The plan was to go somewhere way up north this summer. It was to be either Canada or Alaska but I could not afford both. Newfoundland is the only Canadian province that I have yet to see but to be honest, I figured there probably wasn't enough there to justify such a far away stand alone trip. Combining it with Toronto makes it worth it. With the Blue Jays being home over the 4th of July and the ability to do a trip that only required 2 days off work, I opted for Canada. After some deliberation, I decided on flying out of Birmingham rather than Atlanta. In order to get to Toronto at a decent hour, I would have had to stay in Atlanta the night before to catch a morning flight. At any rate, I wasn't worried about getting in but feared that getting out could be a little dicey.
7/3- No issues on the flight. Easy connection in DC and I landed in Toronto just before noon, local time. I've driven into Canada several times but this was my first flight to the country. Customs was a breeze. I simply answered the questions at the kiosk and presented my receipt to the guard. No rental car is necessary here. I took a train to Union Station, which took about 25 minutes then it was about a 15 minute walk to my hotel on Queen Street. All of the major attractions were within walking distance.
Lunch was a small steak and fries at the hotel then I got Blue Jays tickets for that night's game. First stop was the Hockey Hall of Fame. I don't really follow that sport nowadays but I was a bit of a fan growing up. Mario Lemieux was my favorite player. It's worth seeing even if you are not a fan. From there, it was a walk down Front Street and a brief stop at the harbor before the game.
The Skydome is my 17th ballpark. Especially when the roof is open with the CN Tower looking down, I'd rank this one as better than average. Probably just outside the top 5 that I have seen. Blue Jays lost 9-2 but the game was competitive until the 7th inning and I enjoyed talking with the guy behind me.
7/4- American Independence Day. I believe this is the first time I've spent this holiday in another country. First stop was the CN Tower. I've been to many such places and it never gets old. I bet it's awesome at night but it closes before it gets fully dark this time of year. Right next door was the Aquarium, which is also worth a visit. After lunch, I took a walking tour of the harbor then rested briefly in the room.
I took a walk north through the university campus to the provincial Capitol. I hoped to see a sunset over the harbor but it was too overcast. Speaking of the weather, temps were in the upper 70s every day. Though it dawned sunny, clouds increased through the day but there was just a trace of rain the first day in Newfoundland. I ended up at Nathan Phillips Square and it was cool to see that lit up at night.
7/5- 5AM wakeup. I walked to Union Station and caught the train to the airport. No issues on this flight either. I landed in Newfoundland just after noon. After careful consideration, I decided against a car rental and have mixed feelings about that choice. Parking was rough and I would have needed a navigation system. I'm not certain that I could have gotten one. Taxis are readily available and most of what I wanted to see was walkable but I ran out of stuff to do too early.
Ontario has a bit of a different vibe but it's not a whole lot different from the USA. Newfoundland is an entirely different world. It's greener, very hilly and locals have interesting accents similar to Ireland. First thing I did was a challenging hike up to Signal Hill. That was especially tough with a bit of jet lag.
There are a ton of fun bars downtown. I prefer a quieter atmosphere that is conducive to conversation. I strongly dislike cover charges because I will leave if I'm not enjoying the crowd and try my luck elsewhere. As expected, my southern accent created a bit of a buzz but nobody obsessed over it. The most common question that I got was why did I want to come to Newfoundland? Why not? In the end, I did meet some nice people who were not too wasted but it took a couple stops. You won't have any trouble meeting people here. Locals will approach you and initiate the conversation. Everyone was impressed that I have visited all 10 Canadian provinces.
7/6- Slept in a bit and got on a 3.5 hour bus tour of the city and surrounding area. The highlight was Cape Spear, which is the easternmost point on the North American continent. The only real downer was that after a late lunch, I had seen pretty much everything within walking distance. Now, I wish I did have a car to explore the island. Oh well, I ended up just chilling at the harbor for a while then went to bed early for obvious reasons. There were really only one or two spots that I missed out on seeing.
7/7- 4AM wakeup this time. I tried to get a later flight out of Newfoundland and an earlier flight out of Toronto but no such luck. I was worried about getting a taxi at that hour but it was of no concern. I actually hoped for a delay but the first flight went off without a hitch and I was back in Toronto with an 8 hour wait until my next flight. The woman in front of me had to wait 10 hours for a flight to Cuba. When you have to take 3 flights, you run the risk of a missed connection, which is why I considered flying out of Atlanta. I figured if worse came to worst, I would have to spend a night in Philadelphia.
I figured that I would have to change terminals and knew that I would go through US Customs and additional security while still in Toronto. For this reason, I wanted at least 2-3 hours here but not 8. Time actually passed quickly and I had a nice conversation with a guy from Ontario and a girl from Jamaica for a while.
The drama started with a 1 hour delay on the flight to Philly and my scheduled layover was only 75 minutes. At least, I would make it back to America. Fortunately, my seat was near the front and I made it only because the connecting gate was close. I arrived at the gate out of breath from running when the last group was called for boarding. I was sure glad that I didn't have to drive from Atlanta now. I crashed shortly after I got home.
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