Shard

Yup, done it and loved it. Would like to do it again. California and Oregon rock.

scrubbedexpat091

Haven't spend time in Oregon, but California will always be home, and I will always be biased towards it....

Being from the extreme southern end of California, Oregon was not a quick weekend trip, so never made it up there, always went east towards AZ for weekend road trips.

Shard

It's all good!

MillieF

Congratulations Beckiwoo! It's not always easy to find the path that you need, to get where you're going....just try very hard to enjoy the journey. At 32 I was convinced, and happy about the fact, that I would travel the world unencumbered by small children or males! Then a few years later, I fell in love with a Canadian, and grew another one! Which was an unexpected bonus and shock to us all

If each year is better than the last one, then you are on a path to happiness and heading in the right direction, it's a process, not a race. You will get there! Happy Days!

beckiwoo

Thanks Millie

And you are right - it is about the journey rather then the destination.

Shakyuk

I feel that! I want to settle down but I also need to get this Canada bug out of my system, I'm 31 now and I'm not even there yet!

I visited Vancouver in June and while I did really enjoy it, I couldn't believe how pretentious it is. We ate in one of those Cactus restaurants on the sea front and my god that was pretentious. What is with the girls in the skin tight dresses that seem to only be there to 'look pretty' aka fake.

On the flip side we loved Granville Island and found that to be the opposite!

Anyway... for what it's worth I hope you find something that makes you feel more content with your situation. Like you say, you're better now than a year ago so that's progress!

beckiwoo

Good old Cactus Club - yeah the waitresses are employed for their looks but I think most places are like that.

haggis88

That's eerily similar to what my situation was in Canada

I gave up on Canada rather than the relationship though

Congrats on 2 years though, i definitely felt that the end of year 2/start of year 3 was the hardest part!

beckiwoo

sorry to hear that, I didn't know you had returned to Scotland.

dbd33

I've done that twice and enjoyed it hugely. One of my daughters did the same, sleeping in the car (a hardtop which, for me, rather kills the point). The Vancouvery daughter had to do better, of course, she only went as far as San Francisco, but went on a bicycle.

BristolUK

I did a stretch of the Nile on a bike - not literally the Nile of course.

bats

Is it two years already? Congratulations, I admire your determination and will to succeed. It can't be easy moving to a big city alone. I like the suggestion that you move cities, follow a job and see where that takes you. You'll get there.

PS James is single. how does Torobto appeal?

beckiwoo

Thank you

Lol - Shame Toronto isn't on my list of potential places

scrubbedexpat091

If I were younger and fit enough, I would consider going by bike at least part way through the less densely populated areas, not sure I would want to ride a bike through the more dense So. California though.

scilly

I looked into doing that trip leaving next month ........... train Vancouver to Seattle, Seattle to SF (or rather a town about 50 km outside SF, as train does not go into SF or onto the peninsula since the big earthquake), train SF to Chicago, train Chicago to Seattle, and then Seattle to Vancouver. We had to spend at least one night sometimes 2, in a hotel at each stop.................. and I was aghast at how much it would cost!

It was even expensive to do the Seattle to SF leg ............ and that is form someone who regularly uses VIA across Canada from coast to coast.

The rooms were smaller than on the VIA trains, and the "enclosed toilet" took up a chunk of the internal space (the toilet is an annex to the sleeping cabin on VIA). Mind you, that was better than the toilets in sleeping cabins used on the eastern US routes (I did check) ............ the toilet is NOT "enclosed" but sits out in the open in the cabin