I recently returned from four nights in Vancouver. The first B&B I stayed in, the Corkscrew Inn in Kitsilano, was OK except that it was overpriced, the breakfasts were average, and there was no window that could be opened.

I went on to be the guests of Marsha and Neil at the Salish Drive B&B, a Tudor-style house in Pacific Spirit Park. Once you pass through the doors, it's another world entirely: eclectically furnished rooms, white carpeting, and the wonderful smells of cooking wafting out of the kitchen throughout the day. You are asked, in the most solicitous manner, to remove your shoes, which doesn't strike you as odd at all because, after all, you're home.

Then there are the hosts, whose warmth and comfort is contagious. Before you know it, you're chatting with them about your life and your troubles, and they're sharing theirs.

And just when you think it can't get better, there's breakfast: not to be believed. Where the average... more