We have arrived in Vancouver after a 4 day, 2740 mile trip on The Canadian train from Toronto. The main stops on the way are Edmonton, Winnepeg and Jasper but there are also a couple of shorter ones (Melville, Saskatoon- named after a berry and Kamloops) so you can get off for a 10 minute stretch. We travelled in the Sleeper Plus section so all meals were included and you certainly won’t go hungry – 3 meals a day plus snacks and lunch and dinner are each 3 courses!. We opted for the cheaper berth seats (well we are trying to stick to budget) and they were fine – in the day they are large seats with a big picture window and at night turn into comfy bunks (upper has no window and takes some clambering into via a ladder) sectioned off from the corridor by thick curtains. There are other general seating areas you can use throughout the day, including the domecar (great views but not so good for photos due to the bugs on the windscreen!).
We travelled through some beautiful, stunning scenery ranging from gorgeous lakes in Ontario, through prairie lands in Saskatewan (lots of potash mineral production here) and Manitoba (bread basket of Canada) and then the mountains in Alberta and British Columbia. Temperatures along the way ranged between -3 and 24 degreesC! We’ve had snowfalls, brilliant sunshine, lovely sunrises and spectacular sunsets.
The thing that made this trip special were our fellow passengers; we gelled really well and had some wonderful laughs along the way – the trip could have been a very different experience if we hadn’t as the cabin toilets in 1 carriage stopped working, we had 3 “passenger incidents” (aka arrested – abusive behavior in the station, drunk and disorderly on the train and 1 had an outstanding warrant!!! I hasten to add these were all in economy and incredibly rare) and we stopped for a small trackside fire.
We saw lots of wildlife, bald headed eagles, beaver lodges but no beavers, deer and even a bear (on our first day!)
The highlight tho was seeing 3 bears (a mother and 2 cubs) on the trackside on our last day whilst we were stopped waiting for a freight train (of which there are many!! Freight takes priority here and some trains can be a couple of miles long!).
Special mentions must be made for some key Via staff members who made our trip easier and very entertaining – Luc, our carriage attendant from Toronto to Winnepeg, Chelsea, our waitress who aided me in no ice cream joke on Andy and Marty our events organiser from Winnepeg. All the staff changeover at Winnepeg.
Recommendations – have no expectations, go with the flow and just enjoy the journey.