[virtualbong]

Originally Posted by academic

I’m glad to hear you have a plan.

Regarding your rental, you should confirm you are able to drive the rental into Canada. I know some car rentals and companies restrict you from crossing the border or going out of state. I always book from Hertz and they have a very good rental policy (you can drive across states/provinces, border, unlimited mileage, etc) but I highly recommend you call your rental agency and confirm this detail. If in the unlikely event something happens, you would not be covered.

Lounges. The Fairmont Pacific Rim has a nice lobby lounge with live music.

http://www.fairmont.com/pacific-rim-...ngeandterrace/

You may also want to check some of the revolving restaurants in the city for drinks (I think they have lounges also). Top of Vancouver (Harbour Centre) and Cloud 9 comes to mind. It would be best to go there during daylight or sunset for the best views (or evening I suppose). I think the restaurants and lounges there may only be so so (it’s been a long time for me) so if you want to go just for the view, you can probably just go to the viewing deck of the Harbour Centre. There is also a beer hall and some nice places with patios for drinks at Olympic Village but this is just outside downtown.

Just as a comparison with something you may be familiar with, I think the above places (revolving restaurants) have a nicer view than the Top of the Hub at the Prudential Tower in Boston but the food in at the Hub is better.


You can walk from your hotel, head north on Burrard and go to Robson, Coal Harbour, Stanley Park, etc.

You can also walk to English Bay and take the water taxi (I think it’s only ~$5) to Granville Island and can take it back to downtown as well. Granville Island is similar to Faneuil Hall in Boston except more focus on fresh seafood and crafts and less restaurants and stores. The whole area is much larger than Faneuil Hall as well.

Not sure if you can extend your trip but you may be missing this fireworks event(s) by a day or so:

http://hondacelebrationoflight.com/

By the way, the food in Vancouver (especially seafood, asian and fusion foods, gelato, pastries, etc) is very good.

Are you still going to SF? If you are, you should try to stay at the Westin St Francis, which is right at Union Square and has outstanding views of the city if you request a tower room. Even if you are not staying there, you can take the glass elevator up and down and see the view of the city/bay.

If you have any questions, you can post them here or feel free to PM me. I will be more than happy to help with any other tips.

I love your suggestions! I book with National Car Rental, so I will check with them on their policy. They better allow it because I hate waiting in lines at the airport for a rental car. With National, I can go right through with Emerald.

My wife and I are HUGE food lovers, especially asian food. We lean towards Thai and Vietnamese but any type of asian sounds great.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions! You are getting me extremely excited.

Btw. I am going to be in SF but staying with family and friends. I have to save some money on this trip for food and drinks! ha!

[CaptChaos]

If you like Asian food then you are coming to the right place.


Chinese: http://www.kirinrestaurants.com/

Vietnamese: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/14/18138...Penh-Vancouver

Thai: http://www.maenam.ca/intro.html

There are lots of other places as well.


Enjoy your visit!

[academic]

Originally Posted by virtualbong

I love your suggestions! I book with National Car Rental, so I will check with them on their policy. They better allow it because I hate waiting in lines at the airport for a rental car. With National, I can go right through with Emerald.

My wife and I are HUGE food lovers, especially asian food. We lean towards Thai and Vietnamese but any type of asian sounds great.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions! You are getting me extremely excited.

Btw. I am going to be in SF but staying with family and friends. I have to save some money on this trip for food and drinks! ha!

I’m exactly the same with car rentals, flights and hotels. I don’t like the wait and line ups so Hertz #1 Gold, Star Alliance Gold (hence, AC and United suggestions based on my experience) and various other priority access, even for hotels, is great. Hertz #1 Gold is good in that they post your name on an electronic board, look up your spot and drive off. You should have an upgraded car too or can request for one if not. Unfortunately, not all airports have the gold canopy service. I’m assuming National Emerald is similar?

Looks like a lot of the places you want to go (Granville Island, Olympic Village, Downtown, etc) are accessible by the water taxi/aqua bus. It’s not quite like driving into the Charles River on the duck tour but it is neat, albeit slow with stops. You can also travel by skytrain if you wish (public transit). It’s much, much faster and modern than the “T” in Boston.

http://theaquabus.com/

Restaurants in your area that you can review online for your choosing:

Seafood: Blue Water Café (seafood tower and sushi is outstanding but you should reserve any day of the week since they are super busy even on weeknights). It’s one of my favourite restaurants in the city. Rodney’s Oyster House and Joe Forte’s (good oysters and Carpaccio) both have happy hour specials.

http://bluewatercafe.net/

Japanese: Miku for traditional Japanese in downtown. They are located right at the waterfront with nice views. Hapa Izakaya or Guu for tapas. The latter two are busy but good with many locations. You can have a snack I suppose at Japadog since it is a Japanese Hot Dog stand a few blocks north on Burrard from your hotel. Many locals and tourists (and it looks like celebrities) go here.

http://mikurestaurant.com/

http://www.japadog.com/

http://guu-izakaya.com/

http://hapaizakaya.com/

Chinese: Kirin for dim sum (few locations but there is one in downtown) and chinese just like what CaptChaos states. I like the one on Cambie but there is also one in downtown (haven't been in a while).

http://www.kirinrestaurants.com/inde...wntown_gallery

Thai: Urban Thai Bistro or Sala Thai (2 or so blocks away from your place). Phnom Penh just like what CaptChaos states as well. Their butter beef, wings and smoothies are really good.

Belgian Waffles and Pastries: Patisserie Lebeau is great but only opened during the day. Their breakfast waffle and fresh fruit waffles are really good. Nero on Robson is good too.

http://www.grababetterwaffle.com/

I’m sure there are other good places as well others can suggest but those were the first places that came to my mind within minutes that I like.

For restaurants here, you are probably going to be overwhelmed with choices with too little time.

Too bad it looks like you won’t have time to drive the Sea to Sky Highway up to Whistler and the Village. The drive is absolutely spectacular during this time of the year (I highly recommend Google the drive). I really, really like it up there year round. Great skiing in the winter and during the summers, the village is festive with many patios and bbqs. The ski runs also become a bike park, including the use of the lift to bring your bikes up. Road riding is good up there too. You can even glacier ski until July-August (they have race camps there along with short runs). The Village is a little similar to Aspen, Colorado but is pedestrian only so is much more quaint.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=sea+t...w=1280&bih=671

https://www.google.ca/search?q=whist...w=1280&bih=671

http://www.whistler.com/village/

Maybe next time if you can’t fit it in.

BTW, did you choose UA or VX for your flights?

[xXSupa]

Greater Vancouver is pretty well known for the variety of foods that you can get, but I see you've already gotten plenty of good recommendations, so I'll go another route:

If your into the car scene, check out the Thursday Night Meets at Market Crossing in Burnaby. Google Maps. Usually starts at around 9pm, and goes into the night. 200+ cars show up every week.

[virtualbong]

Originally Posted by xXSupa

Greater Vancouver is pretty well known for the variety of foods that you can get, but I see you've already gotten plenty of good recommendations, so I'll go another route:

If your into the car scene, check out the Thursday Night Meets at Market Crossing in Burnaby. Google Maps. Usually starts at around 9pm, and goes into the night. 200+ cars show up every week.

That would be pretty cool. It has been quite some time since I have been at a car meet. How is the crowd though?

Any pics from previous meets?

[virtualbong]

Academic - My wife is flying Delta up to Seattle from San Diego and I am flying Delta up from San Francisco. Both had direct flights that arrive right around the same time so it worked out well. I still need to find out about National's policy on driving across the border. I have the National Emerald Executive Elite status right now so it works out great when I land and can just choose whatever car I want.

[xXSupa]

Originally Posted by virtualbong

That would be pretty cool. It has been quite some time since I have been at a car meet. How is the crowd though?

Any pics from previous meets?

The crowd is friendly. But because there's so many people, most tend to stay in their own groups and do their own thing. You get the one person here or there doing burnouts or revving the crap out of their car, but most people behave pretty well. There is often police presence too, to make sure that nobody does anything stupid.

From left to right. (Everyone you see is here for the meet)

[virtualbong]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys!

Vancouver was a lot of fun for my wife and I. We loved the Richmond Night Market and the cliff walk place (can't think of the name or the place)

[CaptChaos]

I am glad you had a good time!