Calgary and Vancouver are about 1000 kilometers apart from each other. Right in middle one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen – the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In approx. 5 days we are passing the tourist cities Banff and Jasper to our final destination at the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia. Along the route – glaciers, mountain lakes, stunning mountains and amazing panoramic views.

 

Eric – a likeable Hamburg guy – originally started the road trip across Canada at Halifax – several thousand kilometers from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In Montréal I asked if he could give me a lift from Calgary to Vancouver and thankfully he agreed to be the enabler of my first road trip in North America.

Being on the road together creates a completely different travel atmosphere. It feels more like a private summer holiday to Denmark or Hungary. For some reason I really like this style of travel. It is more flexible, spontaneous and makes you determine the target and the schedule and not the running times of the greyhound busses.

Having passed Calgary a few minutes ago we already have to stop for one of the numerous viewpoints along the road – this panoramic view deserves to be captured. It will for sure not be our last stop.

The tiny mainly wooden towns Banff and Jasper remind me at the little skiing villages in Austria. Between both towns – a glacier to walk on for free. Thank you Canada for this amazing experience!

Facing the fact of peak summer season we were tremendously lucky to get a place to sleep in the national park areas without any long term advance booking. Looking at 8°C outside temperature in Jasper we were really appreciating to sleep in a 40 people dorm as the alternatives would have been without any shower – either staying a night in the car or at a wilderness hostel (pure natural experience: simple wooden house, no toilet, no bathroom). By zipping my morning coffee at the diner in Jasper I thought that we obviously were super lucky – good things will happen to good people 🙂

After five days of passing the most beautiful parts of Canada we finally arrived in Vancouver at sunset beach just in-time. Actually I have been a bit sad that this great time already ended. On the other I obviously like road trips – this one will for sure not stay my last one. There are plenty of national parks waiting to be discovered 🙂