks writing some of his blog and contemplating my plans for Vancouver, and how far I had come since I left Brisbane months before.
I bundled out of the train in Vancouver after 3 days of being on the road. I had travelled over 5000 Kilometers in 3 weeks and had made it to where I planned to settle. I walked out of Pacific Central Station and headed to the Skytrain, and wandered down for the first time, a street I would walk (and still do) many, many times - Granville Street. Overwhelmed by the neon signs and the homeless, and a longing for the fun times I had had in the east of Canada, I checked into the Hostelling International hostel on Granville Street. I checked out the Capilano Suspension Bridge to see the Christmas lights, which was a quite spectacular, and some of the bars along Granville Street. Soon it was time to head back across the continent, to Dallas-Fort Worth.