I've made the drive from Calgary to Van at least 10 times, 6 of which were direct drives. It usually takes me about 11 hours.
The best advice I could give you is that there's no places to stop for gas on the Coquihalla (the number 1 turns into this [I believe it's called highway 5 and you'll want to take it south] after you hit Kamloops) So make sure you have gas before hitting the Coq. Golden (about 3 hours from Calgary) has tons of places to stop for food (Subway, Tim Hortons, McDonalds etc.) plus Gas.
You will experience areas with no cell phone reception (my car broke down this December while driving back from Van in an area 17 kms outside of Revelstoke that had zero cell phone reception - in the middle of the night) so keep that in mind.
Once you figure out your route, just follow the sings to the next city. Start with following signs to Banff then to Kamloops, then to Hope, then to Vancouver. You should hit: Banff, Golden, Revelstoke, Sicamous, Salmon Arm, Kamloops, Hope then Vancouver.
Just load your ipod up with sweet tunes and drive. Wear sweatpants and make sure you have sun glasses. Have windshield washer fluid/oil on hand and check your tire pressure before too (around 35 psi)
Unless I think of anything else to add, that's pretty much it. It's really not that bad of a drive. Gas in Abbotsford is cheaper than anywhere else in the Lower main land, so fill up there. Oh, and Chilliwack smells like manure.
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