Diane's place in East Vancouver was a great place to stay. My husband and I had to check in before noon, and Diane was very accommodating of the request. The guest house had all the things we needed for a two-week stay. During my stay, I had to spend a few days at the Vancouver Convention Center. Initially, I was a little worried about transportation downtown, but I had no difficulty getting there and back. As long as you're okay with walking a bit (10-15 mins) to get to one of the several bus lines in the neighborhood, access to the downtown area is great. We also sometimes walked to the Skytrain station, which was a brisk, 30 min walk for us. The shops on Commercial Drive were great. Found a gem of a North Vietnamese restaurant on Hastings, which we went to a couple of times.