Winging It: Exploring Canada and the USA in a Camper Van Pt. 2

Forrest Kelly: 00:00:00

Pack your bags. Let's take a ride. 5 minutes fly and we'll explore the wide with forest. Kelly, it's travel time. It's the best five minute travel podcast. Let's go.

Forrest Kelly: 00:00:14

We continue to talk travel with James Hammond, travel extraordinaire and host of Winging it travel podcast.

James Hammond: 00:00:22

Eight weeks cross Canada and another seven weeks across usa. So nearly four months in our camper van.

Forrest Kelly: 00:00:26

You rented the camper van?

James Hammond: 00:00:28

No, we own one. We have a converted Toyota Sienna gutted out at the back with a bed and it's got a little kitchen at the back of the. Of the van.

It kind of fits a double bed. Probably just about comfortable if you're 6 foot 2 or 3 or under. If you're taller than that, it can get pretty. Pretty cozy, pretty cramped.

Forrest Kelly: 00:00:45

Let's hit some highlights across Canada and the United States.

James Hammond: 00:00:48

Killer. Okay, so let's go with Canada. I'm gonna say Tofino on Vancouver Island. That's a highlight. Pukasaw National Park, Ontario.

And then the Cabot Trail, which is in Nova Scotia, right on the east coast. So like the last hurrah on the mainland. Those are pretty special if you want a city, maybe probably Toronto and Montreal was pretty cool.

Forrest Kelly: 00:01:09

Toronto is kind of a hit or hit and miss. People I've talked to. So either love it or hate it.

James Hammond: 00:01:13

Yeah, it probably helped. We had some friends there, so maybe that helped. Right. I can imagine it's quite intimidating if you're on your own.

Forrest Kelly: 00:01:19

Right. So traveling across and you didn't have to deal with weather because. Yeah, summer.

James Hammond: 00:01:24

Yeah, summer, it did get quite hot in the van. So that was a, that was a thing, especially in July period. Because our van is not very new. It's like 20 years old, 24 years old, I think.

So the, the fan and aircon is not the best. So we did struggle at the start. But yeah, in terms of like rain or cold weather, not really right until the end.

Forrest Kelly: 00:01:43

Well, that's part of the all of all part of winging it is just you got to overcome that, those little things and move on to another issue out of Nova Scotia. Then you curled around east coast and came west United States.

James Hammond: 00:01:56

So we came down through Maine and then we got into Connecticut, had a base there in Darien, which is a random place. But then that enabled us to go to Salem and then we did Boston, popped to New York City as well, and then went to Woodstock.

Well, Bethel, Bethel woods and New Pouts in Upper state New York. And then we hugged the i95 across. That was the road we chose.

So that took us through middle part, you know, like South Dakota and Wyoming and stuff like that and Yellowstone. So that's pretty, pretty amazing.

Forrest Kelly: 00:02:27

As a foreigner coming to the United States and traveling, what is the tone of the American people dealing with you? It's not probably as maybe standoffish as the French when you go to France, maybe. Or is it.

Are they welcoming or are they standoffish or are they rude?

James Hammond: 00:02:45

No, I find it completely welcoming. Yeah. I think the, especially the American RV community, they are, they are really nice.

When you park up at campsites, you're more likely going to be probably up to someone who's doing it for a longer term. Right. They're probably Americans who got their own big RV unit and they're driving maybe north or south, depending on the, on the weather.

But I think that community is really nice and they help you out and they offer, you know, firewood or they even offer snacks, even some drinks. So that community is really nice. And then in general, I, we really had no problems.

I, I was actually a bit anxious before going to USA because I wasn't sure what the. Yeah. What the reaction was going to be, but actually everyone was pretty cool. I, yeah. Had no problems whatsoever.

I actually can't think of a time apart from the very last night and that is a story where we had any problems. So I think all in all, very positive experience.

I'll tell you something else actually that was on my mind or on our minds, which might sound random to you, is that we were worried for the van getting broken into, which might sound a bit crazy. But when you like hear stories of San Francisco, for example, where people just can't stop breaking into cars.

James Hammond: 00:03:52

Yeah.

James Hammond: 00:03:53

You think, oh, is that the same across all the states? Or if we go near a big city, is it going to be at risk of being broken into? That was probably a thing as well.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:01

Even though you're traveling kind of on the down low and you're not being ostentatious with your vehicle, you know, as you said, 20 plus years old. So it's like, okay, what you see, there's nothing really to take but still in the back of your mind that you're. When you're traveling.

For more episodes and great travel tips, check out his new website. It's winging it travel podcast.com just like it sounds the word winging. Then it travel podcast.com.

you're all about how he's visited 70 plus countries and lived in five countries. We've got one more episode with James Hammond. Of winging it Travel podcast.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:37

We've touched down and landed. The episode's done with five quick minutes of travel and fun.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:44

This is your captain speaking.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:46

We have touched down and landed. That completes this episode.

Forrest Kelly: 00:04:49

Join Forest Kelly for the next big show, The Best 5 Minute Travel Podcast. Let's go.