Granville Island

For all things Granville, read "Things to do on Granville Island".

Vancouver 2010

Hospitable host of this year’s Winter Olympics, abode of a burgeoning film industry known as the Hollywood North and called hometown by stars such as Ryan Reynolds, Michael J Fox and Joshua Jackson; Vancouver is the epitome of laid-back cool. Quietly having built up its cult following over the last few years, it has suddenly (almost surprisingly) popped up the city to see in 2010. Only a ferry-ride away from Seattle, the city of sea, yoga and bucketing rain is perfect for a weekend getaway or family trip – especially when the sun breaks through.

The great restaurants and world class shopping are major attractions of the seaside metropolis what really differentiates it from other North American cities is the ambience, or as we like to say, the vibe, bru. Vancouver is known throughout the world for its relaxed style, eco-consciousness, tolerance and seemingly collective love of exercise and the outdoors. This list contains the best of the west (coast, that is).

Granville Island

Take a five minute water-taxi to this bustling arts and gourmet destination. While

its main attraction must definitely be the fresh food market housed in rambling warehouses, a short stroll will take you to the boutique shops, theatres for both grownups and kids and even an arts university.

We heart: The postcard shop – full of vintage prints and retro notebooks. Perfect for cheap gifts. Also the Granville Island Tea Company – choose your leaves from hundreds on offer!

Stanley Park

Forming a peninsular of garden and trails on the west of downtown, Stanley Park flows seamlessly into the city and is where locals and tourists alike come to bike, blade, swim or run. Breathtaking views in all weathers mean that the circular trail running along the coast is always humming.

We heart: The people-watching opportunities. Sit on a bench and watch families swimming in the outdoor pool, self-elected mavens of cool blading past and young couples getting all schmoopy.

Sushi

In the city everything is all about the sea, so many of the restaurants are all about the seafood. Salmon abounds galore around Vancouver and the sushi restaurants are manifold and good. If you are a fan, enjoy, if not, try it out – you’ll be a convert in no time.

We heart: The fresh sashimi. And being able to find a sushi restaurant whenever we feel peckish.

Lululemon

Little known outside North America, this luxe yoga & active wear company is a Vancouver native, born in 1998 in a yoga studio and quickly growing to become a Canadian phenomenon. Cheap? No. But worth it – and the healthy-living quotes that make up their logo are always inspiring. The even give free classes and demonstrations from all their retail venues! Call me a fan.

We heart: The hoodies. High necked, distinctive design that comes in all colours of the rainbow. These are no ordinary hoodies.

Gastown

This quaint area stretches only a few streets up and across, but these few streets are a haven of good eating, productive shopping and great photo opportunities. Birthplace of Vancouver in 1867, the area is called after the maverick gold digger and saloon owner, John “Gassy Jack” Deighton.

We heart: Eating gorgeous food at the River Cafe while looking out onto the traditional steam clock. If you manage to take a photo of it without any tourists in your frame then count yourself lucky!

That about sums it up for me. Visit and write your own list, or add to mine on the comments section below!

Have a Look at What is New on "The Soapbox"!

New in this week we have:

- Fascinating opinion piece on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and climate change from a South African engineer

- Gorgeous self portrait and piercing poem "What it Means to Look White?" by Premilla Murcott

- Several new entries in The Globetrotter column

- Movie review in Life & Culture on "I Love You, Phillip Morris"

- A new column in our fashion & style section, What Kate Did, about the London Fashion Week schedule, Crystle Renn's new job for Gaultier and much more.

Find it all at The Soapbox

Want to Know More about Moving Overseas?

Moving to another country can be both frightening and exciting, with lots of potential rewards.

If you are interested in living abroad either temporarily or permanently, read my article on Suite101 - Living Abroad: How to Move Overseas and please tell me what you think.

A Change of Scenery

Summer is... Tree Planter Season

For the last week, there have been new faces in our rural, industrial town. Tanned faces belonging to bohemian personalities, lithe bodies and cheeky smiles. For us foreigners, tree planting season came as a complete surprise and a welcome diversion from the oil and gas workers we see all year round.

Modern-day hippies, complete with promises of free love and summer fun, the tree planters are young, gorgeous and ever so off-beat. They spend their summers planting seeds for big forestry companies (for what gets cut needs to be reforested), often to pay for university tuition or travel.

According to tree-planter.com, planters need to buy their own gear for the job (such as shovels, cords, tarps and planting bags as well as camping gear, boots and outdoor clothes) which can cost several hundred dollars, meaning that almost all planters work for at least two or three consecutive seasons.

Most companies pay planters per tree (or seed), leading to one of the many industry in jokes, "I bend over for eight cents". Planters only receive money for trees that have been well planted and that adhere to strict quality and density requirements. The going rate is usually between eight and twenty-five cents.

The job has been recorded as one of the most physically challenging occupations in the world, and the bush living conditions are rough - often endured for months at a time. But tree-planting becomes an addiction and the planters a tribe and family.

To read more, visit www.tree-planter.com

What are Your Travel Must-Haves?

We all have a list. Some of ours are short (generally only those of non-metro guys) but most of ours are long and ever-expanding. Your customized and unique travel essentials list is born out of trial and error, learning the hard way and not listening to mom – until you are finally able to remember how horrible plane socks are or how much you craved a Panado last time or that despite being a fashionista you really should have packed a raincoat during monsoon season.

With plumper, uglier assistants pandering to their every desire, first class all-the-way tickets and unlimited LV monogrammed luggage, celebrities have it a tad bit easier than most of us. However, they do have to run the paparazzi gauntlet on the other side, something that most of us are quite happily spared from. How do they manage?

Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum’s right-hand-man in Project Runway and cameo star of How I Met Your Mother and Sex and the City 2 always takes “extra underwear, just in case… I of course travel with all of my skin products, you have to at my age…and I always travel with a good book.”

In her book, That Extra Half an Inch, the ever-so-posh Victoria Beckham writes that she recommend you take the following in your hand luggage: “Johnson’s baby wipes to take your make-up off; a good, heavy moisturizer; eye cream; lip balm; herbal sleeping pills; Chantecaille’s Rose Water or Evian Spritz… some music and a pile of magazines and books you’ve been saving up. That can pretty much get you through any flight.”

Gorgeous super model Chanel Iman told Vogue.com that she doesn’t lock her front door without packing Smith’s Rosebud Salve: “I always have that. It’s good for the lips and nails. I rub it on my cuticles.” She also takes along a brow pencil, saying, “For me, I really like a filled-in eyebrow. I can’t leave the house without my eyebrow brush and pencil,” and mascara, “I always carry around some mascara—the old-fashioned Maybelline,” she says, pulling out the classic pink-and-green Great Lash tube. “It’s better than the expensive stuff.”

Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine from What Not to Wear fame write in their Trinny & Susannah Survival Guide, “With meticulous planning we manage to pack everything we need into a holdall. It hasn’t always been the case. Susannah used to turn up to the airport with only the clothes on her back, while Trinny would arrive for a weekend away lugging the contents of her house in a steamer trunk” proving that it is not only us economy-class travelers who find packing difficult.

Here’s my ultimate (until next trip, anyway) list for carryon luggage – thought I would spare you the actual suitcase part
Camera, Moleskin notebook with pen, paperback books, international fashion magazines, The Economist, face wipes, toothB&B (plane ones are gross), make-up essentials, soft woolly socks, a pashmina & the general handbag essentials (hairbrush, wallet, lip balm etc).

What have I left out that you always take? Any clever tips or travel tricks for the rest of us?

HAVANA - Steamy Nights, Sultry Days

Cuba is a country of contradictions, complications and compromises, where instead of providing answers, visiting only poses more questions and uncertainties about the fascinating mix of people and cultures. To speak about the beauty and generosity of the people, the lushness of the forest, the idyllic turquoise and white beaches and the magnificent patchworks of crumbling colonial buildings seems to denigrate the country into cliched brochure-speak.

But it’s all true. Cuba is not the most comfortable country (far truer for citizens than visitors), where the heat reaches unimaginable humidity levels without breaking, plumbing works only occasionally and even the government-owned hotels and resorts are not exempt from flies, mosquitoes and bed bugs – great levelers in a genuinely unequal system. Yet it is one of the most authentically beautiful; besides its physical aspects the island has an enthralling history, a complex social situation and is one of the only places in the world virtually untouched by contemporary American culture. The fascination and beauty of the location does much to distract from the occasional discomfort (although it is hard to look consistently glamorous in such a sweaty, sticky and yet sexy place).

Culturally, the talent is astounding, and incredibly accessible. The amazing quality of live music at every meal renders one almost inured to it after a few days, yet leaves one surprised at the silence surrounding meals back at home. Cd's from bands we had listened to for hours and paintings from people we met and with whom we had discussed the challenges of Cuban life have become personal souvenirs of the experience, far more treasured than any anonymous mementos would have been.

Few things measure up to walking along a narrow Havanan street in the dark, the interiors of buildings lit up in relief as people eat, play or watch sport on television. Groups of young men kick at soccer balls or smoke on street corners, children run around chasing each other and women chat comfortably through open doors or on the edge of pavements. We undeniably stand out as being foreign but attract no hostility; everyone wants to know where we are from, what languages we speak, how we live and what we think of their country. Many implore us not to believe the international perceptions of Cuba – they are anxious to show us the reality of the country, the citizens, the governmental systems and the pride. Possibly due to half a century of international semi-isolation, Cubans, even dissenters, tend to be intensely nationalistic. And they have reason to be proud. Even engrained poverty is presented with beauty and style, which does not take away from the hardships they face.

The sweat and sweet flower smells of Havana, the open doorways leading to labyrinths of households, the generosity of spirit, earnestness and inherent pride in what is good – these are things which will stay with me forever...or at least until my very next trip.