Well, we have arrived. Our final destination. We are currently in an AirBnb in Richmond, the city directly south of Vancouver. The AirBnb is in a building where every elevator has a sign saying “No AirBnbs allowed”, and Saturday night there was a knock on the door. The man said he was the owner of the unit, that he rents it long term to a person, and obviously that person is listing the unit on AirBnb illegally. Great. The owner does not want to get fined, so please can we tell the person we are renting the AirBnb from that he should stop doing this? Oh boy…
So what’s next? For us, for the blog, for Richmond? This week, we’ve been dealing with jet lag (Maylin kept waking up at 2am being awake for the day, so a couple of afternoon naps were forced on her. She is near impossible to wake up after a nap!), visited our local library twice, managed to get a library card, and hunted for apartments. YES having a library card means we’ve signed a rental agreement and I could prove Richmond residency! But I’m not ready to show you where or what just yet, I need keys in hand before I can believe it’s true.
On Wednesday, we visited an apartment directly across from the Richmond Oval, built for the 2010 Olympics. After the viewing, we headed down to the river for a walk.
We also headed into Vancouver to view a couple of options, and stopped at our nearby Richmond Centre for a food court lunch. Téa finally had her favourite poutine, from KFC.
And our new local library. The librarians we’ve met so far are very nice, time will tell if they’re as friendly as the ones we left back in Tecumseh. We came here both Thursday night after dinner, and Friday night. The library closes at 9pm on weekdays, and we came to read and play and relax until the very end.
We also went to IKEA because we needed to evaluate some options, pick our beds, test some mattresses, and of course – eat some meatballs!
We also went to Granville Island to show the girls one of our favourite places. We love the energy of the market, and were happy to see some of our favourite stores are still there. I will forever grieve my favourite brunch restaurant, but I think it disappeared about a decade ago, so there’s nothing to be done. Had it disappeared yesterday, at least I could demonstrate, right? Maybe??
We stopped at another local mall on our way home, with a great and diverse food courte. But, the girls spotted KFC in the corner, and Téa’s third poutine in as many days happened. Surely it must be enough soon?
So there you have it. A quick glimpse into the last few days since we arrived on Tuesday. I hope that Monday, June 1st will have our new home all over social media, but I don’t believe it until it’s happening. We’ve found a place we’re very happy with, and have a mountain of IKEA parts and screws and instructions ahead of us.
As far as updates, they won’t happen daily from now on. Maybe weekly? Maybe there will be summaries of the countries we visited? It’s still in the planning stage, but I know I won’t be sitting here typing for an hour every day anymore!
My favourite thing about the entire blogging process? Comments and feedback from my readers!
If you are reading this and it’s your first time reading my blog, thank you for reading.
If it’s your 267th time reading my blog, thank you for following along on our most amazing year!
Thank you for blogging E!I read all 267 😊
I remember your girls’ love of KFC poutine at the food court. This blog left me homesick for Vancouver, especially Granville Island, and sad that we won’t be meeting at the food court in the mall, or anywhere, any more. Nevertheless, I’m excited about hearing more details of your new home.
Thanks for following along! But thank you even more for coming to Oslo so we could hang out and get proper hugs!!
Ok, now you’re making me cry… Come visit?? But also, now that we’re closer in time zones, we can video call more often, to properly catch up!
Kjære dere fire. Det var så hyggelig å få treffe dere, og jeg har lest alle reisehistoriene deres. Det har vært spennende å følge med dere. Nå venter jeg spenst på å få se hvor dere har slått dere ned, og å få lese bloggen din en gang imellom. Lykke til videre!
Hope all works out with the apartment. How is the job hunting going? Will still check in to see how things are progressing. Wishing you well. Vancouver is a beautiful spot to settle.
Tusen takk, Mette! Det var utrolig hyggelig at vi fikk til en middag med hele gjengen din! Takk for at du har fulgt med og kommentert hele veien, det har betydd mye. 😊
Thank you Ute, I’ll update periodically. Thanks for following along! 😊