The Arrival

She greets me like an old time-honored friend—quietly waiting, ever sweet in her immutability. Victoria is quite possibly my favorite accessible luxury. She heals me of my quotidian woes with her quaint meandering streets, majestic architecture and serene harbour. I always sense that I’m in a brighter, squeakier and happier reality when I visit.

The journey began with my alarm bleating at 5:30 in the morning. This time I didn’t groan and flop over indignantly but rather popped up cheerfully and set about preparing for our much anticipated min-break. A taxi arrived as the sun began peering tentatively through the clouds and we were on our way toward Pier 69 amongst the sleepy Friday commuters.

Much to my chagrin a large group of bleary eyed high schoolers stood loitering out in front of the Clipper entrance huddled in groups of twos and threes in fleece blankies. Fortunately, it was far too early for them to be chatting so they proved to be relatively innocuous when it came to upsetting the peaceful hum of my holiday morn.

Everyone patiently filed aboard the Clipper. A high-speed catamaran, the Clipper is a passenger ferry that whisks you away to the outer reaches of the Pacific Northwest (specifically for me: Victoria, BC). Once on board, Brett and I always scramble to the upper deck to procure a section of middle seats, settle in and then promptly order two little lunch-box sized bottles of Freixenet. This go around, our in-flight attendant was so thrilled that I had given her my newest issue of “Us Weekly” she bestowed upon us an extra two bottles, on the house. As we cruised at a speed of 30 knots through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, I passed in and out of consciousness—painting my nails and reading my Nook during the conscious bits.

We arrived two and one half hours after our departure to a crisply cool, sun-soaked Canadian morning. Fortunately, we had no checked luggage so we were able to de-board immediately and breezed through customs. Ambling through those too familiar streets, winding kindly through the quaintness of Victoria, I felt home at last.