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Trip Reports by our Clients:
TRANS-CANADA RAIL ADVENTURE, SEPTEMBER 29 DEPARTURE
BY LINDA SENTER
Hello Sylvia,
Wehad a fantastic time and could not have picked a better time of year to
travel. The fall color was absolutely beautiful. We had only one day
of light rain and clouds through the Rockies and even had snow one day
while we were in Lake Louise (it was beautiful). Our couple of days in
Vancouver were beautiful also, no rain, lots of blue skies and sunshine!
VIA rail was great...we were so excited when we boarded the train in Toronto. All
of us were like little kids. We were served coffee, tea, juice, muffins
and croissants right away in the activity car. Posted on a board were
the days activities-champagne at 11 a.m., Bingo in the afternoon and a
wine and cheese sampling. Sounded good to us...we wanted to experience
it all!
We made our lunch and dinner reservations and then met our car
attendant Mark. He explained the workings of his
duties and we were on our way to enjoy the day....and did we ever!!!
The champagne was great, the food was good, we played Bingo and won
prizes, went to sample the wine and cheese, played "name that tune", ate
fresh baked cookies, and then had our dinner. By that time it was dark
and we were stuffed, so we went back to our room to relax. David and I
had an idea of what to expect on the room size, but I think our
traveling companions were shocked. We had lots of laughs about who
would get top bunk and how they would get up there.
David and I, after some time ,decided to look out our window to see if we could see any
stars and we got a real treat...the Northern Lights were visible. What
a thrill, riding on a train and laying on our beds watching them !!
VIA should be very proud of their employees, everyone we met was such a
joy. I can't say enough about Natalie, Gail and Michel the Activity Car
Attendants and Guy who was our waiter in the Dining Car, and Colette
our Car Attendant on Day 2, they all made our trip so enjoyable!
Arrival into Jasper was so exciting, the mountains are spectacular. The
Jasper Park Lodge was as beautiful as its surroundings. Bad thing was,
we were only there for one night. Not nearly long enough to enjoy all
they have to offer.
Our next day of touring the Columbia Icefields was very enjoyable, our
bus driver Brian was very pleasant and provided very good information
while on the trip. Our arrival to the Chateau Lake Louise was awesome!
The lake is so beautiful. Our room was upgraded so that we had both a view of
the mountain side and a partial view of the lake. When we woke up the next
morning there was about an inch of snow on the ground and it snowed off
and on the entire day. We were very sad to leave. It will always hold a
special memory in our hearts.
The tour going to Banff was our rainy day. We could
not go to Moraine Lake because the road had been closed
due to the weather, instead we spent more time at Emerald Lake. It was
pretty, but not as spectacular as Lake Louise! Arrived at Banff Springs
Hotel and had a small problem with our room but the front desk clerks
worked with us and found another room that was more to our
liking. Next day we did more motorcoach tours and I even worked up the
courage to ride the Gondola up Sulfur Mountain. What a spectacular view
we had from there! If any of your clients ask about it (and if they are
afraid of heights) tell them if I could do it, anyone can do it, just
close your eyes if it gets a bit scary, it is a very smooth ride and it
only takes 8 minutes to get up there.
Next....the Rocky Mountaineer. We arrive at the station in Banff and it
is COLD. The train seems to take forever to get there (I think we are
just too anxious) Lots of people standing outside and the station is
packed! It finally arrives and we get onboard via the red carpet! We
settle into our seats and learn we are on the second seating for
breakfast and lunch. Not to worry though because we will be served
juice and muffins while we wait...but first just after we get stared we
are served orange juice topped off with champagne. What a way to start a
trip!!!!!
The views are spectacular and we are lucky to be on the last
dome car on the train so we have the balcony on the bottom with no one
behind us. I enjoyed standing outside most of the time.
For the trip going from east to west, we decided that those seated on
the right side have the best views. David and I were on the left side. I was a little
disappointed on the height of the seats, to me it seemed like you could
not see as good, if you wanted to look across the aisle, as if the seat
backs would have been lower. Breakfast was good. Since we had second
seating for lunch, they served us wine and cheese in-between. Lunch was
good also.
It was a long day on the train and when we arrived in
Kamloops they put everyone on busses, took us to our hotels and told us
we would have time to freshen up. We all laughed because when we got to
the hotel, we had to immediately get back on the busses to go to the Two
River Jct. Dinner show....guess where the theater was???? About a block
from the train station. We were so tired, we could not really enjoy the
food or the show. Dinner at the hotel would have been much more
enjoyable.
Day 2 was enjoyable, but not as spectacular as Day 1. Overall, I
must say I was a little disappointed with the food that they offered. I felt that VIA
did a much better job. David disagrees and says that he had no complaints whatsoever.
In Vancouver, we took a trolley tour and got to see Stanley Park and Granville Island.
Our last day we took a Gray Line tour to Victoria via the BC Ferry.
That was a very nice trip. It included Butchart Gardens.
Whew!!!! We were all more than ready to head home....it had been an
exhausting 2 weeks, but a wonderful 2 weeks that will last a lifetime in
our memories. We met so many nice people, from all over the world.
Well, that's my perspective of the trip, I'm sure if you'd ask David,
Keith, Jackie, Jim or Bonnie you would get different views but we all
agreed, we got along great and all remained friends during our 2 weeks
together and it was indeed a WONDERFUL TIME!!!!!!
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