Our Wish List For Vancouver

As I type this, My Handsome Man is currently on the other side of the world to me. It is probably the hardest point of our marriage so far. I am really struggling with motivation and have a list of blog posts I want to write but I'm not getting round to actually writing them.

I spend most evenings chatting with My Handsome Man - how incredibly grateful I am for technology! We are spending a year abroad in Vancouver due to My Handsome Man being offered a place on a course out there. His course is intensive, covering three years of study material, so we probably won't have much free time together to explore. We wanted to come up with our Vancouver wish list, things we would love to do. We might not achieve everything on our wish list (due to cost and budget) but we will do our best.

•  Have our legs turn to jelly on the Capilano Suspension Bridge

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Vancouver, I had to include it on my list. I don't actually want my legs to turn to jelly, but from my research even those not afraid of heights feel their feet falter under them as they cross the 450 foot (137m) bridge with the 230 foot (70 m) drop to the Capilano river running below. To celebrate the winter months, the Capilano suspension bridge holds Canyon Lights, where they line the bridge and trees with twinkling fairy lights. The photographer in me is screaming with excitement to explore with my camera.

•  Photo walk / Roller-skate through Stanley Park

Let's talk for a moment about the incredible size of Stanley Park - it is enormous! Central Park in New York covers 778 acres of land, in comparison, Stanley Park covers 1001 acres. I am confident that our year abroad will feature many photo walks through Stanley Park (and possibly a horse-drawn carriage tour). My Handsome Man and I could spend a few hours exploring along the sea wall, he wants to roller-skate the length of it.  There is a list of things to see within Stanley Park, including: Watching a show at the Theatre Under The Stars; visit The Girl by the Sea Statue; The Totem Poles; The Jubilee Fountain in Lost Lagoon; Hollow Tree, Shakespeare Garden. Of course there is also the Stanley Park Water Park, beaches to visit, we could ride the Stanley Park Miniature Train. When we get hungry we can treat ourselves to food out from one of the many restaurants or concession stands.

•  Dine at the Top of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant

Our budget is small but at some point I want to see the amazing 360 degree view from this restaurant. I want to savour what I am hoping will be delicious food.

• Go to a Whitecaps Game

My Handsome Man is a huge football fan and enjoys attending the games of the local club. He would attend Cheltenham Town games regularly with his friends. It makes sense then for us to have seeing the Whitecaps play on our Vancouver wish list.

• Attend a Canucks Game

We are fans of the television show 'How I Met Your Mother', because of this, we cannot spend a year in Vancouver and not spend a day supporting the team we have heard so much about. Vancouver Canucks we'll be supporting you on the ice!

• Visit Vancouver Island

We have heard Vancouver Island is simple beautiful and we would love to be able to explore for ourselves.

• Zip-lining in the Mountains

This is on My Handsome Man's list of things to do. I don't think I will be joining him for this adventure! Whistler is on our list of places to go.

•  A Helicopter Tour

This is one of the megabucks items on my wish list, something I would love to do but the realist in me is conscious of our finances. Imagine flying over an extinct volcano and seeing the sights from the air.

•  Whale Watching

I have always wanted to go whale watching so perhaps on our year abroad I will be able to cross it off my bucket list.

• Road trip to California

We have family and good friends in California and we would love to be able to spend a couple of weeks at the end of our year abroad road tripping down the west coast of America.

• A Successful Year

As wonderful as it would be to do the other items on our Vancouver wish list. Ultimately, this is the most important to me. Success is one of those words that means something different to each individual and each stage of life. For us, a successful year abroad in Vancouver is a year full of creativity, of writing inspiration for My Handsome Man and of photographic inspiration for myself.

Ideally it will be a year where my health improves and I can start to live a more "normal" life.

It is a year of exploring and new experiences. It is a year we can look back on and be glad we jumped, not really knowing what we were jumping in to.