Why Vancouver Feels Like Home to Strangers

by Nicola Brown · September 16, 2014

Stanley Park, Vancouver. Credit: Richard Abrich

Perched on an outer edge of the Stanley Park sea wall in Vancouver, it would be easy to forget I am in the middle of one of Canada’s major urban centres. Standing still and silent, I scan the water’s surface hopefully as a thin mist descends, obscuring the tops of bridges and buildings.

Vancouver calling

I don’t have to wait long– soon the grey speckled head of a harbour seal re-emerges. The seal floats along the shoreline calmly, undeterred by my presence. Just as I am a visitor in the seal’s world here, not the other way around, Vancouver seems to be a well-mannered guest in its surrounding landscape.

Yoga pants and locavores are not a fad here: the connection Vancouverites have to the earth they stand on is genuine and refreshingly devoid of tiresome healthy lifestyle posturing. The effortless serenity of the mountains to the East and the ocean to the West is tangible. It permeates Vancouver unreservedly.

For the first time in a long while, I don’t feel the nagging panic of looming deadlines or unchecked emails.

It’s as if people breathe a different air here; but of course, they do. I’ve been gulping up as much of it as I can since I arrived. Those in need of an even more serious breath of fresh air can visit Vancouver’s Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in the heart of the coastal rainforest. Here 1300-year-old Douglas firs produce enough oxygen to make you feel like you’ve been sleepwalking through life until now.

I observe the seal. For the first time in a long while, I don’t feel the nagging panic of looming deadlines or unchecked emails. In this moment the harbour seal and I are simply at peace with the world. This is the first time I’ve set foot in British Columbia, and it already feels like home.

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Nicola Brown

Owner & Principal at Think Forward Communication

Nicola is an international award-winning writer, editor and communication consultant based in Toronto. She has travelled to 32 countries so far and is always poised to head out the door again. Nicola loves both the visceral and intellectual dimensions of travel, and will passionately argue for its psychological paybacks, especially after a few glasses of wine. She lives for opportunities to illuminate the life-changing power of travel for as many people as possible.