https://tce-live2.s3.amazonaws.com/media/media/be7a97e5-19d2-4df5-b348-a549dd5b3fe7.jpgExciting Cross-Canada Road Trip--Yet to Come" />

I’m planning a Cross-Canada trip. Forrest seems not big at long trips anymore now. He used to plan all our family trips. I don’t know why and when he lost the interests. I’m getting into the travel mood more and more as he seems like losing it, and then I have to take care of everything.

We didn’t really explore our land back in China, heaven knows for the long stretched 30 something years there, when we were perfectly capable and able to. Forrest does not agree with this statement. He thinks he’s been everywhere.

I definitely won’t let this happen again in Canada. Everybody wants to see the world. I want to see my own country before I go out to see the world. I don’t know when I will have the chance to see all the places of my China, but I am going to explore my Canada place by place when I’m here and as I am able to.

We’ve begged my parents and in-laws to come and visit us. They aren’t passionate about this idea at all. I didn’t understand. And then my aunt told me people lose interests to learn new things and even to see new things when they grow old. That alarmed me. I’ve never thought about it that way. But it sounds reasonable. Many people has the picture that they will travel the world after they retire because they don’t have time at the moment with all the jobs and kids and family to take care and the money needs to go to kid’s education and everything. I know now we have to start right now if we want to do it.

Besides, Tony will leave the house and go to university in two and half years. I want to do things with him together, we three. It urges me to act quickly. Travel is the best way I can think about to really spend quality time together. He isn’t interested in hiking or any other daily routine thing with us anymore.

We’ve talked about going to Banff together with Leo’s family several times. We put is off year after year for you know what reasons. And then the idea comes why not we drive there this summer as part of Cross-Canada trip, and we will finish the other half to the east later?

I got all excited about this idea. It sounds a big project to me. No knowing where to start the planning at all, I went right away online to read all the Cross-Canada road trip ideas and travel blogs, and find so many people have done this and many have done it so many times. So we can do it. My friend Wendy had done the cross twice with her family. I seriously admire how they take the long trips easy. They did the west cross when their son Luke was little, and the east cross twice the last two summers. Another friend from church did the west cross last summer with little child too. So it won’t be too scary.

But I’d like it to be well prepared and well planned. Thank God we have internet and Google maps. My trip plan gets clearer as I read along online and Google mapped all the places and distances. How people managed all the big travels before internet I have no idea.

We have only two weeks, 16 days maximum, for the trip. I have to well plan and well use our time. I planned round way road trip, like most people did, but it seems too tiring and we won’t be able to really enjoy the trip. Then we considered flying to Vancouver, and renting cars there to drive back to Toronto. The one way car rental is not popular in Canada and the drop-off fee is very expensive. Plus the flight tickets, the costs will go way overboard. You see, you need plenty of time and money to go on the road. We have tight schedule, and tight pocket, but we are going to make this happen. Fly to Calgary and back, and rent cars there to explore the Rockies and Vancouver? This will avoid vehicle drop-off fee, but we need to pay round fight. It’s still too expensive and it won’t be the real “Cross”.

It’s 4200km one way from Toronto to Vancouver. It will be over 10000km drive the round way trip, and around 100 hour drive. I did the math over and over, both the time and the costs, and the distance.  I went online to read some more. Many people have done the cross with less time and less money. They drive at night. We won’t do that. If we skip the stops within Ontario, we will save one day and make the return drive a bit more bearable. So that will be the solution. It’s a pain to think we have to skip some of the attractions, because this probably will be our once in life time cross. It’s hard to manage a second cross.

Along Trans-Canada Highway there are accommodations every 2 to 3 hour drive, so there won’t be a problem for the nights. We can camp in national parks or provincial parks if we want to save money and not in a rush for the next day. Banff National Park and the Rockies is the main reason why we plan this trip, so we have to secure a place to stay in there to secure the trip. I guess I got on the wrong place when I first looked for camping sites in Banff National Park, because I couldn’t find any available. That panicked me. We don’t have the budget to stay in the expensive hotels, and most of the cottages are already fully booked. Camping is the only way we stay the nights there. I checked just now again, and found there are still a lot camping sites available to book, non-serviced, but we cannot afford to be picky. The worry is lifted then.

There is only one thing we have to wait to decide on this trip. I invited Ping to come visit me this summer. I originally planned the trip including them, excitingly. We will be a group of 10 people then. But it turned out this cross trip will be too much to them. This won’t be a relaxing trip, considering the long hour drive, our tough schedule, and the food and accommodations will be very basic. They have long hour flight from Beijing and the jet lag and everything. They are waiting for the visa and final schedule of their summer. Our cross trip is planned in early August. So if Ping comes in early July, we will keep our trip schedule, and if they stay for the August, our backup plan is to cross the east part, from Toronto to the Atlantic coast. This is about 2000km one way, only half of the west coast trip, so they should be able to handle it. And we will leave the west cross to next summer then.

Leo’s family is very supportive and flexible with my uncertain schedule. They are OK with either plan. I’m so glad we are together to do the long trip. This is why they say where you go is very important, but who you go with is more important.

I offered to plan the trip out of our four adults. I like this task, and besides the planning itself gives you sort of satisfaction like you already visited the places. I like to get all the detailed information before ahead, and read all the tour blogs, and check out all the pictures online. You get more from the trip if you are knowledgeable of the places you are visiting.