Vancouver

[Updated Apr 2017]

Live

Beach Ave, English Bay, VancouverKitsilano and East Vancouver are neighbourhoods I’d recommend and live in if I didn’t have family in the suburbs to stay with. Kitsilano is residential and by the beach, while East Vancouver is the hipster part of town home to coffee shops, yoga studios, and Hootsuite’s HQ. West End is affordable yet close to downtown as well. Get $40 off your first Airbnb stay here.

Transport

Busses and the SkyTrain serve a lot of Metro Vancouver aka Greater Vancouver aka Lower Mainland: Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminister, Port Moody, Coquitlam, Surrey, and Delta. To get to the North Shore however, you’d need to take a SeaBus.

Vancouver doesn’t have Uber, but they have car sharing services like Evo and car2go. I’ve used the equivalent of Evo in Montreal, and would recommend it for longer trips e.g. a day trip to Whistler. I’m also a member of car2go, which I’d recommend for short trips as they charge per minute. For example, a bus ride to work in Montreal used to cost $2.75, but it would take 10 minutes by car. @ 30+ cents/minute, using car2go made sense as it was quicker and only marginally more expensive than a bus.

Fitness

  • Attend unlimited sessions at Moksha Yoga with their intro month offer of $40. They have multiple privately owned locations so you could technically do a month at each 😉

  • Oxygen Yoga has a one week trial @ $10

  • Steve Nash Fitness World & Sports Club has a free 7-day pass

Work

I worked from home, libraries, and cafes. Libraries like the one in West Vancouver and Capilano have free parking. I used the Work Hard Anywhere app to find cafes to work from. I particularly liked Platform 7 on East Hastings, with a library a few blocks away. As well as one of the best Pho spots in Vancouver. I also loved Cafe Lokal – warm, unpretentious, good noise-level, great food + coffee, and bar tops that double as standing desks. I didn’t check out any co-working spaces in Vancouver, and only found out about Freelance Fridays – a monthly co-working meetup – after I left.

Experience

Eat/Drink

King's Landing, Vancouver

Vancouver Urban Winery is an absolute treat. They are located in Railtown, a short walk from Gastown, which home to Artizia’s headquarters, and CRAB Park. They have a big, beautiful location, flights of wine, and amazing food.

Every third Thursday of the month, young professionals gather at Shebeen Whisk(e)y House for Whiskey Wisemen. It’s a great event, but either way you should visit Shebeen – they have an extensive selection of whiskey, and passionate bartenders who know their stuff. You have to go through another bar, The Irish Heather to get to this cozy hole-in-the-wall.

See/Do

  • Attend an art journaling workshop by Magpie’s Nest. Here’s my work from my first and second time.
  • Walk along the seawall
  • Cycle around Stanley Park
  • Visit Granville Island for lots of food, buskers, and a lively atmosphere.
  • Visit Capilano Suspension Bridge
  • Take a scenic drive along the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler to hike, ski, snowboard, or snowshoe
  • Do the Lynn Canyon waterfall hike (I haven’t)