Life on an Island

Vancouver Island is the largest island off the west coast of North America, about 320 miles (or 500k) long. To live here doesn't really feel like an island; everything you could want is here. It may take a bit of a drive, but there is shopping too - Costco, Home Depot and all the other big boxes of interest to someone building a home....hmm, not quite ALL of the big boxes. There is no IKEA on Vancouver Island and I have wanted to check out their kitchen cabinets and wardrobes and some other housewares at before final decision time.
To get there means a trip to Vancouver and suddenly "You know you are on an Island".
Don't laugh: Roy and I got up at 6:00 AM to drive to Dukes Point to catch the 7:45 ferry to Tsawwassen (a 2 hour crossing) to get to the store by 10:00AM. Cost: $72.00 each way. Yikes. We won't be doing this too often.
The trip to Vancouver reminded us of all the things we dislike about the city: crowds and traffic and although we went on a weekday, IKEA was packed. Turns out that Remembrance Day is a big holiday out here in western Canada, not just for banks and the LCBO.
Anyway it was a worthwhile exercise just to know that the logistics would be insane. Imagine mistakes and having to do returns...