Toronto

Hi!

When my time in NYC was up, I took a bus to Toronto. Toronto is the biggest city in Canada. Some people love it, others hate it. Without any expectations I planned 5 days in this metropolis.

I’ve been trying to couch surf instead of staying at a hostel. It’s a cheap and awesome way to travel. You don’t have to pay for accommodation and you get to meet cool people all over the world. It’s great to meet people along the way, it makes the solo traveling less lonely and you get free tips from a local.

I found a girl in Toronto that could host me for a few nights. We had a really good connection and she gave me lots of tips to explore her city. She loves climbing as much as I do, so we decided to go to the local gym and climb together.

The last couple of nights I stayed at a hostel and you only realize how great someone’s couch is and how much you value a private clean bathroom when you end up in a 14 bed dorm with 2 toilets and 2 showers for the whole floor…

Back to hating or loving the city. After only a few hours I decided I really love the Toronto vibe. It’s different then the other Canadian cities that I’ve been to. I really liked it.

Toronto highlights

• Kensington Market: the neighborhood called Kensington Market is full of little cafés, patio’s and cute little shops. I loved it so much, I went there twice during my time in Toronto.

• Graffiti Alley: everyone knows I love street art and graffiti. Graffiti Alley is a whole alley full of graffiti.

• Real fruit bubble tea: Toronto has a few ‘real fruit bubble tea’ places. They make real fruit smoothies and they are so delicious. I did make a mistake when I agreed to upgrade to a large cup though…

• Free walking tour Toronto: I did a free walking tour to learn more about Toronto’s history and architecture

• The Toronto sign: right next to Toronto’s city hall they have the TORONTO letters. At night they light up and change colors.

• Toronto Island: you can take a ferry to Toronto Island. The Island has an amusement park but I just wandered around and enjoyed the views of the Toronto skyline.

• St. Lawrence Market: a market place full of food stalls. I had one of the famous peameal bacon sandwiches.

• The underpass park: a park build under the highway. It has a basketball court, playground, skatepark and lots of graffiti.

• Distillery district: this district has some street art, breweries, restaurants and lots of cute little shops

Canada’s Wonderland

I knew there was a giant amusement park near Toronto, called Canada’s Wonderland. Home of the Yukon Striker, the highest, fastest and longest rollercoaster in the world. I HAD to go! I posted on the Girls Love Travel Facebook page if anyone wanted to join me and I got lucky! Together with 2 other girls I spend a day in this amazing park. The rollercoasters are ENDLESS. Behind every corner there is another rollercoaster or thrill ride. It is amazing. We also went to the water park where they have some awesome slides.

The Niagara Falls

You can’t visit Toronto without making a day trip (or a multi-day trip) to the Niagara region and the Niagara Falls. I needed to see these famous waterfalls with my own eyes so I took a train and a bus from Toronto to the Niagara region. As much as I hated the amount of tourists and tourists attractions at the falls, so much I loved the water falls. I was in total awe, it is SO beautiful.

I walked along the falls and decided I could give in to at least 1 tourist attraction. I chose to do the “Journey behind the Falls’. They give you a sexy yellow rain poncho and you get to go on a platform right next to the falls, as well as in a tunnel underneath the falls so you are actually “behind the falls”.

I’ve never been to Las Vegas but I could swear someone teleported me there. The streets around the Niagara falls are full of tourist attractions. There are haunted houses, go carts, wax museums, laser tag games, mini golf, bowling, arcades and many more.

Because I had to take the last bus back to Toronto I couldn’t stay for the fireworks and light show. Guess I will have to go back one day…

Although I was really glad I decided to spend some time in Toronto, non stop traveling and city tripping made me extremely tired so I changed my plans and decided to fly back to Vancouver to visit my friend, Paige. Just a few weeks to relax, spend time together and no high pace travel shenanigans. Yes please!

I’ll update you about my second Vancouver experience soon!

Love,

Jay/Joke