Day 1: 8th July 2015 – journey and arrival in Toronto
Our first trip abroad with Henrietta began like most of our others: with something going wrong. The night before I had sat down after Hetty went to bed at 7pm and checked the online departures board for Manchester airport. It was lucky that I did, as I realised that our ‘travel agent’ (in inverted brackets for a very good reason) had told us we were departing from the wrong terminal. Although the terminal didn’t affect the car parking I had booked; we had ordered a large amount of formula milk from Boots to collect once past security in the airport. At the wrong terminal!
I duly telephoned our ‘travel agent’ who could not have cared less – complaint is pending – and my anger and upset built even more. Boots were very helpful but unfortunately could not help us with transferring our order to the correct terminal. It meant me rushing out to Asda, who didn’t have any of our formula (even more panic!) but luckily Sainsbury’s saved the day. It meant that we had to try and fit the 14 cartons of ready made and the box of formula in our case but we managed it and somehow were underweight too!
Apart from forgetting a couple of non-essential items, the next morning went reasonably smoothly and we arrived at the airport in good time. Our car park meet and greet service with ‘Easy Park’ was very handy and convenient.
On check-in with Air Canada we requested a basinet seat, having been told by our ‘travel agent’ they could not be booked in advance but low and behold there were none left, despite us being one of the first people to check in. We were then given separate seats which I complained about and the woman snapped at me for stating it wouldn’t work having separate seats. Well do your job properly then!!! She accepted it was her mistake and quickly changed our seats to be next to each other in a 2-seat aisle so no-one would be next to us.
Hetty was then due a nap and following a quick bum-change duly fell asleep after a brief wheel around in her stroller. We then took the opportunity to grab some breakfast at Frankie & Benny’s whilst she slept. Some brief peace and quiet! Hetty then polished off some of our left over breakfast when she woke and we took her to the children’s play area to let her crawl around and waste some energy before boarding the plane.
Before travelling I had googled tips for travelling with an infant and one of the suggestions was to board the plane last, which we did and I am glad we did as by the time it came to take off she was getting a bit restless. Luckily the seats were quite spacious so we had a bit of room to entertain her on our knees. And by the way I have to say that the staff onboard Air Canada flights must be the trendiest in the world!
To our delight the flight wasn’t fully booked so once we had taken off we were able to move to spare a 3-seat which was so much more convenient. The meal onboard was nice and Hetty had a good long nap after her bottle which gave us a bit of peace and quiet 🙂
The rest of the flight went without a hitch – other than Hetty not having another nap which meant by the time we got to the hotel she hadn’t napped in 7 hours. For a 10-month old thats pretty good going!
It took forever for our bags to come once we arrived at Pearson Airport and when we finally got out it was about 4:15pm local time (we landed at 2:50pm) and the taxi I had booked through Zoom tours was no-where in sight. After a bit of asking around it appeared that Zoom tours aren’t a usual pick up at the airport so after a couple of attempts at using a payphone we managed to get hold of someone who confirmed no-one had been sent as the ‘flight number I gave was wrong’. Even though there was a flight coming in at the same time from the same origin. I’d given the flight number on our tickets but Lufthansa and Air Canada must have an agreement to use each other’s flights so when we got to the airport we were on an Air Canada flight with a different flight number. They didn’t have anyone available so after all that effort we ended up getting a limo from the airport. It worked out quite a bit cheaper than pre-booking and would have been more convenient so if you are travelling to Toronto Pearson Airport I really wouldn’t bother pre-booking a taxi. I’d also tried to pre-book a company that provides car seats but they were useless at getting back to me so that fell through. As it happens for the purposes of getting to and from the airport it was ok not having her in a car seat.
We arrived at our hotel: Town Inn Suites at around 5pm (10pm UK) and Hetty was still awake. She’d been almost dropping asleep on the way in the taxi but arriving at the hotel perked her up a bit. I was really impressed at the room – just what we needed. A separate bedroom, a living area and a kitchen with everything you could need. Perfect. The bathroom wasn’t done out amazing but we coped – it would have been nice to have a plug for the bath but oh well you can’t have everything! The hotel was a bit far from downtown but it was fine. It took about a 40-50 minute walk to get to the waterfront, CN Tower etc.
Our first task on arriving at the hotel was to get Hetty to bed which she promptly zonked out on her milk and went in the travel cot, provided by the hotel, fine. Andrew then went in search of pizza and some milk and bread for the morning whilst I unpacked. There was lots around the hotel so it didn’t take him long to find what we needed.
Day 2: 9th July 2015 – A day in Toronto
The next morning, with Hetty being wide awake at 3am (*sob*) we were out for a walk very early and grabbed a coffee and bagel at one of the many, MANY Tim Horton’s. You can’t go far without passing one thats for sure. They must be doing something right!
Next it was back to the hotel to grab a few things before we headed out for the day.
Following a third (!) breakfast at a little place near the harbour, our first stop was the CN tower. I’d pre-booked tickets online but we were so early I didn’t really need to. There were no queues at all so we were straight through security and in the lift to the first viewing platform. The views over the city were pretty great but unfortunately it was quite a misty morning so we couldn’t see too far. I’d heard that on a clear day you can see as far as Niagara Falls and Rochester.
We’d paid the extra fee to go all the way to the highest viewpoint, known as the Skypod. 447 feet above ground. Scary! But it would have been a lot more worthwhile had it been a clear day. We were then taken to the level with the glass floor which was terrifying but fun. I tried to take some pictures of us laying down on it but they didn’t come out. We also tried to get Hetty to crawl on it but even she wasn’t so sure! I don’t blame her 😉
I was impressed at the CN Tower and I have been up a few similar tourist attractions (for example the Eiffel Tower and Auckland’s Sky Tower) and I would say the experience was very good and the staff were all extremely helpful and plentiful. We actually had a hard time getting away from one lady who wanted to tell us lots of things to go and see whilst in Toronto!
Following this we went down to the harbour front to catch the next ferry over to Centre Point on Toronto Island. It is a very family-orientated place but one that is very worth while to visit. It has lots of grass, flowers and picnic tables, not to mention the attractions. Our first port of call over there was lunch at a cafe. We had a really nice lunch there and would recommend it – I had a burger and Andrew had a flatbread.
We then went to the farm, as Hetty was too young for most of the rides in the amusement park. Whilst looking around a young lady asked us if we would like to go in with the piglets. She said if we made a small donation to the farm she could take us in. So of course we duly obliged 🙂 The piglets were so cute and loved being stroked. They were even nibbling on our clothes and Hetty’s toes!
We walked to the beach and along the pier, took some photos and then decided to call it a day. We’d been up since 3am and so were shattered, even though there was a lot more to see (gardens, viewpoint, lighthouse…) we needed to rest for the long day we had ahead of us the following day: to Niagara Falls!
Day 3: 10th July 2015 – Niagara Falls
Today we had a 5am start so we were at least heading in the right direction with Hetty’s jet lag! We had to walk to Tim Hortons on York Street to meet the bus for our tour to Niagara Falls by 8:30 a.m. and it was at least a 40 minute walk, so it was probably a good thing we were up so early. I’d booked the tour with Zoom tours and due to the fiasco at the airport with the none-existent taxi I was worried it wouldn’t show up but luckily it did. We were collected in a rickety looking bus by ‘Tudy’: a tad overweight – father Christmas look alike. He seemed a bit abrupt and cold at first but he warmed up a lot during the tour and by the end was smiling and waving at Hetty 🙂 We sat up front on the bus which was a good thing as he didn’t use a microphone for when he was telling us information and it was sometimes hard even for us to hear him.
The drive to Niagara Falls takes around 90 minutes and we had stops in Niagara Falls village, the flower clock and a winery called Reif Estates. We had 45 minutes in the village but by the time we’d got the shuttle there and back we only had 30 minutes and it wasn’t nearly long enough. We looked in the Christmas shop and got an iced coffee and some sorbet from another shop and it was time to go! The village is so pretty and picturesque – absolutely full of flowers everywhere. I’d have liked to have stayed there a bit longer, but I guess thats what you get with tours. Looking back I didn’t take many photos in the village, which I wish I had as it looked fantastic with flowers everywhere. I assume it was due to the lack of time we had there. I have included a (terrible) photo of a pub just to give a sense of how many flowers there wear around the area.
The flower clock was pretty but missable. There were so many people around it that it was hard to get a photo, which was the main reason to stop there.
The winery was really good. We had a tasting of a white, a red and an ice wine – which we’d never heard of before so it was interesting to learn about it.
Ice wine originated from Germany and a family brought it over to Canada in the 70’s. Now 89% of the world’s ice wine is made in Canada and 85% of it in Ontario. At least those are the facts and figures I recall from the tour so I hope they are correct!
Finally it was then on to the Falls and we went straight on to the Hornblower cruise. The boat was packed but we still managed to get a good view of the magnificent waterfalls. We got so close to them that, had we not been wearing the poncho’s they’d handed out beforehand we would have gotten drenched. They even gave Hetty her own mini-poncho which was so cute! The fact you get so close means you can really take in the sheer size of the falls and power of the water coming over them.
It was such a bright, sunny day that the water was reflecting the sun and it was difficult to get a decent photo!
After the boat cruise we went for lunch in a nearby fast food restaurant that overlooked the falls which was lovely. We managed to get a photo at a view point which included both waterfalls. Luckily whilst we were there a group of young lads offered to take a photo for us, which came out really well. Thanks to them, and the large, brightly coloured puppet they were carrying around, Hetty was even smiling on the photo!
We then grabbed an ice-cream and sat across the road on a grassed area to let Hetty have a crawl around before the bus ride back to Toronto. The bus ride was awful as it didn’t have aircon so we were all sweltering in the heat. Hetty was down to just her nappy by the end of it and was bright red bless her 😦
We had a great day, ticking off a natural wonder and it was really worth spending the day visiting it from Toronto. Although we didn’t have long in Toronto this really was a must-see for us.
The following day we were headed to Halifax, Nova Scotia for a week – I’m covering this in my next blog post, so keep an eye out!
LOU'S TRAVELS 