Vancouver trip (Project Change Awards), February 2012
Project Change by LinkBC
I had made an post earlier titled Project Change, about the provincial competition which is;
“term-long provincial competition enabling BC tourism students to become leaders and agents for positive change in the world. Being an influencer, being environmentally and socially conscious, and getting things done are all characteristics expected of today’s industry leaders”
The results for this competition were recently announced and the awards ceremony was held in Vancouver on February 02. From Royal Roads University, 2 submissions (one from my team) were made to the competition and one team was awarded “Best in Region – Vancouver Island”. I was very happy to know that our team had been awarded this prize and there was an opportunity for us to attend the ceremony to represent the university and collect our award. After much deliberations, it was decided that two students would be attending the ceremony. I was excited at the prospect of once again getting an opportunity to interact with other tourism students and industry professionals, make more connections and represent the university amongst other institutions.
My day started with a previously scheduled informational interview in downtown Victoria (BC), followed by which I walked over to the Harbour Air terminal to catch the flight to Vancouver at 11am. This was my first time of of flying in a float plane and the excitement was in the air.
about to board at Harbour Air terminal, Victoria BC
With mostly clear skies and calm winds, our plane took on as scheduled for the metro city on the other side of the bay. We only had to keep the one commitment of attending the awards ceremony at 4:30 pm and so we planned to make the most of our 24 hours – give or take couple hours.
Our walk (Google Maps)
When we landed in Vancouver, we decided to walk over to our hotel, taking us about 30 minutes but that also gave us an opportunity to have a first look at the downtown, Coal Harbour and West End areas of Vancouver! we did not stay at the hotel for long, within 45 minutes we headed back out to get some lunch (great Fettucini Alfredo @ Ciao Bella Ristorante Italiano) and take another walk, gazing at the various towers and trying to scout out the hotels we were hoping to visit later in that evening.
Canada Place Cruise Ship Terminal
We got to the convention center early and got a few photographs of the Cruise Ship terminal and around the Sea Wall before heading inside to have a quick look at what buzz of the new convention center was all about.
Vancouver Convention Center
The innovative design, sustainable material use and great technology incorporation make this building a model for many more to follow. It is a combination of various intelligent practices that set the building apart and impressed me very much.
Accepting the Award at the Ceremony
The awards ceremony was short but I was very inspired by the different projects from the teams which were working towards sustainable development in communities across British Columbia. The submissions included; Garden Sustainability (Native Education College), Wear 2 Start (Camosun College), an many more. After the ceremony we went for another walk under the night’s cover and we visited the Fairmont Pacific Rim and Shangri-La hotels (and more as we walked past them).
Fairmont Pacific Rim (© dailyphotovancouver.blogspot.com)
We ended the night around Vancouver with a comforting dinner at The Templeton (ordered a Vanilla Milk Shake, Vegetable Grilled Cheese & a Deep Fried Mars Bar – a first for me).
The following day I check out early at 9:30am to get some coffee and enjoy the walk (yes, I walked, Walked and walked everywhere). I ended the 24hours taking some photographs around Vancouver’s West End. I would love to visit Vancouver again and may be even live there for a few years!
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Chain of thoughts 