I live in Canada, and love my country but I’ve seen so little of it. I know Saskatchewan because it’s where I am from. I’ve been to Toronto twice and have gone to Edmonton and Calgary a few times. Thats about it! I’ve always wanted to see Vancouver and Montreal and the Maritimes. I have a burning desire to hike the West Coast Trail and to see Parliament Hill.
I backpacked Europe once, but this time I have home field advantage. I want to enjoy myself but obviously want to keep traveling costs to a minimum. I wonder If I should drive it, bus it, train it, or plane it and rent a car. The best part about driving is I could feasibly sleep in my car if I wanted, and I could bring my guitar along (which I WANT to do, what could be cooler then meeting people and playing music?)
I would have roughly 6 - 7 weeks. I probably would like to keep my budget around 4000$ (if possible) Fortunately for this trip I have no startup costs (the europe trip I had to buy a passport, camera, backpack, etc) It’s just me going. I hope to meet up with friends and stay with them.
Any suggestions would be great! As would invitations for a place to stay! I’ll bring some authentic Saskatchewan delicacies with me!
You can’t go wrong with Vancouver and Montreal, but that is stating the obvious. It’s simply a matter of how much fun ($$$) you want to have.
I have hiked the West Coast Trail and it is awesome, certainly. However, I wouldn’t recommend it to novice backpackers. It’s pretty demanding: The trail can be very tedious and treacherous, it can rain around the clock for days and days on end, and the ocean can literally suck you out to sea if you have misread your tide tables when walking the tidal shelves. Make sure you do your research, know what you are getting into and be prepared. Otherwise, you run the risk of being cold, wet, miserable, and in danger. I’m sure you know this already and I don’t mean to be preachy.
If you do make it all the way to the west coast of Vancouver Island you’d be crazy not to spend some time around Tofino/Long Beach/Ucluelet. The setting and lifestyle is all about sitting on the beach playing your guitar and chilling out, maybe surfing a few waves. You might never leave.
As for actually getting around Canada, I would get a vehicle in which I could comfortably sleep. It would be cheaper than the bus or train and would offer far, far greater flexibility.
Anothe vote for “drive it.” There is far too much to see in this country and you want to have the freedom to go someplace and/or spend time somewhere as you feel. The only downside I could see is that parking can be problematic in larger cities, but there are likely a few ways around that. For example, a cheap hotel room (like a Comfort Inn) would come with parking, and public transit can often quickly and reliably get you from an inexpensive suburban hotel to where you want to go in the city.
For six or seven weeks, I’d suggest heading right across the country. If you add up all the car trips I’ve made between cities, it turns out that I’ve driven across Canada before (St. John’s to Victoria), and it’s quite the adventure. You do want the flexibility and the ability to stop wherever and for however long you like that a car gives you. Have fun!
I have long been of the opinion that every Canadian’s birthright should include one coast to coast train ticket.
Take the trip whenever it suits you, and see lots of your big country at least once in your lifetime.
What the hell, we have heavily subsidized the railway for centuries.
The drag about travelling Canada is travelling time (and expense). Everything is so much closer in Europe that you don’t have much downtime. In Canada, you can spend 8 hours in the car doing nothing.
Bummer to be in Sask to start as you’re kind of in the middle. I’d suggest flying to one of the coasts and buying a cheap car, but that’s a bit risky. Personally, I’d start on the Atlantic coast on head West and as things are a bit closer out East.
As far as accommodations, I’ve found hostels to be really good. They usually have fun events, you meet lots of people and they almost always have kitchens so you can make your own meals. And when I went (10 years ago) they were about $15-30 a night.
Actually, come to think of it, I did something pretty similar to you. Starting out in Calgary, I flew to Montreal. Bussed up to Quebec City and Trois Rivieres, bused back to Toronto. Trained it to Ottawa and then trained it to Buffalo and a bunch of American cities out East (Boston, NY, etc). Ended up flying home from New York. I would have loved the flexibility of a car, but driving out and driving back at the end would have sucked (probably a couple days each way of straight driving).
I think your budget is ample if you keep it cheap with staying in hostels and preparing most of your own meals.
I’ll bring some authentic Saskatchewan delicacies with me!