Eldest is replanning his year out trips that CV19 interrupted.

Current plan is to race some of the EWS’s – Tweed, Whistler, Burke and Sugarloaf. Travel and ride in between.

Anyone able to help with advice / lifts / accomodation / tips around BC for 8 – 9 weeks?

Trying to work out travel – car hire Vs public transport Vs buy a vehicle…?

Could be a couple of them.

I’m going back a long time but spent a winter in BC and worked out a lot cheaper to buy a car at the time. Insurance back then was cheap, got a VW camper for $2000 Canadian and sold it on for $1000 at the end of the trip.

Back then it was also cheaper to buy outside of Vancouver as they already had air care rules in place on emissions so ended up buying in Whistler, though suspect everywhere might have those rules now.

Love the interior mountains of BC, places like Rogers Pass have to be seen to believed.

Air Care finished a few years ago. ‘Van Life’ has made vans and the like expensive out of the city. Same with any ‘cool’ vehicles that people want to be seen in (Tacomas, Subarus etc). So ironically you’d be better buying in Vancouver these days as buying something in the likes of Squamish will either be priced sky-high during the peak season, or completely poo-kicked and smell of the 10,000 farts from a van life trust fund climber 😉

Public transport still sucks here. He’d have to do the sums re. buying Vs renting. Buying could be the best option if he leaves significantly before the end of the summer season. If he’s leaving in the shoulder season (like now to December), loads of people will be trying to off-load vehicles before leaving the country (“Must Sell By Wednesday As I’m Leaving The Country!”).

My thoughts would be to buy an ‘un-cool’ mini-van, maybe an even more un-cool brand like Ford (Windstar / Freestar etc) that’s in decent condition, can sleep in it / road trip in comfort, and potentially sell it for what it was bought for a couple of months later, or at least not lose a bunch of money on it. Buy and sell in Vancouver as less tourist dependent.

Cheers @walleater – he’s got a schedule around the EWS so I’m not sure the time to find and then sell a vehicle is a great use of time.

I’m working out with him that to use public transport where he can (e.g. bus to Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton), staying north Shore Vancouver may mean he only needs to hire a car to go to Vancouver Island.

That and be flexible on where he goes, with a buddy or two….

I’d just look into transit options really closely. Frequency, can bikes go on board (bikes also get stolen off the front of Vancouver buses too easily), travel time, logistics involved in getting from drop off point to riding etc. I know the Shred Shuttle goes from Squamish to Whistler.
The whole area (Sea To Sky) is a victim of it’s own success. Everyone wants to come here but limited accommodation and transport options.

If I was to come here again knowing what I know now, I’d either come with a poo-load of money so I can buy my way out of any situation, or slum it in a van ha ha.

12% tax to buy a car and $200/mo insurance.
There’s a daily whistler bike park shuttle out of Vancouver $35 return incl bike. (Epicrides.ca)
Ferry is 20each way as a footpassenger (bike free iirc) or 80each way in the car.
Under 25 so probably can’t rent a car?

He’s 20, a few companies will hire a car to him, but it isn’t cheap.

Biggest thing he can do is get some pals to share costs.

@Tracey – is Abigail racing next year, and how does EWS Racer privateers manage these things?

Abigale isn’t sure what she will be doing next year. It will depend on a few things, the main one on how her leg heals and getting the fitness back.
Her intentions after leaving Uni was to get a work visa for Canada but the pandemic stopped that. I think that’s what she still intends to do

Our agreement with her and the EWS racing was that we would fund it all as long as she went through Uni and to get an education she could fall back on.
She kept her part and we did the rest.
The European ones wernt too bad as we had the camper and planned our holidays to match. The New Zealand and Tasmanian ones were expensive. The US and Canadian ones were eye-watering especially so as she stayed on in Canada before and after the racing.
Car hire was obtainable at a highly inflated cost due to her age.
Was it worth it. Yes, and we would do it again if we had to. We deliberately didn’t add up what it was costing us each year, it was best not to know.

Thanks Tracey – currently looking like USA and Canada will be silly expensive.

Particularly if he can get a couple of mates into a Transit to kip in…

i recently moved to the lower mainland. i don’t know a lot about living on the north shore, but what i can tell you is that car insurance is insanely expensive in BC. i was charged $3000 for the local equivalent of a ford kuga. i’m 51! once i got my driving experience evidence sorted out it was halved. but still ~£700 for a 50 year old in a pretty normal car.

i’ve not looked at used cars, but the £2000 vw camper no longer exists. the suggestion of minivan is a good one. i’ve just remembered that you said 8 weeks isn’t long enough to mess about buying and selling cars. you are correct – ignore me!

you probably know this but, get an international driving permit. this will help if he does buy a car and possibly with hiring.

i suggested this when you guys were planning your trip before covid, U-Haul are cheaper than car hire, hire to the under 25 and are big enough to sleep in, for camping trips, i mean not as a place to live.

speaking of campsites, get them booked early. i mean, as soon as you have a plan. camping in popular locations is in high demand and books up very quickly.

overnight parking in whistler is available in some lots, but you can’t park for more than 24 hours in the same lot. i don’t think you’re supposed to sleep in the vehicle.

most likely way to get accommodation is air b and b. this also books up quickly in the popular locations.

not sure about transport between places, but getting to whistler from downtown vancouver or the airport is easy.

this part of BC is a bit like the South East of England. massive population density, a lot of traffic and high prices and not very friendly compared to other parts of BC or Canada. as mentioned above, sea-to-sky is also very popular/busy.

that said, the riding is fantastic. look at trail forks. all those locations have superb trails. keep in mind that all the trails are built by volunteers using donations. the local trail associations would be very grateful if you bought a membership (they are at most £20 for a year).

i hope this is helpful, even if i am pointing out pitfalls and not opportunities.

sounds like a great trip. if i regret anything it’s that i didn’t live in vancouver when i was 19. even if only for 2 months.

Was it worth it. Yes, and we would do it again if we had to. We deliberately didn’t add up what it was costing us each year, it was best not to know.

this is great! i hope the injury heals well

Have a look at turo for long term rentals, might find someone happy to do a low price for the guaranteed income

A friend of mine just drive across Canada in a Dodge Grand Caravan. One of those is a good shout- cheap, and almost as big as a T5. Fold the seats down ans d it works pretty well as a stealth camper, loads of space for bikes

I’m still incredibly jealous of anybody who is able to take a year out, at all, as it just wasn’t a thing, in my day (#oldgit) either from a conceptual or financial point of view.
Add in the prospect of 8 weeks in BC and the jealousy levels go through the roof.
Have been there twice – before I discovered MTB, and after I’d earned money to afford it – and it is just a glorious place to be, regardless of your reason to be there.

I hope it all works out for them, and that you don’t post too many pictures on here 😉

@belugabob – 12mths part and 6 months full time work at local hotel at end of school.

He missed the full 6 months around Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Canada/BC and Nova Scotia with a couple of friends due to CV19…due to get on plane a week before we went into lockdown.

Stuck at home he then got a job at CV19 testing station for 6 mths full time before starting uni.

He’s nothing if not a hard worker, and I’m keen to help him enjoy himself after such a crap time missing a ‘proper’ gap year…

@matt_outandabout – not begrudging it, at all. In fact, I believe that doing such things is great for people’s outlook on life, and probably contributes to a more rounded character.

I wish I’d had the chance – but I’m just rounded in a middle-aged way 😉

Join my club!

Mrs_oab and I plan a gap year or three in our 50’s…

My 50s are rapidly running out – the couple of adventures that should have happened in the last couple of years, have been stymied by various stuff, so I need to get things into action for next year.

Walleater plus 1 basically. Van life + covid has made everything expensive. I’d also add that it’s becoming really challenging to be spontaneous in BC. “Proper” campsites and the like get booked up as soon as availability opens and so everything needs to be planned a long way in advance.

I would say consider how much time spent in sea-to-sky verses the rest of BC. Sea to sky (which I’m considering Vancouver to Pemberton) is good due to density of trails but also bad due to popularity. In terms of having a relatively fixed base though with more riding than almost anywhere else in the world it can’t be beaten. You could spend an awful lot of time driving around the rest of BC and be constantly comparing it to Squamish / Whistler. Fixed base would help with sorting some costs out up front.

I still don’t think public transport with expensive bikes is going to work and that’s even more so in the interior. Different towns are more / less ridable from the center but sometimes the trailheads can be a fair way outside town. Revelstoke for example has some great riding (Martha Creek, Frisby, Keystone) all of which are a schlep away from accommodation.

Nothing to add to help your question but be prepared; my (then) 18 year old went out to Whistler for six months a couple of years ago – absolutely fell in love with the place and is currently applying for his permanent residency. He knows he might not stay forever but the entry bar is low at the moment (particularly in BC for lower level workers) so seems like too good an opportunity to miss.

I’m now in the doghouse with the wife as it was my suggestion he took time out before uni and head to BC.

We are resigned, nay encouraging him, that if he want’s to transfer some of his degree to Vancouver or Seattle, he should do it. Totally expecting him to want to stay permanently.

He is to do a spreadsheet / paper costing – Canada for 9 weeks and 3x EWS rounds or Europe in an old van and 2x EWS rounds…I suspect he is in for a shock…