At the Motorhome Rental Office Canadream in Vancouver

Renting a vehicle can be stressful or entertaining

This article is part of my second from Canada letter to John. I wrote it while sitting in the open door of my rented motorhome in the caravan park in Vancouver, during my first evening in Canada.

Oh, John, the day turned out to be absolutely crazy! It was already 12:45 pm when I woke up at the airport, and I had to rush and collect my luggage. I had just 15min, and Canadream would pick me up! You wouldn’t believe it! There was always nobody at the luggage storage counter, but when I should collect my suitcase, there was a relatively long queue — at least 5–6 people waiting before me. And the lady at the counter was everything but in a hurry.

I wasn’t keen to try and ask if somebody would let me in front of them. You should see the guy directly for me! He looked somehow scary. Considering his looks and the shouting way of speaking, I think he had to be from Texas. He was in his mid-fifties, at least a head taller than me, wearing a big hat…

Actually, there is no point in trying to describe him. You watched American movies, so you know how tough Texan guys are — it’s exactly how this guy looked! He was even wearing a western holster belt; just the guns were missing (luckily). It probably was difficult for him to leave his “solution to everything” at home (isn’t it the Texan way of solving problems — I don’t like it, I shoot it, problem solved).

OK, fair enough, I should stop talking about Texans; I’ve never even been to Texas, so I shouldn’t say anything. I simply didn’t feel comfortable standing next to such an intimidating guy. It was somehow spooky, and I avoided eye contact with him as well as I could.

While waiting there, I tried to remember where Canadream would pick me up… The word “Templeton” stuck in my head. “What is Templeton?” — I wondered to myself when I realized that it was a train station I passed on my way to the city. They would pick me up from the Templeton train station! And the station was a few minutes' drive from the airport, so surely, I wouldn’t make it on time! Luckily I had a SIM card with unlimited free phone calls in northern America! And I thought I didn’t need it because I didn’t know anyone here. How quickly it turned out to be useful and knows how often I’ll use it. Knowing me, things will surely go wrong, and I’ll need to call for help.

As soon as I came to the platform, the train arrived. A few minutes after 1 pm, I arrived in Templeton and met the Canadream driver.

“I am sorry, I am late,” — I said to the driver.

“No problem, it is only 5min. I got a phone call from the station that you would be late, but 5min it is nothing!” — said the friendly, laid-back driver

He didn’t have any problem with me being a few minutes late, but the other guests he picked up were Germans, and they were visibly unhappy about my delay. Everyone knows Germans love punctuality; for them, 1 pm is 1 pm, not 1:01 pm, not to mention 1:05 pm.

How lucky am I, after I left their country I’m meeting Germans everywhere! As you know, I even have German neighbours, though I’m living middle of nowhere! Our cultures are so extremely incompatible and we have to put up with each other so often!

Whatever, they just look weird at me (and if the look could kill, l would be dead now), but at least they didn’t say anything.

At the Canadream office

It was like in a cabaret, with me as the main entertainer. But, no, it wasn’t my purpose to entertain everybody — actually, I was just answering their questions. Most probably, my tiredness made me appear like a drunk person, and add to it my usual chaos and disorder, plus my habit of talking without thinking (you know me, I always say, whatever comes to my mind) — you get the picture.

They asked me where I came from, so I answered that I was Polish but lived in Australia. They wondered about my accent, as it didn’t sound typical Polish, so I mentioned that for a while, I lived in Germany and was fluent in German.

“If you prefer, we could speak German,” — said one of the friendly gentlemen.

“Oh, thank you very much, but I think I should be able to communicate in English after living over ten years in an English-speaking country. Though I have to admit, I’m so tired that at the moment, the easiest way to communicate would be if I could use all three languages together — whichever word comes first, I use it.” — I answered in a serious voice, and they burst in laughed.

We talked about my emigration, travels, and the plans for my trip to Canada. They were also surprised that I was traveling by myself, as it isn’t very common in Canada, especially not a woman driving solo across the country.

“So you are going to Montreal. Over three weeks should be enough. The next stop will be Hope, I guess? The drive there is quite nice,” — said one of the men.

“Might be that the drive from Vancouver to Hope is nice, but first I am going to Prince George and then to Prince Rupert. I am also going to spend some time in the Rockies and…. “

“And are you also going to Yukon and Alaska” — interrupted me, the older of the two gentlemen I was talking to

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t have enough time. But I have to see the Rockies; they are wonderful.”

“Alaska is marvelous, too,” — continued the man trying to stay serious.

“I believe you! And yes, continue to put great ideas into my mind, and I’ll surely miss my flight to Europe… Actually, luckily, I don’t have a visa for the United States, so I can’t go to Alaska!” I replied almost triumphal, and everyone burst into laughter

“Anyway, should you decide to go further north than Whitehorse, then you have to let us know as there is a surcharge for remote territories,” — added the younger gentlemen

“Thank you for letting me know, it surely will be valuable information when I visit Canada the next time,” — I replied, and again I was the only serious person at the desk. Actually, at that point, I could hear other people giggling in the background

At some point, I replied to something with “Yeah, Nah,” and both men laughed so badly that they had tears in their eyes. I had no idea why this short sentence would make someone laugh so much. We always say it, and nobody laughs? Finally, in an almost crying voice, one of the men said, “This was so Australian! Such an Australian accent! You are hilarious!”.

Whatever, as you can see, John, I was serious, answering their questions using facts, and just from time to time, I added something about my adventures. However, though I didn’t laugh much, most of the other people in the office couldn’t stop laughing.

Oh, except for the Germans, of course! By the way, they spoke in German with the personnel. I was surprised that besides English and French, the staff in the rental company was also fluent in German. Obviously, many Germans either have to live here or come for a visit.

Of course, this couple was dire and humorless. From time to time, they gave me a pitying look. I felt like saying to them — “Hey, relax! You are on holiday, so enjoy it! Don’t take it so seriously! Life is short, tomorrow you could be dead, so enjoy today!” but I kept quiet. In the end, I couldn’t care less what they thought of me — I will never see them again, and for now, I had a great time. Making people laugh is much more fun than being grave and grim.

A bit later, the older gentlemen asked me if I would like to book “the special package,” which included washing the car and more.

“It costs only $100. Usually, you would need to clean the van inside, empty all water tanks, wash it from outside…” — the staff member was explaining to me when I interrupted, saying

“Oh no, I am not going to wash this monster from the outside! Yeah, I am taking the package” — and again, everybody laughed, though I was absolutely serious. Think of it, John; it would take me at least a day to clean it! Why should I waste my holidays cleaning a car! I like driving big vehicles, but I hate washing them.

When we first walked to the van, I was slightly disappointed as I expected a different vehicle; nevertheless, as soon as we walked in, I was very happy with what I got! It had everything you needed, and it was almost brand new! It smelled like new and had only 25000 km on the speedo! (It will definitely have much more when I come back, but… that’s a different story)

From the outside, it looks like the one I had in New Zealand — the “ambulance type” one, with big windows! Inside, however, it is much, much better. I fell in love with the motor home at first sight!

They explained how everything works, but I was so tired that I couldn’t concentrate. The only thing I remember is how to empty the van’s black- and grey-water tanks. This is a very neat solution! You connect the hose, which is in a container next to the drain, and you pull the valves. That’s it! So easy! They also explained how to check the engine oil, add fluid to the windscreen washer, and some other instructions on how to check the basics in the car, but I don’t remember anything. I’ll figure out somehow when I need to.

As soon as they finished explaining and I signed the papers confirming that the car was in perfect condition, I threw all my luggage into the van and was ready to drive off. It was when I noticed that I wasn’t able to close the sliding door! Great start to my trip…

I went back to the office and said to the guys

“I am back again; as you can see, I didn’t make it far. I have no idea what I did wrong, but I cannot shut the sliding door.”

“Ups… I forgot to tell you; there is a slight fault in the door design — it happened a few times before. A small wire comes out of place and stops the door from moving,” — said the younger man, and we walked back to the car.

It turned out it was very easy to fix if you knew how. I was so glad this happened while I was still at the office and not somewhere on the road.

This story is part of my unpublished book called “Letters to John — From Canada.” One day I hope to publish the entire “Letters to John” series, but until then, I decided to share snippets of my books on various social media and writers’ platforms.

More articles relating to this book and my adventures while driving across Canada you can find in the following collection/list

If you are curious about what happened before I got to the Canadream office, you can check this article

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