Last year, while on our summer vacation, I was plagued with the question: “Where are we going to go next year?”
After a year of fretting and fussing, I finally settled on Vancouver Island. There is so much out there to explore, and it is hard to decide to miss everything else for one place. I really liked BC when we were there two years ago when we were returning from Alaska, but it was during a 12-day rain spree, and the views were ruined by clouds, mist, and soaking rain. Hopefully, this time will be better.
Deciding where to go is the first step. What all to see is the next step. Having to choose what to visit and what to miss can be stressful. There will be lots of sweating, swearing, rewriting, remapping and so much more as I plot our course to, at and from Vancouver Island.
Things I am looking forward to:
- A nanaimo bar in Nanaimo
- The Rockies
- Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park – we got rained out the last time there.
- Dinosaurs
- Hoodoos
- BC rainforest
- Cathedral Grove – home of some of the tallest trees in the world.
- The Pacific Ocean
- Pizza Ranch
- And above all, spending time with the one person who enjoys travelling and my company, Charlene.
In order to make this trip fit the time frame of our vacation, we will be using the 8/8/8 method. Eight hours of sleep, eight hours of exploring, and eight hours of driving. I want a week out on the island, Victoria and Vancouver to make the drive worth it. The drive back will be similar. Because of this style of planning, a lot is going to be missed on the way too and from, but we will get a pretty good exploration of Vancouver Island and what it has to offer.
Doing this also leaves much to explore on future trips. What I skipped this time, maybe next time we will see it all.
And now the research begins. I will be scouring Google Maps, brochures that I have collected, various travel and tourism sites (mainly official city and county websites) and anything else that draws me to a particular attraction.
There are two things that I use in making a vacation plan. First, is Google Maps. I create my own map showing researched locations and then pick from there the places to go. You can follow my progress at this link.
Canva is a great online file-creation website. I produce all of my itineraries here. Some people say that it doesn’t always work, but if you are curious about what I have planned so far, check it out here.
Summer is coming quick and I need to have an idea where we are going so I can begin the booking of campsites and hotels. Now the fun begins!
BTW: I love planning trips!
