HOHO or Landsea tour prior to return to airport

[Kfrech]

Flight back to the east coast is not until 10:30. 2 people, each with 1 carryon and a backpack. Trying to take advantage of the extra time we have. From what I can tell, the longest Landsea tour is 7 hours (beginning at 10 a.m.). That still leaves us with 5 hours before our flight departure. I've also read that Landsea will not allow you to take luggage on the bus if you are not headed directly to the airport. I was thinking of storing the luggage at Pan Pacific for the day and returning there, having dinner, walk around, etc and than get transportation back to the airport. I'd have to do the same thing with HOHO. Does HOHO give us more flexibility? Will it allow us more time, thereby taking up most of the day? We are not interested in renting a car for the day.

 

We will also have about 1/2 day prior to our cruise day, plus the morning of the cruise. I'd like to see thing that we might not see on the HOHO bus or a Landsea tour.

 

Thanks for all the help!

[martincath]

HOHO is definitely more flexible, but doesn't really give you a lot more tour time - they stop running around 5-6pm depending on the month. Does let you start earlier though, if you get off the ship promptly you could be HOHOing by 9am.

 

However I don't believe that LandSea prevent you taking bags on their regular tours - just their HOHO (it would be a hassle to load luggage on and off at every stop, whereas on tours it's just once at the start and again at the end - for some the end is YVR, for others it's a downtown hotel or back at the pier). They might have changed their policies, but even if so you can just tell them a very small fib and say that you want dropped off at a hotel after the tour (this is also included, just like with YVR drops). There are plenty of hotels downtown that are not right by the pier, just say you're at e.g. the Sylvia or BW Sands if you want to have dinner in English Bay for example.

 

As to what to do that's not on HOHO routes... that does depend a little on which of the two HOHOs you take (LandSea goes fewer places) but if you are still driving up from Seattle so have a car when you arrive, I'd strongly advise making best use of it to go places that are not on HOHO or regular bus tours and also take a lengthy transit ride from downtown to visit. Queen Elizabeth Park is easily seen en route from the south, offers the highest point in the city for sweeping views, and a decent resto that doesn't overcharge more than the view is worth on a nice day (Seasons). UBCs main campus has several absolutely world-class things to do - top picks Museum of Anthropology, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, and the Japanese garden (time it right and you can even take part in a traditional Tea Ceremony). There's also the free Rose Garden (on top of a very convenient car park for MoA) and several other sites like the Geology museum, Botanic Garden (which has a Treewalk you can do), and a ton of nice trails.

 

The morning you embark (and early afternoon - personally I'm in the 'board as late as possible to squeeze every possible moment out of Vancouver and also avoid all the queues' camp) either get going early and head straight over to Capilano or Grouse on the first shuttle, so you can safely return with a couple of hours padding as traffic over bridges can be pretty brutal even if there isn't an accident, or stick to 'walkable from the pier' stuff. The latter will overlap the HOHO route for both companies, but of course you never have to get off at any particular stop so you can easily just stay on for e.g. Gastown to not repeat it - which gives you more time at other stops instead.

 

Edit - I just saw your other post on West Coast now, confirming you have decided to take Amtrak from Seattle. Without a car it's slower to get to UBC or QEP, but they are both worth visiting. Google Maps give better info on transit than the actual translink web page does (walking times between transfer points are more accurate, all other data is identical, and of course Google also compares biking, walking, cars in one place too) so you can check the best bus route on the day in case of roadwork etc. A day pass will cost you <US$8 each and let you transfer any time you want until the wee small hours of the next day.

 

Another 'off the beaten track' option without worrying about transit would be to try contacting Vancouver Greeters and get matched up with a local to show you around their neighbourhood. If you'd rather experience local 'real life' than tourist sites Greeter programs are awesome - the Vancouver program is still pretty new and small, but if your date works for one of the volunteers you get the benefit of a local 'friend of a friend' to show you around for free.

Edited November 3, 2019 by martincath

[Kfrech]

Thank you for such great information! We have a lot to consider. I’m leaning towards the Landsea tour, getting off at a hotel, having dinner somewhere and than proceeding to the airport. Any suggestions? I’d like to be as close to the airport as possible. 

[martincath]

There's a broader selection of good grub if you stay downtown - especially at Happy Hour, when the value is simply insane, we love Coquille in Gastown as the best value-for-quality seafood resto around at the moment. OTOH if you want to head out to Richmond right away, you could ask LandSea to drop you at an airport hotel - as long as you enjoy Asian food, especially Chinese, Richmond offers many options but when you move to Western food it's pretty much chain dining around the airport area (some not bad ones though, including a Cactus Club which is about as fancy as a chain gets, and Milestones which I find the most tolerable of the midrange chains). But really, Chinese is where it's at - splurge on a dinner at Sun Sui Wah, Kirin, Fisherman's Terrace; stuff your face with buckets of dumplings at Dinesty; there's a Peaceful for Northern food including hand-pulled noodles; or if you want to slum it in a food court you can find outstanding BBQ at Parker Place or HK BBQ Master (though you would really want to arrange storage for your bags before trying either of these - barely enough space to fit the customers, no room for suitcases!)

 

I'd embed links to all but I'm just about to run out the door to dinner myself and my wife is giving me the evil eye, so you'll have to Google them!

 

[Kfrech]

Wonderful! Chinese it is! Enjoy your dinner and thanks for the tips. 

[hallux]

On 11/3/2019 at 4:46 PM, martincath said:

However I don't believe that LandSea prevent you taking bags on their regular tours

I did a LandSea tour in April - they would not take my suitcase on the tour if they were not dropping me at the airport.

[martincath]

3 hours ago, hallux said:

I did a LandSea tour in April - they would not take my suitcase on the tour if they were not dropping me at the airport.

Thanks for the update. That's a d*ck move on their part IMO - one of the very few benefits of a traditional tour over a HOHO is being able to bring your luggage on the bus!

[hallux]

40 minutes ago, martincath said:

Thanks for the update. That's a d*ck move on their part IMO - one of the very few benefits of a traditional tour over a HOHO is being able to bring your luggage on the bus!

It may be, but I called them before booking and asked the question so that I could be informed and not rushed to find a solution, then used the Pan Pacific to stash the bag at a cost of $5 CAD.