Category Archives: Toronto

T is for Toronto ~ 2018 #AtoZ Challenge

Toronto

T is for Toronto

2018 #AtoZ Challenge


We’re back in Canada and the City of Toronto today for T is for Toronto in the #AtoZ Challenge. Today the city takes in a number of boroughs and is known as the GTA (greater Toronto area).

The city has many museums, galleries and parks. It is also home to the CN Tower. In recent years, they’ve added the tower walk, where you get harnessed up and can walk around the exterior of the tower near the top. Yikes! Not for me.

T is for Toronto
Toronto from the ferry to Centre Island

The white ‘dome’ in the left of the photo is the Roger’s Centre, formerly known as the SkyDome. The Toronto Blue Jays play baseball here. During the most recent ice storm, the roof was damaged which forced the delay of the ballgame by one day.

Toronto even has its own castle! Located in the heart of the city stands Casa Loma

T is for Toronto
By paul (dex) bica from toronto, canada (casa loma) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

#SEWES2016 ~ Sept 26 Glasgow Airport to Toronto

#SEWES2016

Sept 26 – Glasgow Airport to Toronto

With a stop in Montreal

 

Sept 26
Sunrise over Glasgow

This morning was a first. Don got pulled aside going through security. They swabbed his hands (backs and palms) and his shoes before placing the swab in the machine to be analyzed. An episode of Border Security played out before my eyes. Me, I passed through with no problems at all.

We stopped at Beardmore for breakfast. We’ve eaten here before. It seems our flights always leave from gates beyond this point so when you’re lugging a heavy pack on your back, it’s a welcome stop – not to mention, the food is good.

Sept 26
From the window at Beardmore Restaurant, Glasgow Airport

On our walk to our departure gate, we got a good look back at the hotel. We’d intentionally left our curtains open so we could see our room when we were out and about. This was the first chance I had to get a photo.

Sept 26
The hotel showing our room

My plan was to read on the plane on our return flight. Not to be. My iPad was SO dead, even plugged in, it wouldn’t turn on. The seats in the departure lounge weren’t the best for plane watching but fantastic for charging devices. I had my phone and my iPad both plugged in.

While they charged, I took my Canon DSLR for a walk.

Sept 26
Our plane

Enough charge now in the phone to take selfies. We’re not looking overly happy here, but then the vacation was well and truly over by now and by the end of the day, we’d be back to reality.

Sept 26
Terminal selfie
Sept 26
On the plane selfie

Albeit blurry, we’re finally looking happy. A glass of champagne in hand!

Sept 26
Champagne selfie

Since I couldn’t read on my iPad, I watched movies instead.

When we landed in Montreal, I had the opportunity to get a picture or two out of the plane window. This Air Canada was at the gate next to us.

Sept 26
During our stopover in Montreal

It seemed to take forever to get the headcount of the remaining passengers correct. Only those deplaning in Montreal were allowed off. People stretching their legs and milling in the aisles made it impossible for the flight attendants to get an accurate count.

In Toronto, we couldn’t get off the plane straight away because of the bag log in the customs hall. It was still bad when we arrived but when we finally got to the checkpoint, like good Canadians, we declared our 100 gms of fudge we purchased on the Royal Yacht Britannia (indicated on our landing card), the remaining tin of Pringles we’d purchased so we could use the toilet at one of the roadside services, and our bottle of whisky each.

Usually, we have to wait for our luggage at the carousel. Not this time. It waited for us… and had been removed and placed on the floor. That was a first.

Cleared past the last checkpoint and out into the arrivals hall where we made our way to the post where we phoned for the hotel shuttle to come and collect us.

I had a gift card for Montanas, so after we checked into the hotel, we walked over there for supper. They had a large group in so we’d have a wait for our meal. I wasn’t super hungry after everything they fed us on the plane. We had drinks and waited for them to take our food order. Even though it took them longer to do that than we wanted, our meals were brought to us before the estimated time. Amazing what can happen when you get into the queue.

I can’t wait to go back to the UK. Now the question remains… what time of year? Next year? What part(s) do we want to visit?

 

#Scotland 2015 Day 1 – Toronto to Glasgow

#Scotland 2015 – Sept 11, 2015

Things didn’t get off to the most auspicious of starts for our trip. First thing in the morning, we tried to do the ‘pre-board’ from home. Well, our flight wasn’t even listed! Suffice it to say, panic ensued.

A call to the airline confirmed that our flight really was scheduled – the website wasn’t refreshing properly and the flights listed on it were for the previous day. Being booked on Option Plus, gave us priority handling and boarding at the airport anyway, so not being able to pre-board from home wasn’t a huge problem.

Toronto

We made it to Toronto without incident and whizzed through security and out to our departure lounge. There was a plane at the gate with the outer and inner engine cowling open and hubby found out that it was our plane. Doesn’t give you a warm fuzzy. Apparently, it had been in the hanger for about 4 weeks and almost forgotten about.

It was well after dark by the time the engine cowling was closed and the baggage went on. We were to start boarding at 9:15 but that was delayed by 15-20 minutes.

While we were waiting at the gate while the crew did the pre-flight checks, the power on the plane went off. By now, we were beginning to wonder about our decision to fly on 9-11. They always talk about the emergency lighting on the floor – well, it showed up really well. So now we know if we ever need it, we’ll be able to see it.

We were finally on the plane. Not the first row with only two seats near the back but the second. Actually, these were better seats because the tray tables were attached to the backs of our seats.

Despite being behind schedule in the beginning, we were in the air and on our way… with an anticipated landing half an hour earlier.

Option Plus doesn’t have all the perks of Club Class but it’s still worth the money. We had booked this last year when we flew to Paris but were upgraded to Club by the airline (possibly because of my gimpy leg) so we had no idea what Option Plus was like.

Once we got to cruising altitude, we each received a 200 ml bottle of Bottega Gold Prosecco. With our meals, we got a bottle of wine – our choice of red or white. I chose the red (what else is new) Whistling Thorn Shiraz and hubby the Whistling Thorn Sauvignon Blanc.  Best of all, the extra 10 kilos on our baggage allowance so we won’t have to worry (quite so much) about overweight bags when it comes time to come back to reality.