Originally Posted by
Ken hAAmer
Even in the rural communites south of Montreal there are a lot more people than there are in the area outside Greater Vancouver. Past Whistler or Hope there ain't nuthin! Go a couple km north of my office in North Van and you'll find nothing but mountains for hundreds of km.
There is life beyond Hope.
You'd be amazed at how many people drive from the Okanagan valley or Kamloops to Vancouver or Seattle to save some money on air fares, particularly when they are paying for their own airfares.
As an added note, you'd be amazed at how many people drive (3-5+hrs) from the Kootenays to either Calgary or Spokane for flights because of the ridiculous airfares to/from Cranbrook.
<note this next part isn't aimed at Ken, just trying to avoid starting a new reply>
Several people have been talking about the time cost of driving from wherever to some U.S. airport and using that as an argument for why it wouldn't be worth it to fly from elsewhere. I would argue that for the typical person who is taking a trip, with or without family, the time cost is a non-issue. Most companies just don't seem to want to pay you to spend time with your family. Sadly, families won't pay you $70/hr to drive them to the airport either.
Whether you fly from Vancouver, Montreal, Platsburg, or Bellingham, you are probably making the drive to the airport on your own dime (and won't be getting paid for it) and it will probably have a negligible effect on your total time available for a vacation. If you fly from the U.S. you pack up after work and drive over to the airport and catch the flight late that night or very early the next morning. If you fly from Canada, you pack up after work and drive over to the airport and catch the flight late that night or very early the next morning. The only difference is whether or not you sleep at a hotel or in your own bed. And as others have noted, staying at the hotel make cancel out the parking costs.