Canada ∼ East Coast
COST: Around £1500 (£65.22 a day)
CURRENCY: Canadian Dollars $
DATE: 11th August 2019 - 2nd September 2019
DURATION: 23 days
AGE: 18
TOP APPS: Pop-a-Ride/Trip Advisor
After an amazing summer working as a Camp Counselor, I made my way back from the forest to the City of Montréal. I used the money I earned ($1600) to travel the East coast of Canada for a month :)
Contents:
💠 Montréal
💠 Quebec City
💠 Toronto
Montréal
A gorgeous metropolitan ensemble of commerce, culture and creativity. Montréal is a cosmopolitan capital of North America with expositions, Basilicas, theme parks, abandoned buildings, botanic gardens, Cat cafés and more.
A city one could easily get lost in for months. I spent a total of 3 weeks here. Here’s a rundown of some of my favourite spots and activities:
Sunny runs on Mount Royale (the triple-peaked hill which the city is named after)
Mr Puffs and Beaver Tails 🧇 (aka, the best forms of deep-fried pastry you will ever get, anywhere)
Clubbing with a group of friends we met in the hostel (therefore being able to afford a bottle of Jack for all of us 👌🏽)
Hiring a bike to the botanical gardens and managing to use my out-of-date international student card to get a discount!
Walking 10km around Mount Royale and through a graveyard (very peaceful places) to see Canada's largest church
Getting a coffee after the long walk and making friends with the Barrista ☕️ He gave me some dark chocolate and I gave him an apple - a lovely exchange 💛
Subway surfing and people watching
Expositions at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts
Crying at the state of humanity at the World Press Exhibition 2019
La Ronde roller coaster park the day before I received my A-Level grades
Receiving my grades on the stairs of the hostel at 4 in the morning (time difference) finding out I got 3A*s! 🙌🏼
Celebrating with brunch the next day at Tommy’s Café 💚
Getting my first tattoo :)
Doing Tai Chi in a park with a chatty Vietnamese man
Running by the St Lawrence River and stumbling across a massive abandoned factory
Jacques-Cartier Bridge
The above are just some of my most special memories, but the beauty of this city is that whatever you’re interested in, you can create your own adventure!
Québec
After all the fun of Montéal, Québec felt like a completely different country to me. For some reason, I hadn’t fully gathered that nobody would speak much English, probably just my dim, internationally accustomed, city gal, brain talking.
I was therefore very grateful I used a car share app called ‘Pop a Ride’ which I had seen on a poster in one of the Montréal hostels. Due to this, I not only saved money, but I also made friends with a lovely Aussie chap, who I then spent the fair share of my time with in this Quebecois land I had stumbled into.
Again, here are a few top moments:
A wonderful guided walking tour through the city centre - booked online for probably around £15 (seemed pricey at the time) but was well worth it, as I understood the history and culture of this grand town far better at the end e.g. did you know Queen Victoria’s Dad lived in Quebec?
Attending an impromptu firework display (which was thrown for French reasons I still don’t understand). Me and Ben (Aussie chap) sat on a ledge with little paper cups filled with red wine watching the show 🍷
Returning from said show, fairly tipsy, and making friends with a group of very Quebec chefs who had just closed up their restaurant - ended up sitting in a bar with them sharing a couple rounds of bourbon. I didn’t understand much but had a great time! One of the chefs even walked me back to my hostel to make sure I was alright!
Made pancakes with other travellers at the hostel the next morning, which my hungover self was in great need of 🥞
Runs and chocolate-dipped ice cream in a beautiful natural park
Wandering around a church that had been converted into a bookstore
A free carnival/circus by street performers ! 🎡
Toronto
Whilst only here for a few short days, I explored Toronto from my base hostel in Chinatown called College Backpackers. In Montréal I had also made friends with the receptionist of the hostel, it was with this lovely Brazilian that we enjoyed what the wonderful city had to offer, including . . .
Amazing breakfast from one of the many Chinese bakeries + Tim Hortons coffee
Taking a boat tour around the harbour; seeing seals and the Toronto skyline from offshore
A free museum exhibition - exploring technological identity, security and representation
Making friends with a couple Canadians outside my hostel and going for a fab round of drinks
Bookshops 📚
Accompanying Féllipe (Brazilian lad) to his favourite tattoo artists’ apartment. Ended up watching Forrest Gump, drinking rosé and spending 8 hours there while he got tattooed 🤗
Wandering around Lawrence Market
Picking up dumplings from my favourite Chinese restaurant, asking a dude if the seat in front of him was free* and ended up being shown around the University of Toronto by him!
*One major piece of travel advice is if you see someone who you find interesting, just talk to them! - what’s the worst that can happen? In my experience, the best moments come from these little acts of courage 💗
