Hello, Vancouver

H&M shirt
Zara jeans (similar)
Mango belt
Flattered mules
Celine handbag
Celine sunglasses
Agape Studio necklace (c/o) (similar)
Vintage necklace (similar)
Linjer ring (c/o) (similar)
Mejuri earrings (similar)
Location: Fairmont Hotel Vancouver – Vancouver, BC

…but before we get to Athens, let’s talk about Vancouver.

When we left the city five years ago, I had a vision of a new life in Winnipeg that involved regular trips back to the city where I’d spent most of my adult existence. And for the first couple of years, that’s exactly how things went. Work took me to Vancouver to meet with clients. I extended my trips to visit friends. Sometimes, I just flew out and worked from our office there for the week while fitting in dinners in the evening, saving the weekend of shopping dates and cocktails. It was a charmed lifestyle, really. And one that gave me the best of both worlds; living in Winnipeg is so comparatively inexpensive that when I went back to Vancouver, I could afford to enjoy the city in a way I never could when we lived there, if only for a short time.

The pandemic put an end to all of my cross-country gallivanting, of course. I took my last work-trip-cum-holiday to Vancouver in April 2019, with plans to return in the summer of 2020. In reality, I spent that summer barely leaving home, like almost everyone. It was a sacrifice I made willingly, but one that I never expected to make for so long. That summer 2020 trip I planned didn’t actually happen until this August, which made it two years late. And by the time I finally arrived in Vancouver, I’d been away for three and a half years, the most time I’ve spent outside the British Columbia capital since I moved there in my late teens.

(Editor’s Note: Tina came and pointed out in the Comments section that I “should” know that the capital of BC is Victoria, not Vancouver. She’s correct, and in fact I do know that. But, unsurprisingly, like all people, I sometimes make mistakes. And I want to be clear; anyone who points out an error from a stranger for the alleged benefit of that stranger and their supposed edification is in fact doing it to make themselves feel better at expense of someone who they think can’t or won’t retaliate. That isn’t acceptable in any context. It certainly isn’t acceptable in this space.)

It was so good to be back. The city isn’t home anymore, and I doubt it ever will be again. Our lives have simply changed too much since we left, and Vancouver doesn’t make sense for us anymore. But we have so much history there that will always connect us to it. And how wonderfully reassuring to find the place we loved so much so utterly unchanged by the passage of so much time. We breezed through the airport and hopped on the Skytrain just like it was taking us home, as it so often used to. When we came to the top of the escalator at Granville Street Station in downtown, it looked and felt just like it always did.

The difference, of course, was that we weren’t going to our Seymour Street apartment, but to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver to spend the night.

The thing about Vancouver is that it’s wonderful, but it’s so expensive that it’s almost impossible to really enjoy it if you live there, unless you’re willing to go broke (and stay that way.) Three days, on the other hand, is the perfect amount of time for an incredibly indulgent visit before returning to reality back home. The Fairmont proved to be the most glamorous home base from which to visit all of our favourite spots. We couldn’t have stayed longer and frankly, we didn’t want to. By the end of three days, we’d had our fill of everything we loved without feeling like we’d gone overboard, but even one day longer might have changed that.

As years pass and we get further away from the years we spent in Vancouver, our relationship with the city may start to change. The feeling of familiarity may diminish as the landscape changes. But the friendships we have there will keep us going back year after year. I can’t imagine ever going three and a half years between visits again. I hope I’ll never have to. (Since our visit was quite short, we kept taking photos to a minimum. But there are still a couple more Vancouver outfits to come before we dive into Greek content.) Life is full of surprises, though, a lesson that the last few years taught us over and over. So I’m particularly grateful we made this visit happen. And hopeful for another one to come next year.

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