Kamloops Office

The first office I visited was in Kamloops where a colleague of mine from that office came to welcome me at the airport. On the ride to the office, we got to talking about traffic in general. She said that Kamloops had NO peak hour or if they did, it was short lived. The peak hour are the times during the day when the majority of people are either going to work or coming back home. In the GVRD, the peak hour is actually more like the peak PERIOD as it will normally last 2 hours or more. Typically from 7-9am (people going to work)and then from 4-6pm (everyone coming home). My colleague’s claim that Kamloops did not have a peak hour shocked me. For someone who grew up in the city, I didn’t know a life without of traffic congestion. She went on to tell me how this really did greatly improve her enjoyment of life and that it makes a profound difference on how you LIVE your life. Indeed I found that most people in Kamloops were incredibly laid back and going out somewhere did not require extensive planning into avoid heavy traffic. The picture added to this blog is one I took from the plane (much to annoyance of the lady seating next to me). If you look at this image, the roads in Kamloops are planned out differently than in Vancouver. The roads look less tightly fitted, almost like a causal layout. Not to say this is poor planning but while driving on these roads, I felt there were more curves and turns than in the roads around the GVRD. Maybe this more relaxed layout helps to set the mood for its drivers. I know I quite enjoyed driving on uncongested, curvy streets!