Canada. The final leg. A country famous for many things such as its beauty, its magnificent Rockies, its scenic shoreline and its harsh wilderness. It's also famous for its native people, traditions, history and its multicultural cities. But let us not forget that landmark institution, where people can come to find peace and comfort. Where sustenance for the body and mind can be found and, in truth, where I spent a fair bit of my time and money. Tim Horton's. My mind was already made up….I was determined to get as fat as possible in 6 weeks from eating as many Tim Horton's, Boston Cream Doughnuts as possible. I have also always wanted to learn snowboarding and thought that despite my dire financial predicament, I would fork out and learn in the beautiful Canadian Rockies.

So, travelling from Seattle my first stop was naturally going to be Vancouver. I checked into a downtown hostel and spent the first few days exploring this supposedly great city.

My first impressions weren't great though. I found myself in a large, busy city where it was freezing cold and I had no friends. But after spending 3 days just wandering around and getting my bearings, I began to like it a lot more. Perhaps I had just been a little jaded and in need of some rest and couldn't fully appreciate the city in my condition when I first arrived. However, I got in contact with Marlise's parents (Alfred and Loretta) and they invited me (as she said they would) to come and stay with them in the suburbs. So I took a 40 minute train ride out to their neighbourhood and received a very warm welcome from them (and a cold beer, nice one). They had a lovely warm house and a large double bed, all for me. It was great knowing I had a place to call home for a week where I would receive home cooking, warm hospitality and a comfy bed. Here I could relax and recuperate while seeing the rest of the city and surrounding areas…..just what I needed.

While I was there I met Marlise's brother Eric, and two of her friends Bryan and Oanh, all of whom Marlise had informed to make themselves known to me. And sure enough, all three made sure I was kept busy in Vancouver. It's always a better experience (in my opinion) when you have someone local to show you around. For example, if Eric hadn't taken me to see some live music downtown one night, then I would never have seen a girl do a stage-dive, landing smack on her face, right in front of me. Nobody made any attempt whatsoever to catch her. Worth the $12 entrance fee alone. Eric and I just couldn't stop laughing. Bryan also had a pass to get into all (ALL) tourist venues and related modes of transport for free….sweet! So trips across rope bridges, up towers, on gondolas, ice hockey games…..all free. Plus he had a car and was happy to give me lifts to various places. Top guy. Oanh was also very friendly and came out with us a couple of times. I liked her because she agrees that death at the hands of a wild bear would be an awesome way to go (plus she was hot).

I suppose I did most of the things I wanted to do and see in Vancouver, including spending 4 hours walking around Stanley Park. Me, Bryan and Oanh also went to a minor league ice hockey game where I saw my first Mountee...what a wet blanket he looked though! I also took a couple of days to visit Vancouver Island, which was a lot bigger than I had anticipated. I was hoping to see a couple of different towns there but because of the distances involved and my lack of time, I opted just to stay in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. This island looked like it would be a great place to spend a week or two exploring, but unfortunately I didn't have the time, or the money to do that. Plus I had come in the off-season. Apparently it is best to visit in the summer when the whales are around. However, on my second day I went for a walk in one of the national parks. About halfway up the mountain though I realised that nobody knew where I was, and that if somehow I awoke a hibernating bear, I may be killed and never found. So I sent a text to Joanna, who lives in Australia, to let her know and she replied with some encouraging words of how confident she was that I could beat a bear in a fist fight. She's a smart lass that Joanna. The rest of my hiking was fine after that, no interruptions from any bears. Perhaps they sensed my confidence and decided it would be best for them to keep put of my way.

However, after a total of 10 days in the Vancouver area, I decided it was time to move on. I had had a great time staying with Marlise's parents who were extremely helpful and generous, especially considering they had never met me and were going on the word of their daughter, 9000 miles away. Anyway…they, and Eric, Oanh and Bryan were all brilliant and made things heaps better for me while I was there. Hopefully we can stay in touch and one day I will have the chance to visit them again in the future. I like to try and keep in touch with people, even if it's just the odd e-mail here and there every few months. Just like how it was with Dave and Margs from England, who were travelling on the same tour bus as we were in New Zealand, over a year previously. Anyways, because of my emails, they realised that I was going to be in Vancouver around the time they were going to be visiting the Rockies for a skiing holiday. So they sent me an invitation to join them…nice one!

So after Vancouver I flew to the Rockies and met up with Dave and Margs again at a resort called Kimberley. They were with a large group of friends (there were 17 of us in total) who were all brilliant and made me feel very welcome. We were staying in beautiful modern log cabins where I was able to crash for a week on a sofa bed. I absolutely loved snowboarding and seemed to pick it up pretty quickly. I arrived on the Saturday, took a 90 minute snowboarding lesson on the Sunday morning and was doing a Black run by the Wednesday morning. I just couldn't believe that I was staying in a log cabin (for free), with friends I hadn't seen for over a year and learning to snowboard in the Canadian Rockies. It was like a dream come true. Darting in and out of trees, zig zagging down fresh powdered slopes and being surrounded by the amazing scenery of the Rockies just made me feel so happy….this week really was on another level for me. Despite my whole body aching by the end of the week, from various high speed crashes, I just didn't want the snowboarding to end.

Plus, Dave and Margs are incredible hosts. They had everything organised all the time so that the evenings were entertaining as well, whether it was nights out in the town or games indoors (a tidy little win for me in the poker!). This is surely the best example I can offer of why it's good to stay in touch with people when you are travelling. I will definitely be snowboarding again at the next given opportunity, wherever I might be.

When it was time to leave Kimberley, Dave and Margs gave me a lift to Calgary airport, about 4 hours away. So I said my cheerio's to them all and caught a train into the town where I booked into a hostel. I have to make it clear though, that Calgary sucks….big time. I had been warned by various people along the way that there is nothing much to do or see in Calgary…..boy…they weren't kidding. This city should be bombed…it's horrible. I was so glad I hadn't paid to travel here. In order to escape the boredom that Calgary so easily inspires, I booked a day trip to Banff, back in the Rockies. This is a beautiful wee town which caters to the winter sports enthusiasts. I just spent a day wandering around in the freezing cold (-20ish) and found a place famous for its Elk steaks. Elk, as it happens, is very tasty.

Unfortunately I had to go back to Calgary that night. I think the fact that I found a bar, with about 15 different sports channels playing at the same time, was the only thing that kept me sane while I was there. I just couldn't wait until my flight to Montreal to get outta there. In total I was in Calgary for 4 days….which was about 4 days too long. Please take note…..never, ever go to Calgary!

Montreal, however, is a completely different kettle of fish. This city has some character to it, a cool vibe and an interesting history. I had checked into a smallish hostel not far from the downtown area, which turned out to be one of the best hostels I have stayed in so far. It really was the friendliest hostel I have ever stayed in. Everybody is introduced when someone new checks in, by the staff, and that makes it so much easier to get speaking to people. So I had a nice little group of people who I could hang out with, straight away. There are heaps of things to see and do in this city. Montreal is actually an island…far out! It's also about 400 years old; therefore some of the architecture is really beautiful.

One day I went for a wander up the hill in the middle of the city. It's called Mount Royal and that's where the city got its name from. But on my way to the lookout platform I was accosted by a horde of squirrels, one of which nicked my breakfast bar right out my hand…..cheeky blighter! I don't know why I bothered chasing it, but I did….never mind though…I like squirrels...they're cute. I'd like one for a pet so it could sit on my shoulder and whisper advice to me. Anyways, when I got to the lookout platform at the top I seemed to recognise the city below me. I had a strange feeling that somehow I'd seen this view before, somewhere else in the world. It wasn't until a few days later, when I spoke to my mum, who used to live in Montreal, that I realised it looks very much like my hometown of Dundee, from the top of the Law (a hill in the middle of the city). Anyways, I also visited the Olympic Stadium, the Basilica Notre Dame and a bunch of other cool places in Montreal. I really liked this city, but I get the feeling it would be way better in the summer when it's hot and everybody is in the mood for going out. We did have a couple of good nights out when we were there ('we' being me and some friends I made in the hostel). But just about every Canadian I met told me that Montreal is the party town….the place to be in the summer….and I believe them. But after about 5 days there, me and my friend Gareth decided to go to Toronto, where I was planning to meet Helen and Mike. So we booked a bus and made our way to the 'big smoke', where it was actually 3 times colder than it was in Montreal. -21 was the temperature when we got off the bus, it was freezing!

I had been thinking about booking into the Global Village Hostel again for 2 nights, where our journey had started nearly 1 and a half years beforehand. But when I walked in the doors, I realised that it was never gonna be the same twice. Our experiences are made good or bad by the people we meet, the fun we have with them and the moods we are in. However, I just felt that being on my own, out of money, and arriving in the 'off peak' season, would just make it a big let down to stay here again, and I wanted to keep my good memories of this hostel intact. Plus the hostel bar was closed on Monday and Tuesday nights and guess what day it was when I arrived…? So I lugged my bags back up the road to where my friend had booked in and stayed there. In truth, I had expected to be calling my step-sister Helen as soon as I arrived in Toronto, but when it came to the crunch I just wanted to stay in hostels just that wee bit longer. I knew that this would be the last place where I would be staying in a hostel and I kinda felt that this was signaling the end of my traveling. But after 3 days here, I figured I ought to call Mike and get myself into some nice home comforts again.

So Mike came and picked me and it was great seeing him again. When we got back to Cambridge, which is about 1 hour away form Toronto, I was greeted by Helen as well. I have to say…it was brilliant having another bedroom to myself again, and being in a house with cable television to unwind while Mike and Helen were at work was great. I really chilled out at Helen and Mikes for a couple of weeks. I met a bunch of Helens friends, played the golf simulator at her work and even did a bit of ice skating. Thank goodness the girls had left before I decided to go head over heels onto the ice and bust up my kneecap! I even managed to get back into Toronto one night to watch an NBA game…the Raptors vs. the Knicks. Sweet. That officially completes my big four of American sports…Basketball, Baseball, American Football and my favourite….Ice Hockey.

The best thing I did in Cambridge though was when Mike took me to the Indian reserve. We drove around for a while before we stopped in at a craft shop. We went in and ended up speaking to the old boy who lived and worked in this little shack. He ended up speaking to us for at least half an hour, telling us all kinds of tales about the Native's beliefs and history. It was truly fascinating hearing about how they believe we don't really need as much as we think we do. Unfortunately I can't remember all the details to quote you some, but what he was saying made a lot of sense to me when I considered the lives of those people I had seen in certain parts of South East Asia. It really made the point that we, as Westerners, are far too quick to be ungrateful for things, and are so consumed by material goods and the quest for wealth. This Native Indian was living in conditions that we would associate with severe poverty. Yet I really believe he was happier to have had an opportunity to pass on his ancient stories and beliefs to us, than to receive the money I gave him for a souvenir.

But I guess all good things have to come to an end at some point…including my journey. So I booked a flight back to the UK and said my cheerios to Helen, Mike and their friends, and prepared to return home, after nearly 17 months of traveling. Chris had now moved to London since returning from his travels, so I arranged to stay with him and his girlfriend Jemma (see Japanese pics) for a few days. Then I hugged Helen goodbye and took a cab to the airport. Sitting there in the departure lounge I had time to reflect on a bunch of things from my traveling experience. The places I'd been to, the things I've done and the people I've met. In particular I thought about the past 6 weeks in Canada and how, apart from Calgary, I'd loved every minute of it…..especially the snowboarding in the Rockies. But I was about to leave Canada and return home and suddenly it struck me…..I knew what I was going to miss the most about this country. Perhaps it was the fact that I'd thought about going there every day. Perhaps it was because I felt like I was having withdrawal symptoms when I couldn't get my hands on them. Perhaps it was because there was one in my hand. But there I was, just about to board the plane, looking down at my last Tim Horton's, Boston Cream Doughnut. I realised I had to take a picture before I ate it all...…it was like a symbol for my journey. And then it was finished. It was good.