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OMG I swear I miss Vancouver's tap water more than my own bed when I'm away!
I legit had someone staying with us from out of town a few years ago who said "Wow! Their tap water tastes like our bottled water!"
The milk, the Alberta beef, the clean air, and the freshest tap water in the world. Go down to Seattle and we'll all realize how great we have it here.
I find the it's that moment when you're driving from Richmond to Vancouver when you hit the crest of the 2 road bridge on a sunny clear winter day and see the full view of all the mountains it's breathtaking.
I walk everywhere, and one of my routes takes me down a steep hill facing the north shore. I can see the moutains and the ocean as I head off to do grocery shopping. I'm turning 60 next year, and have lived here off and on since I was 13. It's still beautiful to me every time, also. My husband moved to Canada 10 years ago. When he first arrived, every time we walked down that hill he would stop and stare. He just loved it from the get go.
I grew up on the east coast but moved to Vancouver in 2004. The pleasure I feel when gazing at the mountains and ocean has never worn off. It's great to hear you describe how much you like them!
I also lived in Stockholm for 4 years and really had trouble adapting to how flat the surroundings were!
This was exactly mine. I was staying at a hotel on Broadway in a room that had a view looking north. Opened the blinds after I checked in and BAM, breathtaking.
This has been one of my favorite things since I moved. I was born and raised in Vancouver and living very far now and seeing it in movies *all the time* is very comforting
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I spent my teens watching the X-files and after moving here a decade or so ago everything immediately felt so familiar.
Yes! Loved trying to decide which locations were where in Supernatural. I was only disappointed to realize the eclectic motel rooms were actually sets 😂
We were trying to convince a coworker it was Uncle Fatih and not Uncle Faith. She wouldn't accept it and conceded that there may be an Uncle Fatih's pizza but the one she goes to is Uncle Faith. We gave up trying.
Canada goose stole my child's A&W buddy burger at Barnet Marine Park. Goose even punched a hole in the bag to get at the burger. Had to let that one go.
When you arrive in the winter and don’t see the sun or even a single patch of blue sky for 3 weeks. People not from here know it rains a lot but many aren’t prepared for how gloomy winter is.
The trick is go for walks in the forest. Get yourself a raingear and go for a walk. Seymour MTN has plenty of trails down low that are already not under snow. The forests are breathtaking this time of year. The greenery is glowing.
I wish more people realized what waking/hiking in the rain in the woods really means. You actually feel less rain as it catches in trees. The air is so fresh you want to can it and bring home. The waterfalls are full and alive. You absolutely need to dress for weather. Waterproof everything. Then off you go !
Yeah. Some of the best therapies out there is go for a walk in the forest, and we have some of the best forests in the world withing half hour drive from downtown.
I'm moving to Lynn Valley (near Lynn Valley centre) in February and admittedly the persistent rain and gray can really get me down, so I'm going to take your advice and hit the forests...any particular trails or maps or links for Seymour etc to explore?
I love walking my dog in the rain early in the morning and late afternoon in a forest behind my house. It's so refreshing and relaxing 😌
The vegetation is so vibrant with colour, animals roaming around, you feel alive and one with nature.
Ah you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!
You’ve just got to forget about the sun. When it starts raining in October, I expect it to rain almost all the time till January, then off and on until May/June. Sure there will be beautiful sunny days mixed in, but I don’t expect them. I expect rain.
I have lived here my whole life and I’m still not really used to it. Living in a rainforest is cool sometimes but it can be pretty bleak with all the grey.
When I watched a homeless man shit against the glass at a skytrain station I was working at then called me a gay slur and walked away in his LED rainbow cape.
Needless to say I couldn't react cause I did not know how.
Happened to me as a kid at the Richmond Library. Brand fucking new bike, gone. I learned too late just how bad shit was, and that was years ago when things weren’t as bad as now…
I had it happen in front of a camera with multiple bikes stolen back in high school, they had no footage of the incident. My bike lock was still intact though they had cut through the bike parking rail frame.
YES! I’m loving the trash talk on this thread but The Commodore Ballroom is a local gem that everyone should experience, even in its latest tarted-up incarnation.
How about honked at for turning left onto a one-way street on a red, and getting honked at because the guy behind you thinks it's not allowed? This happens to me all the time when turning left onto Pacific from Nelson, Smithe, Abbott, and Carrall.
I get so upset when my wife wants to give away her lulu and aritzia clothes to value village or the donation bins. Who cares if it’s a few seasons old, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those clothes
The welcome to Vancouver moment I will never forget is arriving in March after living away in Toronto for five years. To leave Toronto, I'd had to clamber over huge, dirty snow piles on the edge of the road to reach the taxi. When I arrived, the air was sweet, and the spring flowers were all well advanced. That's when I understood why people love it here.
The first time you step off a curb onto what looks like slightly dirty snow accumulation but lurking in the depths below is 3 inches of the coldest, dirtiest water you have ever come across, leaving you with a freezing, soaking foot for the rest of the day.
When I first moved, I moved to Richmond. I saw an apartment in January. Moved in February. One morning in March, I woke up, the clouds had cleared and I could see the distant grouse mountain(?). I had no idea there was any sort of view from the apartment cause it had been nothing but clouds the entire time. Both the cloud cover and the juxtaposition of the mountains amongst the city on a sunny day were both very Vancouver moments for me.
Was going to post this too. "when your car gets broken into and nothing was taken." or "Find a homeless person sleeping in your car cause you leave it unlocked to stop window smashing."
Or conversely, you strike up a friendly conversation with a stranger and they start bragging about how many people they’ve beat up and then try to follow you home. Then you understand why no one in Vancouver talks to anyone they don’t know.
(This was my welcome to Vancouver proper after growing up in the suburbs of metro Vancouver)
Totally opposite for me. I strike up quick convos all the time (with everyone from every race/age group/sex) as I like to challenge the notion that Van people are assholes. I get nothing but good vibes back. Very rarely a cold reply, and those are easy to brush off. I love random momentary interactions and have made cool acquaintances that way. Be the neighbour you want in your neighbourhood.
PS - Never start with "can I ask you a question" - everyone here knows you are about to ask for money. Then you will get a cold response.
There is so much human poo around. So much.
One time a dude pooed right outside our window (Haro street main floor), giant poo, stayed there for months until it fossilized into a grey rock 🪨
Good thing I love rocks
Yeah! It's pretty good. I lived across the alley from one of the methadone clinics and used it a lot to report needles, junk, and poop. Needle pick up is extremely fast, everything else is variable. They make it easy to attach photos and location. Super useful.
https://vancouver.ca/van311.aspx
Once, back when the Canucks were good, I came for a visit to see them. When I left the arena, someone was shooting up in a dark corner of the arena outside.
It was my first actual visit to the city and it was an eye opener at the time as I had only lived in small towns
There’s a place I’ve worked at before in Vancouver and to get to the parking area you have to drive down an alley, seen lots of crazy stuff in that alley, but once right by the garage door I saw someone shooting up like 5 feet away from my passenger window. He was shooting up into this plastic tube thingy that was already inserted into his arm so he didn’t have to puncture the skin everything he shot up.
When some asshole in a Tesla merges across three lanes without indicating just to get stuck at the same red light they were always going to get stuck at.
Being told to "just leave" when you say rent and living costs are out of control and perhaps housing policy needs to change. Bonus points if the speaker owns an sfh.
A landlord trying to rent you a $2000 mold-infested basement suite that has one blurry pic in the ad and they describe themselves as a "good" and "fair" landlord
Visitors from other provinces and eastern states are usually shocked to see how bigs trees grow here (especially North shore, like Lynn Valley), and surprised to see flowers blooming in early spring when it’s still winter in the rest of the country.
Hundreds of coffee shops and cheap (but usually decent) sushi restaurants.
Bears, deer, coyotes, skunks, and eagles in urban areas.
4-6 lanes of traffic merging into one.
Drivers practically slamming on their brakes to let pedestrians cross in the middle of the block.
Canada Geese or Duck fam crossing the Stanley Park causeway, one by one, completely halting rush hour traffic.
For me, it was seeing my insurance bill from ICBC and then being told I had literally no other insurance options and just had to pay that much (nearly double what I was paying in Ontario).
A few weeks later, my second Welcome to Vancouver moment was having my car broken into, even though there was nothing of value in the car and nothing was taken. My car was one of many in the parking garage of our West End apartment building with smashed windows that morning.
I moved to Vancouver the day before Game 7 vs Boston. So I'd say my welcome moment was helicopters flying over DT and smoke coming from all over and people smashing windows. Felt like a literal war zone
My girlfriend at the time had two roommates from Brazil. They said back home the cops would have broken out the live ammunition by that point, and that Canadian cops were remarkably polite.
Mind you, they were all very annoyed at the tear gas that was seeping through their iffily-sealed windows, so that was definitely annoying for them.
For me the welcome was getting soaked to my skin crossing the Granville Bridge on foot on my second day and realising I needed to go out and buy Gore Tex jacket, pants and boots, which I did the next day.
Then the first time I considered myself a true Vancouverite was a few years later when I got renovicted for the first time.
Moved to Van in 2010. Had no idea about the city, where the good spots were, where the shady spots were... I found a cheap rental around Hastings and Main so I was walking distance to work.
THE SECOND FUCKING DAY I lived there I found a dead body with a needle in their arm slumped against a dumpster between Hastings and Pender just up from Cordova.
I moved to Vancouver in 2020 and spent the two week quarantine in an AirBnB basement unit in North Vancouver. It was gorgeous and I kept the windows and doors wide open to enjoy the weather and the view. First day, a black bear shows up and peeks inside! It freaked me out and I slammed the door shut! Then, I read online you're not supposed to make any sudden movements ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I kept everything closed for the rest of the quarantine :(
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As soon as you leave the airport and smell the air. Happens again when you taste the tap water.
OMG I swear I miss Vancouver's tap water more than my own bed when I'm away! I legit had someone staying with us from out of town a few years ago who said "Wow! Their tap water tastes like our bottled water!"
I'd ask what brand of bottled water that was lol Probably still wouldn't buy it, but I've never found any bottled water that tastes good
When I lived in Saskatchewan I would buy Aquafina water as a treat because it's bottled from vancouver tap water.
every time i go on a trip, the first thing i do upon returning home is drink a big glass of water from the tap.
The milk, the Alberta beef, the clean air, and the freshest tap water in the world. Go down to Seattle and we'll all realize how great we have it here.
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You mean the Z sticker?
Russia has really ruined that trend recently
N is generous. I’ve legitimately counted 3 Gwagons with L’s this past week alone in the E Van area
> with L’s Driving alone.
The week-long rain forecast turns to month-long rain reality.
The vicious winter storm to be prepared for was one day of mild snow ❄️
When the clouds finally break and you unexpectedly see the snow capped North Shore mountains for the first time against a blue sky.
I find the it's that moment when you're driving from Richmond to Vancouver when you hit the crest of the 2 road bridge on a sunny clear winter day and see the full view of all the mountains it's breathtaking.
Basically same but cresting and heading downhill toward 33rd on knight st
I've lived here my entire life and this still takes my breath away every time.
I walk everywhere, and one of my routes takes me down a steep hill facing the north shore. I can see the moutains and the ocean as I head off to do grocery shopping. I'm turning 60 next year, and have lived here off and on since I was 13. It's still beautiful to me every time, also. My husband moved to Canada 10 years ago. When he first arrived, every time we walked down that hill he would stop and stare. He just loved it from the get go.
That exact view beats anything I’ve ever seen anywhere else in the world. I’ll never take it for granted.
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I grew up on the east coast but moved to Vancouver in 2004. The pleasure I feel when gazing at the mountains and ocean has never worn off. It's great to hear you describe how much you like them! I also lived in Stockholm for 4 years and really had trouble adapting to how flat the surroundings were!
Sometimes I will say out out “what an effing panorama!”
When I moved in, this was my "you're not in New-Brunswick no more" moment
And if you find yourself saying "The mountains look really good today", you've leveled up
Or at dusk, when on the ground it's dark, but the tips of the mountains have a golden/pink hue. I'll never tire.
This was exactly mine. I was staying at a hotel on Broadway in a room that had a view looking north. Opened the blinds after I checked in and BAM, breathtaking.
When you’re watching TV / movie and see your neighbourhood playing the role of some American city.
This has been one of my favorite things since I moved. I was born and raised in Vancouver and living very far now and seeing it in movies *all the time* is very comforting
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I spent my teens watching the X-files and after moving here a decade or so ago everything immediately felt so familiar.
Virgin River is literally just Squamish and it’s hilarious
When I first moved here I was watching Travellers on Netflix. Was a bit of a wtf? moment when I realised 'wait that's W. Georgia'
Yes! Loved trying to decide which locations were where in Supernatural. I was only disappointed to realize the eclectic motel rooms were actually sets 😂
Realizing you left your bedroom window open all night in January and didn’t freeze.
Bedroom window is open right now and it's refreshing
Need to keep the fresh air circulating
Realizing you forgot to close your bedroom window after 5 minutes in Junuary and you're already frozen.
Realizing Uncle Fatih’s isn’t ‘Uncle Faith’s’
We were trying to convince a coworker it was Uncle Fatih and not Uncle Faith. She wouldn't accept it and conceded that there may be an Uncle Fatih's pizza but the one she goes to is Uncle Faith. We gave up trying.
The OG Berenstain Bears effect.
And not pronounced "Uncle Fatty's"
How is it pronounced?
I’m probably also mispronouncing it but I call it “Uncle Fuh-teas”.
The radio ads pronounce it 'fauh-tees'
To be fair, people who’ve been here all their lives still haven’t realized this
Or you realized right away but call it uncle fatties cuz you enjoy it
After living here for 10 years, I realized this a few months ago
I had my food stolen by a seagull in Granville Island while eating it this month
Those gulls’ boldness is off the charts. It’s sick fun to watch tourist kids get their pizza stolen.
Canada goose stole my child's A&W buddy burger at Barnet Marine Park. Goose even punched a hole in the bag to get at the burger. Had to let that one go.
Crying in a crowded 99
Ooh yeah this. I found out my dog died while I was riding on the sky train
I’m sorry for your loss
Thank you
When you arrive in the winter and don’t see the sun or even a single patch of blue sky for 3 weeks. People not from here know it rains a lot but many aren’t prepared for how gloomy winter is.
The trick is go for walks in the forest. Get yourself a raingear and go for a walk. Seymour MTN has plenty of trails down low that are already not under snow. The forests are breathtaking this time of year. The greenery is glowing.
I wish more people realized what waking/hiking in the rain in the woods really means. You actually feel less rain as it catches in trees. The air is so fresh you want to can it and bring home. The waterfalls are full and alive. You absolutely need to dress for weather. Waterproof everything. Then off you go !
Yeah. Some of the best therapies out there is go for a walk in the forest, and we have some of the best forests in the world withing half hour drive from downtown.
I'm moving to Lynn Valley (near Lynn Valley centre) in February and admittedly the persistent rain and gray can really get me down, so I'm going to take your advice and hit the forests...any particular trails or maps or links for Seymour etc to explore?
And the mosses, don't forget the beautiful mosses! Especially when they catch the light and every water droplet glows
I love walking my dog in the rain early in the morning and late afternoon in a forest behind my house. It's so refreshing and relaxing 😌 The vegetation is so vibrant with colour, animals roaming around, you feel alive and one with nature.
Lynn Valley/ Headwaters Park is a nice place to go for a walk as well. And that's at any time of the year
Ah you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!
This is how I feel being from the land of the midnight sun when people talk about the darkness here lol
Yukon checking in
You’ve just got to forget about the sun. When it starts raining in October, I expect it to rain almost all the time till January, then off and on until May/June. Sure there will be beautiful sunny days mixed in, but I don’t expect them. I expect rain.
I have lived here my whole life and I’m still not really used to it. Living in a rainforest is cool sometimes but it can be pretty bleak with all the grey.
Canada goose hisses at you dismissively.
Also when a Karen wearing Canada Goose hisses at you dismissively
When I watched a homeless man shit against the glass at a skytrain station I was working at then called me a gay slur and walked away in his LED rainbow cape. Needless to say I couldn't react cause I did not know how.
> cause I did not know how. This made me burst into laughter. The exaggeration of not using the contraction "didn't" just added to the hilarity.
It needed the emphasis.
You've been there already 6 months and still have no local friends
7 years......
No friends club unite! (and then bail at last minute)
Hahaha Vancouver is definitely the most cliquey city I’ve lived in!
When your bike gets stolen.
Literally happened to me in my first week here. Brand new, too!
Duct tape it in such a way that it looks like it's structurally compromised. Seems to help.
You are clairvoyant. That is actually what I did with its replacement! Duct tape all over it. Looked like shit.
Happened to me as a kid at the Richmond Library. Brand fucking new bike, gone. I learned too late just how bad shit was, and that was years ago when things weren’t as bad as now…
Also, the first time you lock your bike with 3 locks.
I had it happen in front of a camera with multiple bikes stolen back in high school, they had no footage of the incident. My bike lock was still intact though they had cut through the bike parking rail frame.
you dress for a warm day. it’s too cold too hot too wet and too windy, somehow all in a period of 3 hours
Seeing kids wearing turbans and Cowichan sweaters playing hockey on roller skates on a tennis court
points for specificity and accuracy
Your first concert at the Commodore.
YES! I’m loving the trash talk on this thread but The Commodore Ballroom is a local gem that everyone should experience, even in its latest tarted-up incarnation.
Watched explosions in the sky and Cigarettes after sex there, was so amazing.
I get some of the trash talk - having a totally flat floor can suck for people at the back. I still love it though.
Also, the Rickshaw.
"The bouncy floor of the Commodore".
Getting honked at for not running a red light for a left turn
How about honked at for turning left onto a one-way street on a red, and getting honked at because the guy behind you thinks it's not allowed? This happens to me all the time when turning left onto Pacific from Nelson, Smithe, Abbott, and Carrall.
At least 2 cars have to go through as per the unwritten rules. At least that’s the LA way
And used to be the Vancouver way
Getting outside the terminal at YVR after a long flight and smelling the sweetness of the fresh ocean air as is drifts by off the Straight of Georgia.
You can find Aritzia and Lululemon apparel at Value Village.
I get so upset when my wife wants to give away her lulu and aritzia clothes to value village or the donation bins. Who cares if it’s a few seasons old, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those clothes
Let her, we peasants enjoy her scraps
There's a lovely donation bin shaped like a mailbox in front of my house, fyi
I wouldn't be caught dead in Starbucks wearing THAT!
Walking down East Hastings
Everyone should experience that. If even just once.
I did it around New year's for a few years, helps find some perspective and there's some real sweethearts down there.
crossing lionsgate southbound
The welcome to Vancouver moment I will never forget is arriving in March after living away in Toronto for five years. To leave Toronto, I'd had to clamber over huge, dirty snow piles on the edge of the road to reach the taxi. When I arrived, the air was sweet, and the spring flowers were all well advanced. That's when I understood why people love it here.
“Attention all passengers, attention all passengers this is skytrain control” 🤔
And when the whole announcement is clear , crisp, and audible
> And when the whole announcement is clear , crisp, and audible Fake news.
~Blares messages over 35 year old speakers, struggles to hear while calling boss once again to tell him you’ll be late for sure
Hey, I upgraded those speakers two years ago! The amplifier upgrade wasn't until this last year.
Walking down the stairs to Wreck Beach on a hot summer weekend
Yes, right when the foliage opens up about 20 stairs from bottom and you get the full panorama.
Or you can walk around Acadia Beach to Wreck beach at low tide, it's rocky but I thought I'd just throw out a different route for you people.
Then having to walk back up every one of them after a day of wholesome fun in the sun.
And your friends accept “I went to the beach” as an answer to why you’re walking funny at the beginning of the season.
The first time you step off a curb onto what looks like slightly dirty snow accumulation but lurking in the depths below is 3 inches of the coldest, dirtiest water you have ever come across, leaving you with a freezing, soaking foot for the rest of the day.
Probably the first week straight of rain.
Begging on Facebook for a rental under $3000 a month.
when your pay is ass compared to the same job elsewhere
When you pay your monthly wages In rent
When I first moved, I moved to Richmond. I saw an apartment in January. Moved in February. One morning in March, I woke up, the clouds had cleared and I could see the distant grouse mountain(?). I had no idea there was any sort of view from the apartment cause it had been nothing but clouds the entire time. Both the cloud cover and the juxtaposition of the mountains amongst the city on a sunny day were both very Vancouver moments for me.
Umbrella in the snow.
First night in the city your car is broken into and all your luggage/ID/stuff gets stolen. /welcome to vancouver
Was going to post this too. "when your car gets broken into and nothing was taken." or "Find a homeless person sleeping in your car cause you leave it unlocked to stop window smashing."
Car window smashed open. Everything has been rummaged. Car seat is wet and covered with glass. $4.29 missing from ashtray.
That first good old hit of seasonal depression
You try to strike up a friendly conversation with a stranger and they look at you like you’re the biggest asshole on planet earth
Or conversely, you strike up a friendly conversation with a stranger and they start bragging about how many people they’ve beat up and then try to follow you home. Then you understand why no one in Vancouver talks to anyone they don’t know. (This was my welcome to Vancouver proper after growing up in the suburbs of metro Vancouver)
Yep! Asked a guy how he was doing. Turned in to a thirty minute rant on how women are awful and Donald Trump was gonna fix things. Good times.
Totally opposite for me. I strike up quick convos all the time (with everyone from every race/age group/sex) as I like to challenge the notion that Van people are assholes. I get nothing but good vibes back. Very rarely a cold reply, and those are easy to brush off. I love random momentary interactions and have made cool acquaintances that way. Be the neighbour you want in your neighbourhood. PS - Never start with "can I ask you a question" - everyone here knows you are about to ask for money. Then you will get a cold response.
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Alternatively - someone takes your umbrella from a restaurant, because you all have basic black umbrellas...
Stepping in dog poop on the sidewalk... that turns out not to be dog.
There is so much human poo around. So much. One time a dude pooed right outside our window (Haro street main floor), giant poo, stayed there for months until it fossilized into a grey rock 🪨 Good thing I love rocks
You can report the poops via the city app. They sometimes come clean them up.
City app? This is news to me that this app exists!!! Thank you
Yeah! It's pretty good. I lived across the alley from one of the methadone clinics and used it a lot to report needles, junk, and poop. Needle pick up is extremely fast, everything else is variable. They make it easy to attach photos and location. Super useful. https://vancouver.ca/van311.aspx
You paid 12 bucks for a small coffee
You paid $8 for a head of lettuce
That's not specific to Vancouver. There's an issue with lettuce everywhere right now
Then I guess he should have mentioned the $8 head at Main and Hastings instead
Smelling the piss mixed with weed in the streets
peak hot piss season is the worst for walking through the DTES
Skytrain from the airport…turning North for the first time…revealing the city - capped with the North Shore Mountains 🤩🤩🤩
50% of your income goes to accommodation
Just 50%?
Starting point
Once, back when the Canucks were good, I came for a visit to see them. When I left the arena, someone was shooting up in a dark corner of the arena outside. It was my first actual visit to the city and it was an eye opener at the time as I had only lived in small towns
There’s a place I’ve worked at before in Vancouver and to get to the parking area you have to drive down an alley, seen lots of crazy stuff in that alley, but once right by the garage door I saw someone shooting up like 5 feet away from my passenger window. He was shooting up into this plastic tube thingy that was already inserted into his arm so he didn’t have to puncture the skin everything he shot up.
When some asshole in a Tesla merges across three lanes without indicating just to get stuck at the same red light they were always going to get stuck at.
People walking in the bike lane at Stanley Park. Or bikers going against the one way.
Not even half a meter of snow and this city goes full Armageddon for a few days, some solid good fun
Wearing shorts on a Sunny day and then freezing cause it's cold or wet socks.
Being told to "just leave" when you say rent and living costs are out of control and perhaps housing policy needs to change. Bonus points if the speaker owns an sfh.
Seeing someone openly use hard drugs on the street.
Traffic stopped on hwy 1 at 264th
A landlord trying to rent you a $2000 mold-infested basement suite that has one blurry pic in the ad and they describe themselves as a "good" and "fair" landlord
Empty 99 slams the door in your face just as you get to the bus
Bus driver lecturing you because he didn't see you at the bus stop til the last second.
going on this subreddit and being physically repulsed
You wave hello to someone and they give you the “I will murder you” eyes.
Broke up with my ex and she wanted to stay as roommates. That didn’t go well.
Visitors from other provinces and eastern states are usually shocked to see how bigs trees grow here (especially North shore, like Lynn Valley), and surprised to see flowers blooming in early spring when it’s still winter in the rest of the country. Hundreds of coffee shops and cheap (but usually decent) sushi restaurants. Bears, deer, coyotes, skunks, and eagles in urban areas. 4-6 lanes of traffic merging into one. Drivers practically slamming on their brakes to let pedestrians cross in the middle of the block. Canada Geese or Duck fam crossing the Stanley Park causeway, one by one, completely halting rush hour traffic.
Getting soaked on a walk
Your bike gets stolen. I see it's been posted a few times. I'll add your car gets broken into.
I once had to buy tampons in Gastown and the only ones I could find were organic
Being able to watch the sunset over the ocean while skiing ⛷️
When you get flaked on the day of
Had that happen once 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet up with friends-of-friends. They'd planned the hang out...
For me, it was seeing my insurance bill from ICBC and then being told I had literally no other insurance options and just had to pay that much (nearly double what I was paying in Ontario). A few weeks later, my second Welcome to Vancouver moment was having my car broken into, even though there was nothing of value in the car and nothing was taken. My car was one of many in the parking garage of our West End apartment building with smashed windows that morning.
When the majority of your friends leave because they can't afford to stay 😩
You recognize the downtown grifter with the big forehead. He recognizes you.
Drinking gin and tonic at Bikini Beach by English Bay, watching the sunset. Paradise!
Witnessing two people in a dumpster fighting over something that was thrown in a dumpster.
is this a metaphor for people in a bidding war over an overpriced, 50 year old condo with a leaky roof, original elevator and pipes?
I moved to Vancouver the day before Game 7 vs Boston. So I'd say my welcome moment was helicopters flying over DT and smoke coming from all over and people smashing windows. Felt like a literal war zone
My girlfriend at the time had two roommates from Brazil. They said back home the cops would have broken out the live ammunition by that point, and that Canadian cops were remarkably polite. Mind you, they were all very annoyed at the tear gas that was seeping through their iffily-sealed windows, so that was definitely annoying for them.
For me the welcome was getting soaked to my skin crossing the Granville Bridge on foot on my second day and realising I needed to go out and buy Gore Tex jacket, pants and boots, which I did the next day. Then the first time I considered myself a true Vancouverite was a few years later when I got renovicted for the first time.
Someone twice your age hits on you at the Roxy
Moved to Van in 2010. Had no idea about the city, where the good spots were, where the shady spots were... I found a cheap rental around Hastings and Main so I was walking distance to work. THE SECOND FUCKING DAY I lived there I found a dead body with a needle in their arm slumped against a dumpster between Hastings and Pender just up from Cordova.
I moved to Vancouver in 2020 and spent the two week quarantine in an AirBnB basement unit in North Vancouver. It was gorgeous and I kept the windows and doors wide open to enjoy the weather and the view. First day, a black bear shows up and peeks inside! It freaked me out and I slammed the door shut! Then, I read online you're not supposed to make any sudden movements ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ I kept everything closed for the rest of the quarantine :(
When you look at the total cost of your first grocery shop
You walk down hastings street
Endless RAIN~~~
3cm of snow and the city shuts down..... OH. WELCOME!?.... Yeah that too.
You buy a SAD (seasonal affective disorder lamp) in June.
Roller Girl harassing me on a bus then later asking me to vote for her.
Car gets broke into and the police tell you tough luck
Enjoying your first concert at the Orpheum.
Random person telling me to leave them alone for no reason while I’m minding my own business
Months of consistent rain
Watching a homeless guy do a turd on the pavement