Summary of the 3 week world tour of Canada
OK. It is over. 24 days. 16 nights away. Some of the bean counting highlights of my trips around Canada.
Longest journey – 2755 miles Toronto to Vancouver
Longest journey (time) – Kelowna to Banff – 11 hours
Total mileage covered (nearest 100) 9500 (ish)
No of provinces experienced: 4 (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec)
No of provinces not seen: 6 (plus 3 territories…). God this country is big.
No of time zones experienced: 3 (Eastern Standard time, Pacific standard time and Mountain standard time)
No of time zones not experienced:3 (Central Standard time, Atlantic standard time and Newfoundland standard time)
Public transport – 9000 miles. The 160 mile round trip to Niagara was also done car pooling and the 350 miles to Algonquin too, if that earns me any points?
Transport used? Plane (5500 miles+), coach (1300 miles+), train (750 miles) and undergrounds in Montreal and Toronto, as well as bus, seabus, skytrain and cable car in Vancouver and snowmobile in Banff National Park.
Biggest extravagance (travel) – my flight ticket to Vancouver - $650 all in.
Biggest extravagance night – Sandman, Kelowna, $160 a night
Biggest extravagance (food) - $60 on 3 course venison dinner in Jasper (I have been intrigued by venison since the Billy Connolly sketch – ‘an ideal way to get rid of that left over venison..’
Bargain night- C & N backpackers, Vancouver $18
(or perhaps the overnight train from Montreal to Toronto)
Or perhaps camping in Algonquin park!
Highest point (mechanically assisted) – Bow Summit at Lake Peyto, Banff national park, Alberta, 2135m, or 7000 ft.
Highest point (walking) – St Josephs, Montreal.
Lowest point – Algonquin Park – knee deep in water!
Total cost of trips (nearest $100) - $3,000 (and yes I do feel broke now!)
Random additional achievement – getting from Montreal Central Station, via the train, the Toronto Union station underground network, the TTC subway, and the underground network to my apartment, all without going out doors once. Got to be well over 300 miles. Do I win anything for that?!
So what did I learn?
Well I learned very quickly that you cant get to know a place in a day, couple of days or even a week… it made me laugh to meet British people in Vancouver saying that they had ‘well and truly done British Columbia now..’. What on earth does that mean? You can see monuments, and places, smell the air and taste the weather. But to really understand a place needs time, lots of time… its time that teaches you 4 or 5 options for a nice quiet evening out in Toronto for yourself… for 4 or 5 places to be with the crowds (or away from them) and to be able to tell visitors of a place where they might look for similar…
This country is truly memorable, and the country’s folk deserves to be very proud of it. To assign a ‘best’ to any part of it is futile, as how can you equate the view from a Rockies’ mountain hillside or glacier with a view of the stars in the open countryside at night, or the view of a wild bear eating at the side of the road with the sight of the Niagara falls being lit up, with fireworks going off above them… not to mention the uniqueness of the CN tower and Skydome in Toronto, the public library in Vancouver and the Notre Dame basilica in Montreal.
All I can say is it’s a fantastic experience and it deserves to be seen. More than that, it has to be seen to be believed. I cant believe there isn’t a sight in the places I saw that wouldn’t have moved most people in some manner or other.
If there was a place I could wrap up? Well, Banff to Jasper was a mindblowing journey, and for me, Revelstoke National Park summed up what I wanted to experience in Canada. Such a powerful sight. I can only enthusiastically say to you that all of these places are worthy of attention, and they will all leave you with something new.
But for the rest of my Canadian stay, or certainly this phase pre Christmas, I am going to settle for Southern Ontario. There is plenty there, both for me, and anyone else coming to visit…
And I am so pleased I chose Toronto. The best place in Canada? Well, GTA has 4.6m people, which says a lot. Well, it says that with that many people about, most things you could want and need are there. Apart from quiet. That’s what makes Canada so good, as quiet is everywhere. Even an hour or two out of Toronto. So I feel privileged to have landed up here, but lucky too to have seen what else there is. And the answer is… well, practically anything you could imagine.
Longest journey – 2755 miles Toronto to Vancouver
Longest journey (time) – Kelowna to Banff – 11 hours
Total mileage covered (nearest 100) 9500 (ish)
No of provinces experienced: 4 (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec)
No of provinces not seen: 6 (plus 3 territories…). God this country is big.
No of time zones experienced: 3 (Eastern Standard time, Pacific standard time and Mountain standard time)
No of time zones not experienced:3 (Central Standard time, Atlantic standard time and Newfoundland standard time)
Public transport – 9000 miles. The 160 mile round trip to Niagara was also done car pooling and the 350 miles to Algonquin too, if that earns me any points?
Transport used? Plane (5500 miles+), coach (1300 miles+), train (750 miles) and undergrounds in Montreal and Toronto, as well as bus, seabus, skytrain and cable car in Vancouver and snowmobile in Banff National Park.
Biggest extravagance (travel) – my flight ticket to Vancouver - $650 all in.
Biggest extravagance night – Sandman, Kelowna, $160 a night
Biggest extravagance (food) - $60 on 3 course venison dinner in Jasper (I have been intrigued by venison since the Billy Connolly sketch – ‘an ideal way to get rid of that left over venison..’
Bargain night- C & N backpackers, Vancouver $18
(or perhaps the overnight train from Montreal to Toronto)
Or perhaps camping in Algonquin park!
Highest point (mechanically assisted) – Bow Summit at Lake Peyto, Banff national park, Alberta, 2135m, or 7000 ft.
Highest point (walking) – St Josephs, Montreal.
Lowest point – Algonquin Park – knee deep in water!
Total cost of trips (nearest $100) - $3,000 (and yes I do feel broke now!)
Random additional achievement – getting from Montreal Central Station, via the train, the Toronto Union station underground network, the TTC subway, and the underground network to my apartment, all without going out doors once. Got to be well over 300 miles. Do I win anything for that?!
So what did I learn?
Well I learned very quickly that you cant get to know a place in a day, couple of days or even a week… it made me laugh to meet British people in Vancouver saying that they had ‘well and truly done British Columbia now..’. What on earth does that mean? You can see monuments, and places, smell the air and taste the weather. But to really understand a place needs time, lots of time… its time that teaches you 4 or 5 options for a nice quiet evening out in Toronto for yourself… for 4 or 5 places to be with the crowds (or away from them) and to be able to tell visitors of a place where they might look for similar…
This country is truly memorable, and the country’s folk deserves to be very proud of it. To assign a ‘best’ to any part of it is futile, as how can you equate the view from a Rockies’ mountain hillside or glacier with a view of the stars in the open countryside at night, or the view of a wild bear eating at the side of the road with the sight of the Niagara falls being lit up, with fireworks going off above them… not to mention the uniqueness of the CN tower and Skydome in Toronto, the public library in Vancouver and the Notre Dame basilica in Montreal.
All I can say is it’s a fantastic experience and it deserves to be seen. More than that, it has to be seen to be believed. I cant believe there isn’t a sight in the places I saw that wouldn’t have moved most people in some manner or other.
If there was a place I could wrap up? Well, Banff to Jasper was a mindblowing journey, and for me, Revelstoke National Park summed up what I wanted to experience in Canada. Such a powerful sight. I can only enthusiastically say to you that all of these places are worthy of attention, and they will all leave you with something new.
But for the rest of my Canadian stay, or certainly this phase pre Christmas, I am going to settle for Southern Ontario. There is plenty there, both for me, and anyone else coming to visit…
And I am so pleased I chose Toronto. The best place in Canada? Well, GTA has 4.6m people, which says a lot. Well, it says that with that many people about, most things you could want and need are there. Apart from quiet. That’s what makes Canada so good, as quiet is everywhere. Even an hour or two out of Toronto. So I feel privileged to have landed up here, but lucky too to have seen what else there is. And the answer is… well, practically anything you could imagine.
posted by CBC at 9:05 am
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