Canada 2025 - 16 days below freezing...

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Just as @rbjhan was unsurprisingly headed back to Japan, we were surprisingly headed to the other side of the Pacific for my first return to Canada since moving back home from there in 2019.

For some background, I was a ski bum for the better part of 5 years, and following alternating seasons in Perisher and Niseko, I moved to Whistler in September 2017, then Revelstoke in September 2018, before returning home to Aus in September 2019. I loved my time in Canada and made many lifelong friends who I had not got the opportunity to see for more than 5 years now, so to say I was excited is an understatement! This was especially true after a bit of a false start in 2022 when we had a USA and Canada road trip planned but changing land border testing requirements (which would have required 3 tests in 3 days, including a video call test after arrival in Canada, then up to 72 hours awaiting a result while staying in 1 location) meant that trip was shifted to stay within the USA.

So finally we were all set to go, with the itinerary as below:
27th Jan QF75 SYD-YVR
27th-29th Jan Fairmont Waterfront Vancouver
29th Jan-1st Feb Fairmont Chateau Whistler
1st-5th Feb Basecamp Suites Revelstoke
5th-6th Feb Fairmont Banff Springs
6th-7th Feb Fairmont Palliser Calgary
7th-9th Feb The Josie (Autograph Collection) Red Mountain
9th-12th Feb Penticton staying with family
12th-13th Feb Fairmont YVR
13th Feb AA6303 then QF12 YVR-LAX-SYD

The flights were booked way back in May 2024 when QF had a red tail sale for Canada which set the wheels in motion. Following that I booked the hotels tentatively while waiting for various hockey leagues to release their schedules as I tried to line up as many games as I wanted. Initially I booked an SUV through Turo but after finding out it didn't have snow tyres I pivoted to a fantastic company called Northirn Overland with whom we rented a 4x4 Toyota Tacoma with proper snow tyres.

Thanks for reading my rambling intro, I'm not sure the rest will be much more coherent, mostly just a recount of the trip with a few thrown together reviews of various flights and hotels!

(Also please don't mention the snow quality in Japan or how it's been the best season in 70 odd years. I am very well aware we picked a very unlucky year to not head there! I'm looking at you @Seat0B )

 

[RooFlyer]

Lots of Fairmonts there! Tell us how you find them. The Calgary one I found unmodernised and stuffy in both terms of service and atmosphere. (6 years ago)

 

[Justinf]

On board.
I love ice hockey. Go Rangers.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Lots of Fairmonts there! Tell us how you find them. The Calgary one I found unmodernised and stuffy in both terms of service and atmosphere. (6 years ago)

Mostly brilliant, some minor issues, and what you said about Calgary is still resoundingly true!

On board.
I love ice hockey. Go Rangers.

Ooooh tougher year for you after the last few! I'm an Avs fan which is the sole reason we ended up adding Calgary, and boy am I glad we did.

 

[NoName]

Locked in to this one. Looking forward to your thoughts on Fairmont Whistler. We were there a couple of weeks before you by the looks of it.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 1:

27th Jan rolled around quickly after a very big weekend involving a bucks and hens party for the 2 of us. Sunday (26th) was purely recovery and some minor packing before getting everything together Monday morning. We shuffled cars around and tidied the house before loading our 4wd and heading off from the Northern Beaches in the mid afternoon for our 8:30pm departure.

Having previously used the P7 valet option on our surf trip to Japan we decided to once again take advantage of this, particularly given it was the cheapest of all SYD parking options. If you don't mind your car being parked off-site outside I highly recommend it. We dropped the keys off and unloaded the bags for the short hop to the elevators and across the bridge straight into the Qantas check in zone. First Class/Emerald check in was empty so within 10 minutes of parking we had boarding passes in hand with only the familiar wander down to oversize to drop the snowboard/ski bag off to do before immigration and security. I will add here, and I know this is a super entitled rant, but every other airline we have flown in business or with oneworld emerald status will have porters to take care of your oversize from the bag drop to wherever it needs to go, and I really wish Qantas would employ the same as it would just be one of those polishing touches that adds to the service of 'premium check in'.

Formalities over we breezed through immigration and security. FINALLY Sydney T1 caught up with the times and it was a huge relief to be able to go through without removing every electronic device, bottle, toiletry etc... from our carry on. We perused some shops before heading up the escalators, passed not Nestor on the door and up into my favourite lounge.

With still 3 hours until boarding we immediately ordered a couple of glasses of champagne and pretended to peruse the menu, fully aware of what we already wanted thanks to this forum.

We started with a bao each, which were OK but as I think may have been previously mentioned here tasted like the chicken wasn't freshly cooked, and the salt and pepper squid which was fantastic and one of the better plates I've had across the various lounges!

We followed those up with a club sandwich and beef burger, both tasty and the beef burger seems to have improved over the last year.


At this point we also tried some of the coughtails. I had the Flying Fox and the better half the Garden Gin Sour. Both highly recommended.

Finally we ended on differing notes with my partner having the steamed snapper while I moved onto the Pavlova, again both fantastic and god am I in love with that Pavlova!


Day '1' might end up being in 3 parts so will continue below...

 

[Justinf]

Mostly brilliant, some minor issues, and what you said about Calgary is still resoundingly true!

Ooooh tougher year for you after the last few! I'm an Avs fan which is the sole reason we ended up adding Calgary, and boy am I glad we did.

Can't hate the Avs. They play good hockey. We finally have gotten back into some form, but it's too late I think.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 1 (part 2):

After indulging in the various gastronomic and alcoholic treats of the lounge I utilised the shower suites here for the first time ever to freshen up before the overnight flight, particularly necessary as it had been hot and humid the day we departed.

I'm a huge fan of the marble clad bathrooms and La Gaia Unedited products so it was great to use this. We retreated to the lounges as a huge storm rolled into Sydney before leaving the lounge to stretch the legs 10 minutes before boarding... or so we thought.

We walked past the absolute mess of a line that had accumulated at gate 25 with no clear difference between Y, PE or J, to the seats next to the scanners. Gate 25 (and 24) emphatically sucks in my opinion. You are funnelled down such a tight corridor with very limited seating that it just invites chaos for a widebody flight (or 2). Rant aside we sat down as the ramp loading process stopped and started due to lightning in the area. Eventually we boarded about 30 minutes behind schedule, which was again a wild time with gate agents scrambling to ensure people were boarding in the correct group given the bulk of the 'line' that originially formed at the front of the departure gate were Y or PE passengers with no status, and those with status or in J (who arrived later from the lounges) pushed to the side or the back.

We settled in and waited for pushback... and waited... and waited. About 30 minutes later we finally left the gate. In the meantime some people wasted no time in changing into their pyjamas. Most used the lavatories while on the ground, but not all... On not 1 but 2 occassions on this trip did I see older men just straight up change down to their undies at their seats. Now I'd get this if it was a closed door suite but come on, these business suites are nowhere near private enough to do that.

After take off the seatbelt sign was pretty quickly off and dinner orders taken from the menu below:

I went with the chicken thigh which was surprisingly moist and flavourful, while the better half had the fish. She enjoyed it but it was strange to see fish over toast like that.

Following the main I watched some TV shows and tried to eat an incredibly frozen ice cream sandwich before we both fell alseep.

I awoke with about 4 hours left which I was quite pleased with and the better half not long after. For breakfast, which is a somewhat strange second meal on this flight given it was served at about 2:30pm in the arrival time zone, I had the classic scrambled eggs and sausages etc... while my partner had the egg white omelette. I was a bit of a zombie still so there's only a photo of one.

What I did appreciate was being able to add a lot of the extras like fruit, crumpets, yoghurt etc... on top of the main dish and honestly both were presented well and tasted about as good as you can get for airline breakfast.

Breakfast plates cleared we changed back into regular clothes, with an extra layer handy for our descent and arrival into YVR.

I think I took this about 10 minutes before the seatbelt sign went on, and unfortunately couldn't get much more as we were seated in the middle.

We disembarked a bit over an hour late but were promptly through immigration. Bags didn't take long to come off although with probably half the flight being on their way to a snow holiday the oversize luggage did take a while.

All said and done we were in our prebooked Uber to downtown about 40 minutes after deplaning so it was certainly quite efficient.

Finally on the ground the real holiday will begin in the next post, likely tomorrow.

 

[Seat0B]

Ooh I’m invested in your snow holiday @HirafuHeartAttack. Just back from Furano so I’ll start my TR soon.

 

[VPS]

Looking forward to following along

 

[craven morehead]

Day 1:

27th Jan rolled around quickly after a very big weekend involving a bucks and hens party for the 2 of us. Sunday (26th) was purely recovery and some minor packing before getting everything together Monday morning. We shuffled cars around and tidied the house before loading our 4wd and heading off from the Northern Beaches in the mid afternoon for our 8:30pm departure.

Having previously used the P7 valet option on our surf trip to Japan we decided to once again take advantage of this, particularly given it was the cheapest of all SYD parking options. If you don't mind your car being parked off-site outside I highly recommend it. We dropped the keys off and unloaded the bags for the short hop to the elevators and across the bridge straight into the Qantas check in zone. First Class/Emerald check in was empty so within 10 minutes of parking we had boarding passes in hand with only the familiar wander down to oversize to drop the snowboard/ski bag off to do before immigration and security. I will add here, and I know this is a super entitled rant, but every other airline we have flown in business or with oneworld emerald status will have porters to take care of your oversize from the bag drop to wherever it needs to go, and I really wish Qantas would employ the same as it would just be one of those polishing touches that adds to the service of 'premium check in'.
View attachment 432074
Formalities over we breezed through immigration and security. FINALLY Sydney T1 caught up with the times and it was a huge relief to be able to go through without removing every electronic device, bottle, toiletry etc... from our carry on. We perused some shops before heading up the escalators, passed not Nestor on the door and up into my favourite lounge.
View attachment 432075
With still 3 hours until boarding we immediately ordered a couple of glasses of champagne and pretended to peruse the menu, fully aware of what we already wanted thanks to this forum.

We started with a bao each, which were OK but as I think may have been previously mentioned here tasted like the chicken wasn't freshly cooked, and the salt and pepper squid which was fantastic and one of the better plates I've had across the various lounges!
View attachment 432076View attachment 432077View attachment 432078
We followed those up with a club sandwich and beef burger, both tasty and the beef burger seems to have improved over the last year.
View attachment 432079
View attachment 432080
At this point we also tried some of the coughtails. I had the Flying Fox and the better half the Garden Gin Sour. Both highly recommended.
View attachment 432081
Finally we ended on differing notes with my partner having the steamed snapper while I moved onto the Pavlova, again both fantastic and god am I in love with that Pavlova!
View attachment 432082
View attachment 432083
Day '1' might end up being in 3 parts so will continue below...

Sign me up

 

[RooFlyer]

Ooooh tougher year for you after the last few! I'm an Avs fan which is the sole reason we ended up adding Calgary, and boy am I glad we did.

Hey - ( chants lamely) “Go Flames go!”. Did they ever refurbish the Saddledome?

On not 1 but 2 occassions on this trip did I see older men just straight up change down to their undies at their seats. Now I'd get this if it was a closed door suite but come on, these business suites are nowhere near private enough to do that.

Even as an older guy, that’s grose.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Hey - ( chants lamely) “Go Flames go!”. Did they ever refurbish the Saddledome?

Ahh sorry for your loss... To be honest I have no clue when it was last renovated but it was the exact same as when I last visited in 2019. It's definitely aging and needs better amenities but the F&B options were surprisingly good.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 1 (part 3):

Before leaving home I'd booked an Uber reserve to get us from YVR to the Fairmont Waterfront. This was a little disconcerting as despite trusting Uber (somewhat) I wasn't sure whether it would properly account for the flight delay. It all worked out in the end and after navigating the limited signage at YVR and the confusing Uber map we found our driver and loaded up. We set off and were treated to a beautiful sunset while chatting to our Palestinian driver about his thoughts on Canada and his journey to get there.

Given our late afternoon arrival we did hit some traffic on our way into Vancouver but it was a fantastic feeling to be back amongst this city.

We checked into the Fairmont Waterfront which took a little longer than anticipated, however the reason for this would become apparent on day 2 with a Telus (basically their Telstra) sales conference of 3500 people at the convention centre across the road, and the bulk staying in the Waterfront. At check in we weren't upgraded despite being an ALL Gold member, a theme of this trip, but did get allocated high floor room (another theme). We really dropped the ball on photography of most of the rooms which I apologise in advance for. If you're curious we booked a Signature Stanley Park View King and the photos on their website are very accurate.

After freshening up we set off into the brisk Vancouver night, shivering as it dipped towards 0c, unaware of what the rest of the trip had in store for us. We stayed close by the hotel and went to The Cactus Club for dinner. We shared a salt and pepper squid which was divine and each had a chicken burger.


I'm a sucker for blackened chicken, something not common in Aus, while the other half had a fried chicken sandwich (pictured) and shared some truffle fries. One of my biggest take aways of North American dining culture is that these guys do upmarket chain eating right. While we get stuck with Rashays, they have places like Earls, The Cactus Club and The Keg to name a few who offer consistently good food and service across so many locations. Post dinner we returned to the room and basically called it a night. I downed a couple of melatonin and had probably the best 'first night in a new time zone' sleep I've ever had. Unfortunately that couldn't be said for the both of us with my fiance up until probably 2-3am.

Thats it finally for a very long day 1. It all happened on the 27th so it was easier to write this way but no other day was this long. Thanks for sticking with it as the holiday really commences beyond this!

 

[craven morehead]

Day 1 (part 3):

Before leaving home I'd booked an Uber reserve to get us from YVR to the Fairmont Waterfront. This was a little disconcerting as despite trusting Uber (somewhat) I wasn't sure whether it would properly account for the flight delay. It all worked out in the end and after navigating the limited signage at YVR and the confusing Uber map we found our driver and loaded up. We set off and were treated to a beautiful sunset while chatting to our Palestinian driver about his thoughts on Canada and his journey to get there.
View attachment 432179
Given our late afternoon arrival we did hit some traffic on our way into Vancouver but it was a fantastic feeling to be back amongst this city.
View attachment 432180
We checked into the Fairmont Waterfront which took a little longer than anticipated, however the reason for this would become apparent on day 2 with a Telus (basically their Telstra) sales conference of 3500 people at the convention centre across the road, and the bulk staying in the Waterfront. At check in we weren't upgraded despite being an ALL Gold member, a theme of this trip, but did get allocated high floor room (another theme). We really dropped the ball on photography of most of the rooms which I apologise in advance for. If you're curious we booked a Signature Stanley Park View King and the photos on their website are very accurate.

After freshening up we set off into the brisk Vancouver night, shivering as it dipped towards 0c, unaware of what the rest of the trip had in store for us. We stayed close by the hotel and went to The Cactus Club for dinner. We shared a salt and pepper squid which was divine and each had a chicken burger.
View attachment 432182
View attachment 432183
I'm a sucker for blackened chicken, something not common in Aus, while the other half had a fried chicken sandwich (pictured) and shared some truffle fries. One of my biggest take aways of North American dining culture is that these guys do upmarket chain eating right. While we get stuck with Rashays, they have places like Earls, The Cactus Club and The Keg to name a few who offer consistently good food and service across so many locations. Post dinner we returned to the room and basically called it a night. I downed a couple of melatonin and had probably the best 'first night in a new time zone' sleep I've ever had. Unfortunately that couldn't be said for the both of us with my fiance up until probably 2-3am.

Thats it finally for a very long day 1. It all happened on the 27th so it was easier to write this way but no other day was this long. Thanks for sticking with it as the holiday really commences beyond this!

Big fan of The Keg

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 2:

The distant buzz of seaplane engines and the beautiful morning glow through our windows awoke me at about 7:30am. What a view to wake up to on our first morning!

This was shot directly from bed before I'd even got up. Now as I mentioned earlier, we weren't 'upgraded' but we did get a high floor and corner room meaning we also had a view towards North Vancouver, though we don't have any photos, so here's another one of the main Stanley park view as the sun rose further.

Our rate included breakfast so we headed to ARC on the ground floor where there was a buffet as well as a la carte options like eggs cooked to order, avocado toast, french toast etc... The buffet was great with a huge range of pastries, fresh fruit and cooked items, but the addition of the a la carte options really elevated this. ARC is a super popular restaurant, however we only had breakfast and a drink there, but it did live up to the hype and if the menus take your fancy the quality of food and service is meets and exceeds expectations. Also the views not bad...

We left the hotel mid morning, but not before checking out the pool and attempting to get some cash out. This caused much frustration as the ATM wouldn't dispense any more than $200CAD but it didn't actually tell us this. So after 2 false starts and $700 of pending transactions we finally had some cash to get on our way.


The days plan was fairly loose but we had 2 set items, Granville Island and Carderos Restaurant. We jumped in an uber to Granville Island and walked around perusing the market and shops before having a brunch of hot dogs and pierogies... very Canadian!



We continued to wander the island, including passed the still very active concrete plant with its painted silos and many heavy vehicle movements...

Until it reached midday and we got thirsty. Canadas craft beer culture closely mirrors ours and you're never really far away from somewhere making great beer (except 1 pub in Calgary, more on that later) so we dropped into Granville Island Brewery for a quick pint before leaving.

Thirsts quenched it was time to mosy slowly back towards the hotel...

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 2 (part 2):

Before we leaving we checked out the set up for the Vancouver Boat Show which unfortunately started the next day. We then found the False Creek Ferry dock and bought 2 x one way tickets (I think about $6CAD each) which were about the same as the uber but far more scenic a way to cross back towards downtown.



We took the shortest possible crossing to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, which is just to the left of the Burrard St Bridge in the photo above. After disembarking we wandered along the beachfront while locals ran, jogged and walked dogs along in the early afternoon sun. We stopped for a quick photo at the Inukshuk.


Before turning up Denman Street to head back towards the main downtown area and waterfront. We had been given a tip by my partners Canadian uncle, who we met up with near the end of the trip, to try out Carderos for an afternoon drink. This was a great spot and I'd strongly recommend coming here for happy hour! We arrived a little earlier but settled into a nice window table right beside the fireplace.


With these views over our shoulder we settled in for a pint of Guinness followed by assorted beers and coughtails. We accompanied that with some delicious garlic prawns and a final round just as happy hour started.

After 2 or so hours we braved heading back into the now quickly chilling late afternoon to finish the waterfront walk back to our hotel.

We ended the day with a late swim in the outdoor heated pool as the reality of 2000 or so conference goers staying in one hotel dawned on us - with the lobby, elevators and even gym and spa absolutely packed. Somehow we got the pool all to ourselves as the sun set.


I didn't take photos beyond this but our evening commenced by using our welcome drink vouchers at ARC where we were told 'you can basically order anything that's not a $300 shot of whiskey'. We ended up having a glass of Veuve each and I had a beer before we headed to Hapa, an izakaya in Yaletown to catch up with a good friend from my Whistler days. We had a very strange meal as the restaurant was doing a trivia night which we half-heartedly were apart of for all of 1 and a half rounds. The food was good, however we didn't have too much, and the drinks flowed, including a round of shots after my partner won a game of heads or tails. After saying goodbye we ended with a nightcap (or 2) at Lions Pub right behind the hotel followed by a drunken uber eats order of smashburgers and poutine.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

I figured given the amount of Fairmonts we stayed at on this trip I'd do a summary of our accommodations after each section.

The Fairmont Waterfront - Thoughts:

Our check in experience left a little to be desired however given the volume of guests this can be forgiven, and the trend of conferences seemed to follow us from Vancouver all the way to Banff.

Our room was dated, but not tired and appeared well looked after. The bathroom was spacious, as was the room - and the view was unbeatable in Vancouver in my opinion. The bed was comfortable and housekeeping and turn down was done without issue. The desk provided a good space to work, and my only complaints would be that the room is quite dark, even with all the lights on of an evening, and the lack of power points/USB chargers - an issue that can be put down the the age of the hotel and how long it has been since a proper renovation.

The pool was fantastic and I could see it being an absolute gem through spring and summer, however the single hot tub was definitely not enough for the hotel size. The gym was medium sized but appeared well equipped and each changeroom had a small steam room and enough showers and lockers.

ARC was incredible and we would likely try and dine here for lunch or dinner if we returned. The servers we had at breakfast and having drinks were friendly and warm without being too over the top and the food was above expectations.

Location wise it's also hard to top, right next to Waterfront Station for trains, and a comfortable walk to just about anywhere in the downtown area.

The biggest comparison to this hotel would be its bigger brother next door, The Fairmont Pacific Rim. Would I stay there, absolutely, but for the price we paid I prioritised having an amazing view and comfortable room, rather than spending a small fortune more for an obviously newer room at the Pac Rim with the same view. The service at The Waterfront would have been hard to top.

Also shoutout to Fairmont in North America for the welcome drink options. While in APAC I find these limited to select beers, wines and spirits, in Canada we found that there was very little not available to use these on.

 

[Seat0B]

poutine.

Oh I love poutine. It sounds dreadful and often doesn't look that great on the plate, but it is delicious!

 

[RooFlyer]

Oh I love poutine. It sounds dreadful and often doesn't look that great on the plate, but it is delicious!

Bleah! Not in Northern Quebec where I lived a small town for a year.