VIA Rail’s ‘Canadian’ train from Toronto to Vancouver is supposed to be one of the world’s greatest train journeys. It also costs over $2,000 and takes 5 days so was just a bit out of budget! Instead of doing the whole thing (the first part through the Prairies is meant to be pretty boring anyway) we flew to Edmonton and then took the train to … Continue reading Travelling by train to the Rockies
So having driven down to the Niagara Falls, we drove all the way back to Toronto and kept on going until we reached Algonquin Provincial Park. The Park is massive – about one quarter of the size of Belgium, and is home to forests and thousands of lakes. A main road to Ottawa passes through the Park in the far south, where a lot of … Continue reading Algonquin Provincial Park
After the bright lights of Toronto we headed south to the Niagara Falls along the western shores of Lake Ontario. To help us on our way, we have now been joined by a new travel companion, our hire rental car, which is a Kia Forte. Following on from our previous holiday hire car luminaries, such as Harris the Yaris, our car needed a name. So … Continue reading Niagara Falls
The CN Tower. Landmark of Toronto and a symbol of Canada. Inescapable from almost any angle in the city, it is the focal point for countless photos. The 3rd tallest tower in the world, the tallest structure in the western hemisphere, and formerly the tallest freestanding structure in the world (1975-2007) – thanks Wikipedia! To put it in perspective, The Shard in London is 306 … Continue reading Living on the Edge!
So day 2 began with a quick visit to Fort York, built in the late 18th century to protect York (now Toronto) from those pesky and newly independent Americans south of the border. It seemed rather insignificant compared to the modern world of gleaming skyscrapers in the distance and the rumbling Gardiner Expressway overhead. Next up was a short ferry ride across to Toronto Islands … Continue reading Day 2 in Toronto
After waking up at 4.30am (thanks jet lag) we had a lazy morning and headed out to explore downtown Toronto. We looked at the CN Tower from various angles. Including zooming in on the people doing the EdgeWalk which Stewart is trying to convince me to do. tried to walk up the wavedecks, which we found on the waterfront, without touching the floor… met the … Continue reading We’ve arrived – Toronto Day 1
15th September 2014 – I’m at home, yet I’m not on annual leave, I don’t have flexi-leave, I’m not working at home and neither am I ill. No, we’re just a couple of unemployed bums! Also the Cambridgeshire Cycle Challenge starts today (unashamed plug…). 18th February 2008 – day of my 22nd birthday. My dad drives me up to Cambridge (good old Dad Taxis) for … Continue reading Bye bye Cambridgeshire County Council
I thought I would write a post dedicated to the useful stuff online that we’ve used to help us sort out our visas and plan our trip. I’m sure there will be many more to follow but here is our top 4 so far: Canada IEC 2014 Facebook group Starting with the best, the Facebook group. This has been amazing, especially during the application process … Continue reading Useful stuff
On 14th June we did something life changing. After over year of umming and ahing, planning and applying for visas we booked one way flights to Toronto. The fact that in exactly 2 months time we will be getting on those flights is incredibly exciting but also a little bit terrifying! In order to make me feel better about the incredibly long list of things we … Continue reading 2 months to go
Compulsory and important but confusing and boring to research, pretty much sums up our experience of travel insurance. Going for such a long time and not having return tickets makes things more difficult than our usual quick search on a comparison website. As we book more and more of our trip, especially expensive things like train tickets and flights, it becomes increasingly important that we … Continue reading Sorting out the boring bits: travel insurance
Brown Bear Travels 