Skip to main content

Victoria weekend trip




Philip, Ava, Grace, and myself stayed overnight at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria just to experience what the castle was like. It was much older than I had anticipated and the hotel was just ok. The ferry trip was nice. It's been a while since we saw the open sea. After we checked in to the hotel, we went out for dinner and walked around town. It was so windy and cold that Saturday and we didn't bring anything warm to wear. Great! The next day, we hit the Parliament Building, watched a parade go by, and headed out to the Buchard Garden. As good as I remembered it but not sure if the price was raised since because I could have sworn it was less than $25 ea. Overall, the trip was memorable except for the long wait at the ferry coming home. I think we waited for over 3 hours before boarding and that didn't include the trip back home after we got back to the mainland. We may fly by Harbour Sea Plane next time. :)


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Success Story Renewing my Okta Maintenance Certification thru Examity

 The Okta Certified Professional certification had to be renewed every 2 years and my maintenance exam was due on July 30, 2023. I was confident about passing the exam because I had just completed an HRIS mastering project and Okta. However, the exam format was unnatural using DOMC (discreet option multiple choice), so I had to study and review a fair bit of material to prepare.  After studying a decent amount, I scheduled my exam for Tuesday, June 27, 2023. After hitting the next page, there was an error so I hit the back button and tried again. I was able to get it scheduled but didn't know that the exam date was actually scheduled for Sunday, June 25, 2023, for some reason. There was a confirmation email stating that but of course, I did not read it because I was focused on the Tuesday, June 27th date. I continued cramming until Tuesday but realized in horror that I was a no-show when I logged in 30 minutes before the exam at 10:30pm. If you have ever done offsite exams, yo...

How to Fix your Car A/C on a Budget?

I didn’t want to fix my car’s air condition system since it stopped blowing cold air close to 2 years ago now. I was delaying it because the initial quote I received was for $1200 after having spent about $200 for a failed compressor recharge at Vancouver Transmission Ltd. The pressure was not stable, so they said there was a leak and after running a diagnostic, they concluded it was compressor itself. They quoted about $1200 for the repair and that’s where I left it at because I couldn’t justify spending that much on a 2006 Accord with over 400K mileage. I realized how important air condition system was these past summer seasons when we were stuck in traffic headed to Seattle/Portland in 30 C heat. My family suffered through that trip and wife almost had a heat stroke. I decided to call my mobile mechanic to quote on the compressor replacement and recharge. It was much better at $550 and $175 to get it recharged at VAP Auto. Total would have been cheaper than taking it back to Vancouv...

How to vacation correctly in Hawaii (for the cost-conscious traveler)

I just returned last week from a one week vacation from Honolulu, Hawaii. It was a great time for me and my family but it could have been cheaper, less tiring, and less stressful. Keep reading and you may find some of the advice here helpful for your situation if you are looking to go on vacation to this island paradise. I booked all my flights and hotel from Expedia because I like how the user interface allows you to move your travel time a day before or a day after to try and find a better schedule or cheaper cost. I also booked my car rentals through Expedia and they offer some generous discounts for booking flights+hotel package. I found the Hilton Hawaiian Village is always cheaper than most of the hotels on Waikiki and is a great location because it’s at the start of the strip and close enough to Ala Moana mall too. The flight was cheap if you leave from Seatac airport. I booked using parksleepfly.com hotel for a one-night stay at Surestay Best Western, and parked on their lot fo...