Van Life Road Trip Around the World - A New Country [S7-32]

What a view, look at this, and there's something in the water. Orcas and Humpback Whales. Sightings of Humpback Whales. We're Marianne and Chris, in 2018 we quit the 9-5 and bought Trudy our camper van. We are currently on an adventure to drive the circumference of the world. So we had a fantastic night's sleep here. In this boondockers spot, just south of Seattle. Yeah the lawnmower has only just started, as soon as the camera came out. We had a fantastically peaceful and quiet night here, with Teddy and Roger. Thank you, thank you for your hospitality, it's so nice that they let Vans sleep over. In fact the lawnmower is coming from the neighbour's house, but this morning we're gonna head into town. We're gonna wash Trudy, we're meeting up with a couple of our tribe members, and I just love, look at the size of this amazing tree here. That's beautiful, it's like a very own Christmas tree. You ready? I was born ready! That didn't go so smoothly! No there's a technique to it, it's funny because when it gets cold you have to sort of like wiggle it. Morning Bob, all right let's give Trudy a little wash. Yeah check everything's closed, he's looking very grubby! So much choice, I think we need a pre-soap soap, foam brush, high pressure rinse. Not a good cleaning day, so we've come down to Meridian car wash, down here in the Kent part of Seattle. The van's still looking really dirty, for some reason the high pressure water was pumping out soap, and it wasn't that high pressure and we couldn't get rid of the soap. So yeah, don't waste your money, this one definitely doesn't work! Ten dollars later, not good! Anyway, lunch time! There's no stress! So we got Mr P or Mrs P, who's sticking the sticker on? Social pressure! Mr P, these guys are members of the Tread tribe, and he's going to stick on the Washington sticker, go for it! Drum roll! I'm a bit of a perfectionist! Yeah good job, high five! Look what I got at the Goonie Museum in Astoria! That is shameless! Shameless Goonie! That is Chunk doing the truffle shuffle! We're stopping for lunch, in what is this Mediterranean breeze? We're going to get a taste of the med, a bit of a Turkish flavour today! There you go, we've got Turkish writing already! Chicken kebab meat, and chicken doner! Afiyet olsun, as they say in Turkish! So after that fabulous lunch, we've come back out to Trudy, look there's little Trudy, and that is a real American size RV! Maybe we're going to upgrade? This actually is our friend from Turkey's van, and they're actually decided that they're going to be selling it on, because they're back in Turkey! It's these guys from the YouTube channel! Look this is almost the same size as Trudy's living area! It's like a bus! How cool is this? A nice seating area, I can stand up for miles here! Luxury hotel! And then look, you've got a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, do you want to upgrade? Do you know, it's too big! If we stayed in the States, I would definitely go bigger! There's even a flat screen TV there, look! I know, don't tell Trudy! But this is perfect if you're coming or being in the States. Mr and Mrs P are selling it on their behalf, so what we'll do is, if you want to buy an RV somewhere near Seattle, and we'll put a link in the description, what kind of drinks are they buying us? Look Irish death! It looks like a Goonies beer! Goonies never say die! And we have two local wines here, and we've said that we're going to keep them for special occasions. Yeah, one when we hit 100,000 subscribers and one at the Arctic Circle, or maybe one each! I've got one more for you guys, hopefully you guys have room in your freezer. We can make room, we're an ice cream van after all! Because you were just in Astoria only, or just recently, I got you a very special flavour. Rocky Road! Oh my goodness! We're going to start eating that now! We might have to eat it all now, we might have to eat half of it to get it in the freezer! Oh that's amazing! Thanks guys, thank you! Oh that was absolutely amazing! We're so so lucky to have such lovely people in our world! We really are! We have all heard the expression, prior planning and preparation prevents poor performance. And we all know from experience that that saying is actually true! We spent six months planning for this around the world drive, and I can tell you that by pre-empting some of the problems we're going to face on the road, has saved us a lot of time, money, stress and energy. Okay, I never saw that Covid thing coming! And one of the major considerations for your next road trip or adventure, should definitely be power! Meet the Jackery Explorer 500, we use this along with their 100 watt solar panels, as not only an emergency backup, so that we can take advantage of the great outdoors. It's got USB, 12 volt and standard sockets, so we're able to plug in all of our electrical devices. With its 100 watt solar panel, it is really easy to charge. You get free electric on hand the solar way. Being so light, it's not only a great backup, it allows us to get out of the van to be able to have an office like this. And over the next week, Jackery UK are giving some of these units away. Check out their YouTube channel for your chance to win. There's a reason why Jackery has sold over 1.5 million units, and has been recognised by more than a hundred media and organisations worldwide. So to get prepped for your next adventure or road trip, simply click the link in the description below. Back to the show! Good morning, it's bright and early, we are already ready to go, because today we are heading to Canada. Yes we are! Although we're not going anywhere this morning, because Marianne just sat down and said where are the keys? It's too early! It's very early! So we got a couple of hours to go to Port Angeles. We're getting the ferry over to Vancouver Island, and then going island hopping from Vancouver Island to Vancouver City, and then heading North. Massive thank you to Teddy and Roger for a fantastic stay. And their dog Riley! What a beast! I could definitely do with one of those in Trudy! Wouldn't fit, but goodness me what a gorgeous boy! Right Canada here we come! So yesterday we had to get the van ready for the border crossing, and after researching online, you can't take things like salad, fresh meat, eggs. So we offloaded everything, and managed to get rid of most of the stuff yesterday. We also filled up the Canada entry forms online, uploaded all our Covid vaccination records, and all the joys we've missed. We haven't travelled across the border for a few months now, and we forgot how complicated it is! That is the pinkest car I've ever seen! That might be Bobby's car! So we just pulled off the highway, and just gone a little bit off the highway to park up and make a bit of coffee. How pretty are these little yellow flowers here? Absolutely loads of them, look for miles! Surrounded by hills, blue skies, obviously had a lot of rain, there's a bit of water on the road, and there's an old truck there, look an old American truck. Yeah nice to get out of the city, back to countryside! And we've just had a message from our friends, who are already slightly ahead of us, who you'll meet soon. They've seen grizzly bears, black bears and coyotes. Yeah they're halfway between Vancouver City and Alaska, and we're going to catch them up in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait to see bears! Coffee made and the journey North continues. So driving up the Washington state here by the coast, what a view! Look at this right by the sea on this inlet here, lovely little towns, little properties right on the water's edge. I'm enjoying today's drive. As a kid I've always loved fishing, and I always dreamt about having a house next to the sea, or next to a lake, so I could go fishing every day. And these houses are exactly what I imagined as a kid. What a drive! What a treat for the eyes! We were just saying the ferry that we're getting today, we booked it online and we've reserved it, so it should get us into Port Angeles about an hour before the ferry leaves. Passenger and vehicles, there you go. Okay all booked up, paid $107. Tickets, very very efficient, thank you very much. Very efficient, right let's go join the drive in and join the queue. We're good, how are you? What do you need? Those bits or that bit? Lane 5, thank you very much sir. Behind the van, Canada here we come! So we can't take cheese in, so we're trying to eat all the leftover cheese, and there's a massive omelette going while we're waiting, because you can't take eggs in. And then I think that's all of our restricted food items consumed. We're woofing it down, we've got about 10 minutes till the boat goes. We decided this plan to leave the food until the last minute, might be a little ambitious, but we're giving it our best, very very best go. I've got a rattly muffler! You can hear it! Okay we're going on the bus! No we're going on the bus! Start that one again! Okay we're going on the ferry! I'm so excited! Let's high five! And what a lovely smooth crossing it's going to be today! It's very calm, the water is flat like a lake! Number four! Right you ready? I'm born ready! It's a good job we're thin! Okay first booboo, you need face masks! Marianne's just gone back to get them! We're not used to these masks anymore, we haven't worn them for ages! You've got your big camera haven't you? I have! When we see whales, everything's jumping! And there's something in the water! Chris doesn't believe me! It's not unicorns, it's actual! Where? There! Two bubbles there! It's a bird! Oh wow! Sightings of humpback whales! Amazing! As a happily married couple, you should never gloat when you're right! Yeah apparently there are orcas and humpback whales, and all sorts of things that we could see on the way here. Three orcas breaching just here last week, apparently the captain if you see something, he will let us know. So we're going to guard our space and freeze our bits off, to make sure we catch it for you. I'm being pulled over by Chris, we've got one side of the boat each and we're checking, and they saw a fin, a dorsal fin. Oh there's two! I just saw two, three! They're directly ahead of us! There! There's fins! There are fins! Chris has got the big camera, he's trying to zoom in and see what he can see, but there is definitely fins right there! I think half the fun of this trip so far for me, is the anticipation of seeing something breach. We've had a couple of like, I don't think Chris has caught anything on camera, but just being in this moment, in this opportunity of being able to see something unusual, and super tropical, and exciting, something new, marine life we haven't seen. So we made it back into Trudy, despite all that looking, we didn't see any orcas or whales, but it was a good smooth crossing. We've arrived in Canada! We've arrived in Canada, so once we get off this boat, we're officially in country number 33! But we saw some fins! We did see some fins! And some seals! And some birds! All right here we go! Now we've never done a border crossing, that's gone smoothly, and we've never done a border crossing, that's taken quicker than an hour, so we'll see what happens. I'll turn the camera off, and I'll see you all in a bit. Okay we're officially in Canada, and I have to say, that was the easiest border crossing I have ever done. They literally just asked us a few questions, looked at the van, stamped the passport, five minutes, jobs are good. And they didn't ask for ice cream, but look how quaint this is! So welcome to Victoria! So we're going to drive up to Chimenos, which is where Marianne's auntie lives. We've literally just crossed over the border, already we're saying it feels like a different country, and I said to Marianne, that's because it is a different country! Okay now I really feel like I've just gone back home, because I've just passed the pub, and Sotheby's auctioneers! Yeah what's going on? And a shopping centre that looks like the one in Guildford! It does! So first impressions are, the street signs still look like the same as the States, but we did just see a double decker bus! So as you're driving along, they've got these signs before the traffic light here, and it says prepare to stop, and it actually flashes amber, if the light's about to change. Which is great, because it gives you that little bit of a warning. We have seen that somewhere else, I can't remember where it was. You can see in the distance, there's mountains up there. Looking beautiful Vancouver! We hope you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you join us next time, where we start prepping for our trip up to Alaska, and if you want to watch more, check out this video right here.