I’ll soon be checking into my hotel near Heathrow in readiness to make my first journey across the pond to North America. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a forthcoming trip. For just over one week I’ll be getting to know British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, including visiting two wonderful cities, Victoria and Vancouver, which both lie on the doorstep of some of the most spectacular natural beauty and the Great Bear Rainforest.

I’ll be travelling with Zoë, The Quirky Traveller, Gary, Tips for Travellers and Lucy, On the Luce and I’m really looking forward to sharing this adventure with them. Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ll be getting up to.

Victoria

Tomorrow night, we’ll be staying in Victoria at the Hotel Grand Pacific (pictured below) right on the city’s Inner Harbour.

Victoria is known for its heritage architecture, a vibrant arts and cultural scene and fabulous cuisine, all set against a backdrop of the Olympic Mountains. Sounds right up my street. And then Saturday morning we’ll be off on a 3 hour whale watching trip with a marine biologist on the Prince of Whales‘ boat, Ocean Magic. Just one of many highlights during this trip.

Campbell River

On Sunday we head to Campbell River with a visit to the Blue Grouse Winery along the way.

And in the afternoon, after checking in at our hotel, Comfort Inn, we’re going on a zodiac wildlife tour off the coast of Campbell River and Quadra Island.

The Great Bear Rainforest

Monday morning Lucy and I will be driving over to Port Hardy for our transfers to Great Bear Nature Tours (pictured below), an eco-tourism lodge in a beautiful river valley in the Great Bear Rainforest. This is reputedly the best place in the world to observe grizzly bears and many other forms of wildlife including black bears, wolves and bald eagles. Great Bear Nature Tours is rated by National Geographic Adventure as one of the Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth. And I really can’t wait to get there. Having come out of hibernation the mother bears and their cubs will be hungry and the male bears will be looking for a mate.

Zoë and Gary will be staying at Knight Inlet Lodge and I’ll be looking forward to hearing all about it when we meet up again in Vancouver.

Vancouver

The last stop on our British Columbia adventure is  Vancouver where we’ll be staying at a very chic boutique hotel, The Burrard in what I’ve heard described as a sassy, sophisticated city on the edge of nature.

Sadly I won’t have much time to explore it though, as on my final morning I’m jetting off with Gary on a high-speed zodiac tour with Sea Vancouver. And if that’s not enough excitement for one day Gary is then off on a guided kayaking tour with Ecomarine Paddlesport Centres. While I’ll be exploring the market on Granville Island.

I’m sure by then I’ll have built-up an appetite for a hearty lunch before we head off to the airport for our return flight.

Wow! What else can I say? Words can’t describe how excited I am. These are just a few highlights of what we’ll be doing over the next week or so but it is by no means the whole story.

This is sure to be a once in a lifetime experience that I feel very privileged to be taking part in and I can’t wait to share it with you. So please do follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,  look out for the #ExploreCanada hashtag and watch our adventures unfold.

I’ll be recording all the action on my GoPro. Subscribe to my YouTube channel to be the first to find out all about our Canadian adventures. More will follow here on my blog over the coming months.

Find out more about Canada and Great Bear Tours at

KeepExploring.ca

 

I am visiting British Columbia as a guest of the Canadian Tourism Commission in partnership with Travelator Media.

This post contains one affiliate link which means that if you purchase an item after visiting Amazon from my site I will get a commission on the sale.