Galiano Day 2
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| Foggy summit |
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| Mt Galiano hike |
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| Waited for 10 mins and saw partial Mayne Island! |
We end up bailing and went to check out the japanese charcoal kiln
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| Japanese Charcoal Kiln |
We had lunch this time with Meg, Bob, their neighbour Jan and Martin at the Galiano Inn restaurant Lena which has great pizza.
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| Lena pizza |
We also saw a studio show that has a few paintings that reminded me of our trip
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| Exhibit |
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| Our trips through the islands is summarized by these 2 pictures |
Today is our last day of the van rental
A little sad packing up the van after it's been our home for 10 days. And a little relieved that we are not handling such a big vehicle anymore
I want to put some of my thoughts and learnings in campervan for my own future reference.
I would do a van trip again especially in a low population area. I don't want to drive it in a freeway getting to campground. The mileage is also top off at 18mpg so I won't want to drive a long way to go camping. It's fun and great to have your home with you where you go.
Learnings
Safety and tools
Important to have a reputable company with reliable van. They also provided flares, heat gloves and a simple first aid kit. We brought some basic tools like a Swiss army knife, a sharp tool knife, masking tape and strings. Essential are flash lights and a simple camping light, insect repellent and need basic long sleeves shirt and pants for buggy places.
It would be nice that the van can provide an indoor space to escape the outdoor if needed.
Access to driver side without going outside is safer.
Bring a long cable power plug with usb connections as inverter can be at awkward places. But keep an eye on battery level when using it, especially for heating appliances.
Solar panels is essential to avoid plug in.
Eat shit shower
I like the idea of not having open flame or food smells in the van as the bedding is so near. but the propane is a simple answer which means you need a way to cook outside the van. A electrical kettle to boil water efficiently indoors is ideal.
Electric fridge is superior to a soggy ice box but that depends on availability.
Bathroom is the toughest. The bucket is not a bad solution and potentially setting up a bucket indoors might be unavoidable in cold weather.
Outdoor showers using sun showers is impossible if campground does not get sun or it's too cold. Indoor showers with heater waters is almost unavoidable
Organization
Packing cubes is crucial for this trip in order to keep our clothes organized. We also have a hanging organizer to keep things handy and visible without stuffing drawers. It's very similar to boat organization that we are familiar with.
Put the trash can and coolers in places that you can access from outside the van.
We need a way to keep dirt out of the van that really just include constant sweeping and not wearing shoes in the van.
Also during showers we need flip flops that gets all muddy and wet that we had to dry and clean
After getting to Vancouver and returning the van, we stayed a night at the accent hotel which is a hoot.
We picked them as they are 30 mins walking from the van place and has a free shuttle to bring us to the airport in 10 mins. But they had the cutest things ever!
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| Cute captain Ducky |
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| Good dinner at Fogg N Suds that's walking distance from the hotel |
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