A little over a week ago now we took our first family-of-four trip to Victoria. It was a wonderful trip; it all began with a ride on BC Ferries. I have been riding ferries my whole life and quite actively too. We took many family vacations to Vancouver Island and Hornby Island; I also lived on Vancouver Island for many years (for Junior High / High School), so there were many ferry trips in my history. As many parents know, experiences are much different through the eyes of a child.

For Aiden, going on a ferry is the adventure; it’s not simply a means from point A to point B. We tried to approach our experience in that way. He was somewhat familiar with BC Ferries from his Sounds of the Ferry book, so he was very excited about the trip as soon as we told him what we were doing. 

Aiden had fun playing on the playground at Tsawwassen before our trip (so nice that they have playgrounds at the terminals!) and was keen to visit the kids area on board the ship. We were one of the first to arrive in the area, so he had a few fun slides before it was swamped with kids. Unfortunately, I think he found the tv in the kids area distracting, as it kept him from playing further. 

After a little picnic lunch, we explored the exterior of the ship and got some fun photos before the chilly day drew us back inside. All in all, the trip seemed faster with kids, which was unexpected. Aiden definitely considered the ferry a highlight of the whole trip!

Check out more of our BC Ferries photos here.

Disclosure: we received two one-way adult passenger fares from BC Ferries. Reviews are my own.