What You Share With The World Is What It Keeps Of You.

Since going to the Swap Scavenger Hunt I've been all high on the act of friendship forming and I think it's changed me somewhat. Couple that with the acute awareness of my time here coming to a conclusion (through monetary constraints and the desire not to draw it out) and you have me making plans to travel to Vancouver Island and sleep on the couches of strangers (albeit willing strangers).
Basically, what's happened is I've decided I want to go to Vancouver Island and spend my remaining funds on that, then get a flight home on May 20th or May 27th rather than look for accommodation and stay here longer. Go out with style, I guess. Rather than spend loads on travel and accommodation, I figure I'll rough it and take public transport as much as possible and take advantage of the kindness of strangers.
Plan as it stands is to take the bus to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen then take the ferry to Swartz Bay then another bus to downtown Victoria. I will then stay on the couch of a willing participant that I located through the Couch Surfing website named Bryan, this accommodation will be free. I was originally thinking of going to Tofino, further north and on the West coast of the Island, because Debbie and others have said it's cool there. The return coach trip there would be $111 though, and considering it should cost me less than $20 to get from Vancouver to Victoria, I don't think it's worth it. Instead I'm thinking of going to one of the Gulf Islands which are between the mainland and Vancouver Island, and which the ferry goes to. My couch surfing host Bryan used to live on Salt Spring Island so knows about that and says he could probably set me up with accommodation there, so I've told him what I'm looking for (nice beaches on which to read, some stuff to do during the day and some shops) and asked if he knows which Gulf Island is best for me. He's basically my personalised tourist information and I'm pretty smitten with the whole couch surfing concept at the moment. Hopefully terrible things won't happen to me.
After that I'll head back to Vancouver and hang about for a few days (either in a hostel or with someone I know a little better than Bryan) then catch a plane home.
I've done some calculating and even if I go to Tofino then the whole thing is just a little over budget, and that can be taken care of by the lovely people at Mastercard. But if I go to Salt Spring and get free accommodation then I'll be underbudget and may get to stay in Vancouver for a few more nights, and say goodbye.
This does mean that dad might have some people sleeping on his couch though, in order to level out the karma.... I jest. I can hold that off until I have somewhere of my own (I like to call that period The Very Distant Future Unless I Win The Lottery).

So that's what I've been spending my time doing lately, and it takes up more of it than you might think. I've had no unused minutes in the past few days. It's been good but my head's all full. I managed to get a lot done today though, as I had a day off. We have a house viewing tomorrow so I've been cleaning like a crazy person so the landlords don't have an excuse to hassle us. It's pretty darn spotless, if I say so myself. Floors hoovered and washed, surfaces washed, bathrooms disinfected, soapscum removed (thanks to the wonderous Tilex), mirrors windexed, fireplaces swept out... I'm quite the housewife; there's even a freshly baked loaf on the counter.
I did take a break today though in order to attend the Pillow Fight Club event that happened. I'm not really sure how or why it was set up but one of the people I scavenged with through Swap told me about it; a 'spontaneous' pillow fight taking place in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Robson Street. At 3pm everyone just runs in shouting "pillow fight" and starts pummelling strangers with pillows. Odd, but fun.

The front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Normally there's too many tramps sitting outside for me to take a photo without the fear of camera theft, which is why there has been no prior photo.

Pillow fighting

The new Andrex Puppy?

Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG; I kid you not) from afar

Last Sunday I had a terrible day involving being locked out of my room but having to stay in the house and I got cabin fever pretty badly so when I was reintroduced to my house keys I went for a wander along the beach at English Bay and watched the sunset. This is kinda what made me want to go to the Island, I wanna see more of B.C. if it's anything like this.

I'm pretty excited about going on our trip eastward with Ritchie and Gaby too. I'm gonna continue with the poverty diet and cut down my swimming so I can save up my wages for it. S'gonna be goooooooooooooooood.