We're going to Vancouver Island for two awesome weeks!

At long last, after at least four months since the first major steps towards our next genuine vacation (aka, not a work related trip of Tony's that I tag along for, but an outright, good, old-fashioned holiday) materialized, I can finally reveal to you today that later this month, we're going to be spending two weeks on Vancouver Island.

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We've rented a small, beautifully furnished and equipped private house (via the very handy online service and hotel alternative Airbnb) in Victoria, which will be our base while on Island. A lot of the time there will no doubt be spent in Victoria itself, but we also hope to take some daytrips elsewhere, such as Nanaimo, Duncan, and Sooke - perhaps even as far north as Campbell River, where I've heard very good things about a vintage clothing shop called, rather charmingly, Britches and Hose (though at some three hours away from Victoria, there's no guarantee we'll make it there - hopefully!).

Just as when we headed to Vancouver last spring, I've lined up a few really terrific guest posts from fellow vintage bloggers to keep things active here in my absence. My Etsy shop will also remain open while I'm away from home and new orders are certainly welcome, though it should be noted that they won't ship out until I'm home again in early October.

While I have been to Vancouver Island and B.C.'s capital city of Victoria before, I haven't set even so much as one foot on this large, majestically beautiful Pacific Ocean hugged chunk of land since I was 14 years old - more than half my lifetime ago and I don't profess for the tiniest of moments to know the layout of the city very well. In fact, save for a few major attractions and standout memories from my early youth, there's little I know firsthand about this vibrant city, which makes me all the more excited to hop in the car later this month and hightail down there to quickly learn a whole lot more.

We'll be leaving Penticton on September 22nd and returning on the evening of October 4th. As usual when we go away, Annie will be staying at the lovely dog boarding kennel in Oliver that she just adores and my sweet mother will be house sitting our place and looking after our cat, Stella in our absence.

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As Victoria is situated on an island floating out in the ocean off the shores of our province of British Columbia, it can only be reached by air travel or ferry and it is the latter that we'll be floating on to reach our lovely holiday destination. I've always madly adored taking the ferry to the Island and am as giddy about the prospect of doing so as I am about any other element of this trip, which is a much needed breather from the daily grind for both Tony and I.

I (we) intentionally timed our trip to Victoria to correspond with the upcoming annual Victoria Vintage Expo, which is taking place there on September 26th and 27th. I'll be going as a shopper, not a seller this time around, but who knows, perhaps I'll be back in future years with a table of my own. There are so few events like this in our province, let alone ones I'm able to make it to (the few that do exist are are usually located hours away from Penticton), so I'm truly jumping for joy at the prospect of attending one of B.C.'s only vintage expos.

In fact, I'm hopping with happiness about this whole trip. We worked very hard, saved and sacrificed incredibly diligently, and put in a lot of effort to make this trip happen. I'm so glad that we did, because there are few things - even knowing that hitting the road will do a number on my health, as it always does - that I adore, or gain more from, in this world than travel.

Yippee! Hurrah! And three very big - and very excited - cheers! Here we come (okay, in three weeks time), Victoria - prepare to be two residents richer for a couple of weeks and a little lighter on the vintage clothing and jewelry front when we leave! :)