Good bye Canada...Good bye North America

So tonight is my last night in Canada and North America. It's been 23 weeks since I left England, spent 11 weeks and 2 days in the States and 11 weeks 6 days in Canada (by the time I leave tomorrow). My American visa would have expired in 2 and a half weeks anyway, so I'm not leaving the continent much shorter than what I originally planned. So my next stop will be Hong Kong, I leave Vancouver airport tomorrow early afternoon and after a 12 hour flight I will be in Shanghai, then a flight onto Hong Kong.

Went into Vancouver today and picked up a few bits including my foreign currencies:

That's my last $110 Canadian. But just so you know, $100 Canadian gets you (roughly for each country):

• $100 American
• $750 Hong Kong (The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC))
• ฿3,000 Thai Baht
• And ₫1,500,000 (Yes 1 and a half million) Vietnamese dong

I was unable to get any money for Laos. So anyway, after a long weekend in Hong Kong, I will be heading to Vietnam to do my Asia tour which includes Laos and Thailand. Before staying in Thailand for a little while, then flying into Brisbane, Australia next month - that's right I actually have a plan, WITH DATES! And I'll be meeting Danny G from back home (the first mate from back home that I'll be seeing since Ryan and Katie left me in Washington 3 and a half months ago).

I won't really put any more photos of my last few days, I only have some photos of my ferry ride back to the mainland and some more photos of Vancouver

So anyway, I didn't do it when a left Jasper, but I suppose I should do it now: Big thank yous....Thank you to Sheryl (my manger's manager at Fairmont Stores), the first and only Canadian I knew when I crossed the US/Canadian border back in November. Thanks to Courtney for getting me through them "great" days at work...some of them really were the best, and thanks for all them truly Canadian meals. Thanks to all the staff at the Grizz for all your help at the start, especially Rob, you were amazing dude. Thanks to Cory, Keegan, Stacey and Mark for the house parties...so many epic flip cup moments of glory....not too many moments of beer pong glory for me. Also thanks to James, Shaifa, MmmattFigueirraa, Blaire and Matt for hosting too. Thank you Kim for the more then entertaining nights (I know how that sounds, but if you know Kim, you know what I mean). Thanks Steph for my free coffee (I got it in the end). Nice one to Jeff, Chad, Nick for the snowboarding adventures. Thank you Milan for being sane, it helps in a place like Jasper. Thank you Karly for my drawing, I still have it, and it will go up when I get to Oz. Thanks Laura O for making my 6 minutes walk home a lot longer. Thanks to my Wifey, Kayla, my best distraction. Thanks Laura for the long talks and the epic late night dances outside A cabin...it will be summer soon! Thanks Dan for everything dude, and for planning the whole Alberta road trip, sweet sweet times. Cheers Bryony too for having an English contact, and thanks for the hook up with your brother. And shout out to big gay Tom, awesome times, looking forward to seeing you again next month. Sorry to Jenna, I wasn't trying to mess you around, and thanks for trying to help, shame I didn't get to see you again before I left. Thanks Cassie and Caighlah for inviting me to Ottawa and David, Wanda (hope you enjoyed your time away), Tyler, Josh, Corey and everyone else in Ottawa, twas an awesome week. Thanks to Becca for taking all my time back in the bean, the very cheap breakfasts and for inviting me to the Island, and Mary, Wally and Emily for putting up with me. Thanks also to Sara for housing us for a couple of nights and Chris, Justine and Canadian Cam for my two trips down to Victoria. Thanks finally to Eleni and Katie for the random house that you found for me to stay in for my last few days in Canada (that's no joke, their staying in a random house...it's legit, but random). Finally thanks to Sophie back in STA Southampton for helping me sort all my Asia trip in such a short time. Thanks to anyone else I've forgotten to mention, don't take it personally, there's a lot of people to thank.

Hope to see you all again at some point.

So long Tim Hortons, you were great (in Canada, not the States (you suck there)), but you're no Dunkin' Donuts. And so long root beer.