I have so many great travel experiences I didn’t know what to choose for this class assignment on my best travel experience! I’m traveling for this whole year and I know there will probably be amazing experiences to happen. So far, my best travel experience was the summer trip I took to British Colombia with my family. The summer we went was very warm and sunny, which is unlike BC’s usual rainy weather. We were really lucky to get some sun!

I had wanted to visit the Canadian west coast since I was really young, because my childhood best friend moved there. So when my parents told me that I would be going for a whole summer, I was ecstatic. It would be the first time I would get to see my best friend that I hadn’t seen in 3 years.

There are tons of things to do in British Colombia. For the active types that love the outdoors, Whistler and Blackcomb is the right place for you. Some of these activities are mountain biking, swimming, and hiking the trails of the mountains. You can go to the big mountain and ski or snowboard in the summer. I didn’t get the experience to actually go skiing in the summertime, but I did go to the very top of the mountain, Whistler, and got to see all the skiers and boarders going down the hill in tees.

I went to many places in British Colombia, like Vancouver, Whistler, and little places like Nanaimo; where the chocolate Nanaimo bar originated. Oddly enough, they didn’t have any Nanaimo bars when we went. My favourite place to visit, though, was definitely Victoria, the capital city of British Colombia.

Victoria is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island and off the Pacific coast, and is a great tourist and residential place. I would suggest tourists stay for at least a week. There are many cool places to go. Victoria is the oldest city in the Pacific Northwest, and so it has so much beautiful old architecture. While you’re in Victoria, make sure to visit Chinatown. The Chinatown in Victoria is the second oldest in North America, after the one in San Francisco. I went to this 55 acre garden full of flowers, called Butchart Gardens, to watch fireworks.

If you’re into the hauntingly scary stories, then go on Victoria’s Ghost walk tour. I was so scared, I could not sleep that night. For the ghost tour, the guide took us on a walk around downtown Victoria telling us the stories of the ghosts, both friendly and scary, that haunt the hotels and old shops. It was quite spooky!

China beach is such a stunningly beautiful beach. The beach wasn’t hot and the water was not warm at all (it was actually really cold), but what made this beach amazing was that it was surrounded by deep forests and caves. The waves at China beach are the biggest waves I have ever seen, and I enjoyed splashing in the waves in the freezing water.

To end this great trip, my friends took me on this hike to a waterfall. I swam under the waterfall, something I always wanted to do. It was such a cool thing. British Colombia is a beautiful place to visit!

Becca Tran is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.