{"id":24182,"date":"2023-10-25T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T07:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=24182"},"modified":"2023-10-24T07:33:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T14:33:53","slug":"digital-nomad-victoria-british-columbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2023\/10\/25\/digital-nomad-victoria-british-columbia\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Nomad: Victoria, British Columbia"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Mike Huber<\/h6>\n

Landing back in Boston mid-November, the only thing perfect was the weather.\u00a0 Perfect for hypothermia, that is.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take long in the cold and damp environment for me to realize that this would not be a suitable location for winter, especially after having been in tropical climates for the past 8 months.\u00a0 Although the decision to not stay was an easy one, where to actually move opened up an entirely new set of questions. This part of the journey I had not planned for very well, or at all.\u00a0 Well\u2026time to pull out some maps and just as I had done in South America find a solution to the problem I now faced:\u00a0 Where would be my new home?<\/p>\n

\"\" I wasn\u2019t a big fan of the southeastern states and hadn\u2019t really explored many of the western ones.\u00a0 Since the gray damp weather wasn\u2019t something I wanted to deal with deciding to choose the Pacific Northwest probably wasn\u2019t one of my better ideas, but I knew it wouldn\u2019t be as cold in that area.\u00a0 I was still feeling the culture shock of returning to the United States and after living in South America, the busy stressful vibe of the United States wasn\u2019t tolerable.<\/p>\n

Having narrowed the region down, the next step was to pinpoint a spot.\u00a0 Looking at maps I noticed a rather large land mass not too far off of the coast of Seattle and Vancouver.\u00a0 It was Vancouver Island, and the capital of British Columbia, Victoria, was there.\u00a0 This seemed like a perfect place to call home until I could find a better location.<\/p>\n

After a quick and uneventful drive cross country I was at the ferry terminal in Port Angeles, Washington, about to embark on another out-of-country adventure.\u00a0 As soon as the Blackball ferry pulled into Victoria Harbor I knew this would be a fun place.\u00a0 The Inner Harbour had a number of float planes landing and taking off, the Victoria Clipper (a high-speed catamaran) was there, and tugboat-like water taxis buzzed around the much larger Blackball ferry like mosquitos around an elephant. The entire inner harbor was just so alive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Upon disembarking from the ferry there was a bit of a wait going through Canadian Customs where they scanned my passport and I confidently assured them I was visiting only for a week.\u00a0 In all honestly, I really didn\u2019t have much of an idea about the length of my visit, as my planning (much like today) is almost nonexistent. The next step was to find a place to stay for a week or so until I could get my bearings and determine if I wanted to stay here longer.\u00a0 Having just driven over 3,000 miles I wasn\u2019t in much of a rush to leave.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take too long for me to find a cool hotel that allowed for longer stays near the center of town.\u00a0 The hotel was a great selling point, not only for the location, but also because it had what was probably the best Chinese restaurant ever.\u00a0 And if that wasn\u2019t enough, there was the best dive bar attached to the hotel.\u00a0 Even with the rainy weather that lowered my morale, the restaurant and the bar gave refuge and let me refill my endorphins.\u00a0 This place would do nicely.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of the best ways I\u2019ve found to learn a new city is to go for long runs, get lost, and then learn the area.\u00a0 Frequently during these runs I would find someone running the same pace and strike up a conversation.\u00a0 This happened on one of my first days in Victoria.\u00a0 I kept pace with a man a few years older than me, and as our conversation continued I jokingly explained I was here working remotely, possibly quite illegally, and we both had a good laugh.\u00a0 Our finishing point was just after we crossed a bridge, when I introduced myself and he did the same.\u00a0 \u201cNice to meet you, Mike,” he said. “I’m Dean, the Mayor of Victoria, but you can call me Mayor Dean.\u201d He handed me a business card and invited me to visit his office if I needed anything.\u00a0 My jaw was on the ground.\u00a0 I expected Canadian Mounties or Immigration to jump from around the corner.\u00a0 This, of course, didn\u2019t happen (it was Canada and they are super-warm people, even to illegal visitors like me).<\/p>\n

Despite the weather being a bit gray (which is to be expected in December in the Pacific Northwest), this island was a great choice.\u00a0 Within two weeks it was obvious this was to be my home at least through the winter months (unless Mayor Dean disapproved).\u00a0 It was time to find a longer-term rental on a month-to-month lease.\u00a0 A month-to-month lease was quite a commitment for me (even more so since I probably wasn\u2019t allowed to be in Canada for more than 90 days per their immigration laws), but that would be a problem for future Mike to deal with (which he did successfully several times). \u00a0It was now time to start exploring my new home and see what there was to offer this American traveler and digital nomad.<\/p>\n

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