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toronto: the first 24 hours

By nathanmckean ⋅ December 3, 2007 ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ Post a comment

Well that was the shortest (feeling) 8 hour flight I’ve ever caught. I woke up at 4am to finish getting ready and head to Heathrow for a 9am flight. A little bit of a hitch arrived, when at the ATM I realised I didn’t have my card (uh oh). A little memory jog later and the only place it could have been left was Tesco from the night before, but they didn’t open for an hour and were not helpful at all.

At the risk of getting to the airport late, I waited - and lucky it was there. I had money

Jumped on the plane, read a magazine, watched Evan Almighty (surprisingly not too bad) and then Grease. Had some food and pretty much landed. Time flew (thank goodness)….. see what I did there?? flew?

I got lost in Toronto Airport. It’s not that big, I just wasn’t that smart after an early morning. Stepping outside, I felt for the first time what -11 felt like. -11 is not my friend. Shirt, Shirt, Jumper, Coat, Beanie, Gloves and Scarf later I caught a bus to the subway and connected to the hotel - I splurged on the Sheraton to make it feel like a holiday quicker. These shortish trips, I need to forget work early! The Sheraton Centre, Toronto is really nice - if you can get a decent price, I suggest you visit. My room overlooked the Town Hall with its temporary ice rink and a concert - they even put fireworks on for me.

After a walk around I retired back to my room for an earlyish night of warmth and TV. Interesting I woke at 2am - I don’t know why. I do know why a woke again at 5:30 though - FIRE ALERT! (Yes, alert - not alarm). The brigade was called and we were to standby. Just in case an investigation was needed, I ensured warm clothes, passport, ID and money were close. In the end, it was an extinguisher on the 17th floor that had been set off - not fire. Thanks for the wakeup call Sheraton. The only positive of waking up at 5:30 was that I woke up to a snow filled landscape - pretty cool, and I don’t get to see snow often. I’m sure I’ll have seen a lot by the end of the week.

This morning I went for a bit of a walk down the road, got some breakfast then walked around for as long as I could before I had to check out. Managed to get some distance shots of the CN tower (I’ll go up later) and then got down to the harbour. Its a pity I’m travelling alone though - I really wanted to throw a snowball or two, but didn’t know how the old lady in the walking frame or the scary looking guy in the hoodie would react.

So now, I sit here. 24 hours gone. Mental note - when snow gets slushy, it becomes water and goes through your shoes, wetting your socks. I’m on my second pair for the day - I didn’t stock up with too many….. this is going to be interesting!

Tags: canada, holidays, toronto, Travel