CANADA - The Story

[Stanski]

Chapter 3 started. days 1 to 19. Chapter 4 to do, Chapter 5 info provided.

Introduction
The awkwardness I feel in writing our adventure is that I could not describe it all in the limited time available. But here goes. Thanks to Admin who helped to retrieve my first script I had lost.

In striving to achieve accuracy and be informative as possible with correct information I have divided the story into chapters and will build up the story as time allows.
Concious that some would have read the first two chapters I have included this index here to indicate what else has been added. So far:
Chap 1 - INITIAL PLANNING
Chap 2 - SOME NUMBERS
Chap 3 - SIGHTS & SCENE days 1 to 19 so far - (16 Nov)
Chap 4 - THE RV ADVENTURE (Not yet started)
Chap 5 - FINAL COSTS (Basic Cost Data)

BACKGROUND
We were intending to attend a wedding in USA, so started to look at buying an old RV and driving it around. Then the Niece requested a small event of close family members so we opted out.
Good friends met an unknown cousin at a funeral in summer and suggested we join them on a journey of adventure around Canada
We also in June attended a family wedding that revealed distant relatives on West coast and thought why not.
Budget was an issue but a small holiday pot was available to squander.

PRIOR PLANNING
There was an amount of uncertainty in what could be achieved, also other family issues were imposing limitations, but after our close friends divulged they had booked for 15 Sep, we had a decision to make in a matter of 5 days.

RV Hire - This option was normally too expensive for our budget, but we found Canadreams offered reduced rental if you returned a vehicle from a location back to Toronto.
We reviewed the online booking and seen Halifax to Toronto for 21 days was an option at 89 dollars /day if journey was in October only. Hmmm - a few weeks after 15 Sep!

Car Hire - cheap at 40 dollars /day, and our friends had chosen this option.

Accommodation - Normal options of Motel, BnB, Etc were available, 50+dollars/day.

Flights - Singles were no more expensive than returns, if bought in good time, we found specific days better than others, so had to make choices.

DECISIONS
Book RV first, found online booking system was flawed, spoke direct with bookings and discovered only available rental was for 18 days, starting 13 Oct (friends were returning to UK on 06 Oct.)
Bugger - quick thinking - just do it, so it was committed, No Refund though.

Book flight next - found that within 10 hrs of initial enquiry, seats on 15 Sep with Air Canada sold out, so then next best option was 20 Sep (£165 pp) with Air Transat, then found it was 6 hr stopover in Montreal, heh ho.

Visa - initial eTA request failed (big worry), but payment issue resolved so done next day.

Accommodation - Found via discussion with friends the Air BnB website, so registered and discovered relatively cheap (£30) room near where friends were staying. Booked 2 nights, as plan was to then tour Ontario and Quebec in car.
Also registered with booking.com and found good options of Motels, BnB, Hotels, etc.

To have some prior stops sorted we arranged Motel / Gite / House / BnB for 2 nights in the major cities, allowing us to find motel or BnB wherever we were on the journey.

Car Rental - needed larger car as 4 people with luggage to get in, extra (£7/day) inc driver waiver (£4/day)

BASIC SCHEDULE
Arrive Toronto 2days
Wk1 - Tour Ontario
Wk2 - Tour Quebec
Return Toronto
Niagara Falls
Wk3 - Journey to Halifax
Wk4 - Tour Nova Scotia
Wk5 - Tour Prince Edward Island
Wk6 - Tour New Brunswick
Return Toronto

We packed our bags, with credit card and passports in pockets off we drove to Gatwick.

 

[jagmanx]

Thanks for the post

We are thinking about Canada.

I have investigated various flight options and your experiences are helpful.

I appear to have found Direct Flights from UK to Halifax and so if they are still available (Summer 2018) this may bee our plan and hire a vehicle for 3 or 4 weeks from Halifax

I am quite used to making our own arrangements including sourcing internal flights etc etc.

I will be following your progress with interest

 

[Stanski]

Have just written up chapter 2 - now awaiting it to be loaded onto site if it can be found.
It has details of costs etc
Blast - Will need to write it again. Need to log-in correctly, thanks for putting me right Phil.

Now at top of C N tower, off to do some more attractions and then shopping before final beer in pub.

 

[phillybarbour]

Trip sounds great despite lots of planning needed. Great read.

 

[Robmac]

That's it Stan. Rub it in.

 

[Stanski]

Sorry Rob

That's it Stan. Rub it in.

Lovely and sunny here, a chilly wind though.

 

[Stanski]

CANADA - The Numbers (Chapter 2)

For those who don't know us, please don't think we are extravagant, or furnished with wealth, as this reflection of our adventure may suggest it, we are two run of mill characters in mid 50's.

We embarked on the adventure for a few reasons; We are not getting younger, We wanted to travel America, We thought 'What the eck - we only live once', also as a good friend reminds us "Shrouds have no pockets".
I should also say that this is a bit scary as it is my first accounting of it, so if it should stop midway send medics as heart will be panicking.

The Budget
This was a little uncertain, in our basic judgement from European travels of £300/wk we thought double that plus a bit.
Basic thoughts were daily expense of £40 accommodation, £20 food, £30 vehicles&fuel, £10 expenses.
Our length of stay was also unclear, we opted for a 'get there and see how long we could last'.
As indicated in Chapter 1 we had at least 5 weeks due to ill judgement of bookings, and seen 3 months as maximum.

So a rough target of £100 a day was considered a start, and a battle fund of £5k from my last contract job would set us up for a couple of months. Support funding from Credit Card if required.

The Numbers
These are quite accurate and the sections are to show the separate aspects of our adventure. When we started exchange was £1 = $1.67, worst we experienced was $1.53, so have used $1.6 as the main calc value.

General
A. £120 (Visa, 92 day annual Insurance)
B. £356 (Flight Gat to Toronto - Airtransat)
C. £375 (Flight Toronto to Gat - Westjet)

Vehicles and Fuel
CAR 1 - Nissan Maxima, 3.5L did 35 mpg approx, needed for 4 people & luggage touring Ontario and Quebec.
Travelled 4777km [2985 ml] in 2 wks.
Fuel {petrol} was $0.95 [60p], around Toronto, North Ontario $1.04, Quebec $1.12, Nova Scotia ranged from 1.12 to 1.17 [73p]. Diesel was usually 5cents lower.

A. £385 (Upgrade Car Hire & Waiver for 14days) 21 day hire shared cost
B. £170 (fuel)
C. £40 (parking, washing)

CAR #2 - Chrysler Acura, 1 day hire to get around Gaspe peninsular. Did approx 45mpg.
Travelled 1085km [678 ml].

A. £55 (hire)
B. £70 (fuel)

BUS - megabus journey Toronto to Montreal (6hrs)
TRAIN - Atlantic overnight Montreal to Halifax (21hrs). We broke this journey into 2, stopping at Cambellton for 2 nights so we could explore Gaspe penininsular.
Intended plan of stopping at Amherst to get to Prince Edward Island was thwarted by train being delayed and Bus link being moved to opposite side of town so no opportunity to get to it.

A. £80 (bus). Approx
B. £350 (train) Approx - had to buy extension ticket so uncertain.
C. £100 (bus, tram, taxi, streetcars) rough approx over all time.

RV - Ford 4500, 7 tons, full slider 1 side. 26ft long, 3.4m high. 4 berth.
We took cheap rental option of book and get what was available, so it was a surprise.

Warning
Economy was 11.5mpg.
We travelled 4190km [2618 ml], at average 75kph, occasionally 100kph on highways.

A. £1100 (hire for 18 days, with 2400 km mileage free.)
B. £250 (bought 800km extra journey)
C. £440 (over distance limit charge of 0.37cents/km + taxes)
D. £665 (fuel)
E. £34 (Tolls)
F. £28. (Propane refill)

ACCOMODATION
We set a target of £40/night [$70] and hoped for the best.
Our few experiences in U.K suggested £50-60 was norm, so with our £700 week budget, this would use 50% of it.
What we had not realised were the many options of room, 'Double / Queen / King' and double double of each, smoking/non-smoking, with kitchenette or not.
Most of our choices were Queen, nonsmoking, no kitchenette. Most had microwaves anyway.

AirBnB
We learnt just before leaving UK about AirBnB, so with also booking.com and to give both our friends and ourselves some assurance at major cities we pre-booked specific accommodation.

AirBnB worked well but we found at times the host charges for more than 1 guest, also some add a cleaning charge and also you pay 13% booking service charge, which suddenly turns £25 room to a £45 room.
In AirBnB we found Gites and Regulated BnB's which again still had the service charge.
Another frustration was we learnt that there was a 3% difference in exchange rate and as a U.K. Registered user we lost out, but in using it we met some brilliant and unique people, as well as slept in some places off the beaten track.

Experiences
Our very first booking was with a lady on the outskirts of Toronto, and we were her first confirmation. A lovely middle eastern lady who belied her age and enjoyed yoga.
Our second booking was a house in a village that had Polish heritage, the owner was an ex-lumberjack now farmer who also is involved in making Maple Syrup. He kindly gave us a LARGE jar, so big we are bringing half home.
Another booking provided us access to a Gite in northern Quebec City, owned by a very nice lady who provided the most amazing breakfasts.
In Halifax we met a young lady who manages adventures and schooling for school kids whilst on Tall Ships sailing around the world for a year at a time. Whilst with her she was engaged in getting an engine repaired for a schooner stuck in Madrid.

Booking.com
As a previous registered user it was easier to manage, and we found best deals in our opinion.

Experiences
With booking.com we found a Gite in Niagara-on-the-Lake, run by a Romanian who just left the front door open and allowed us to get into the rooms as we arrived.
Another room was in a 1920 wooden authentic Georgian style house that had the most squeaky floors, 4 poster beds and ancient iron bath tub with wrap around curtains.

Prior to departing we managed to ensure every 3 days we had a home upto 03 Oct, then just managed as we went along.

Motels
First was at Tobermory, at the tip of a peninsular in Ontario that allowed us to use a ferry across to Manatoulin Island in the morning.
The lady also provided breakfast of Toast and cereal with hot drinks or milk.
$65 + tax
Second was pre-booked for 2 days at Saulte Ste Marie, to allow us to visit the Arawak Canyon (more later about this). A little more expensive as it was close to train station, town centre, also because of season to see 'The Colours'
$85 + tax
Third was in Sudbury, allowing us to visit the Nickel Mines, it was a late evening arrival and no other hotels offered a cheap room for a Friday
$80 + tax
Fourth was nightmare, a very last ditch attempt when travelling from Montreal to Toronto. It was at a town called Cornwall location was superb with pretty elegant houses on road opposite a lake shore.
We were last two rooms and did not inspect them before payment (every other time we had), not the cleanest, needed modernising, cigarette burns everywhere, dodgy sockets and worse of all - No Wifi, but the TV did work.
$85 + tax
Our last motel was via booking.com, and again very much last minute. The manager was an ex British Indian who kindly sorted a kettle and teabags. A pleasant experience and got us to Lake Erie area near Niagara to see the town of Welland.
$80 + tax

Hotel
Due to train and bus schedules not tying up we ended up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 3 days early. It also coincided with our anniversary so had to bite the bullet. This was a major achievement as it had to be booked in the dining car of VIA train, which had SSSLLLOOOWWW internet.
A lovely Best Western Plus and well deserved pat on the back for me.
$125 + tax
It was worth it, especially the restaurant meal when hurricane ??? Hit.

Final Total
Budget target was £40 / day
Total became £1308 for 49 days which equates to £42.20p / day (not too bad).

Next Chapter 3 - Sights and Scenes

I do hope it's not too boring for you, or hard to digest.
Now about to get plane - more later

 

[Stanski]

CANADA - Sights & Scenes Days 1 - 8 (Chapter 3)

Introduction
Our first thought for visiting Canada was to experience the Main Cities; Toronto, Quebec City, Ottawa and of course Niagara, so with the inclusion of the RV hire other opportunites arose and so the East coast states were explored.
Being ignorant of what Canada had to offer other than Mounties and The Rockies as well as the above Cities a huge research and uplift in knowledge was required. Luckily my town charity shops helped by providing two travel books, for Canada and another for the East States, which supplemented an already owned guide of North America.

We flew into Toronto via Montreal so shall seek to describe the towns we visited as the adventure evolved starting with Toronto. Names underlined indicate significant large towns or cities to track journey. Specific costs are given in dollars to aid future explorers as a guide.

Toronto - Days 1 & 2
Hosted by our friends cousin we explored outskirts of Toronto instead of the City.
Initially we were introduced to an Antiques Mall 25 miles W of Toronto, learning about different Canadian pottery and how Milk Bottles and Electric Insulators were worthy items to invest in.
A lunch visit of the most popular fast food outlet "Tim Hortons" and experienced how refuelling was done Canadian Style led to an exploration of Carlford Lake, which close to Niagara Escarpment allowed us to explore an Indian heritage site and also see environmental and wildlife protection in action.
Explored eastern areas of Oakhill, Mississuaga and become familiar with driving rules and traffic conventions so we were settled ready to drive the next day to begin our adventure.

West Ontario - Days 3 & 4
We set an ambitious plan to reach Saulte Ste Marie (pronounced: So Say Marie ) in NW Ontario at the top of Lake Huron in 2 days as we had pre-booked the AGAWA CANYON TRAIN, so led to also booking a Motel to accommodate this.

AGAWA CANYON TRAIN [ $115 - 1 x Adult ]
This was a full day trip to travel on an old rail road built for supporting the mining and lumber trades in early 1900's to allow us to view Wild Canada Forests, Lakes, Hydro Dam, walk and see a canyon. It is best experienced in Late Sep/Early Oct to see the "Tree Colours", albeit more costly and each way was 4 hrs to get 114 miles north of S-S-M inside NIPIGON FOREST)

Travelling west from Toronto towards Lake Huron, we took a relatively leisurely drive along the highway before veering NW towards Goderich, via towns of Stratford and Exeter (Had to be done).

Stratford is the place to go to see Shalespeare Plays - we didn't as time would not allow so a quick walk around the town and tea stop was taken. Goderich has a pleasant shoreline with elegant houses, North to Sauble Beach via Tiverton (had to be done), Kincardine and Port Elgin.
At Sauble Beach apparently the best location to take pictures of the Sun Setting by film makers and postcard sellers, we arrived 5pm and took a break to walk along the beach, where we then found the local vintage car club starting to park their cars on the sand car park area. An hour of oggling the cars was not enough but time was precious and we still needed a place to sleep so onwards up the Bruce Peninsula, taking the decision to get to Tobermory which would allow us to get a ferry across to Manitoulin Island.

Ferry - Tobermory to Baymouth, Manitoulin Island [ $110 - Car plus 4 passengers].
This was a good experience taking 2 hours, seeing Lighthouses and coastline with wildlife and birds with various Canadian typical beach houses and fishing boats.

Manatoulin Island - quite different with fishing the most prevalent industry along with crafts of carpentry sculpture and woven linen.
A full day touring most of the island to see marina's, small cafe's and viewing many different styles of house and interesting newspaper boxes.
Crossing the bridge at Little Current took us to Espanola, to join the Trans-Canadian Highway travelling west to S-S-M, through Blind River and Thessalon which are small towns of about 2000.

At So Say Marie negotiating the one-way streets caused a small panic as the tickets for the Agawa Train had to be obtained at 7:30 and the office was in a car-park, so we immediately worried about how to get from there to the train station some way away. Lo and behold we were advised to park the car and wait. Sure enough in the corner of the car park the train arrived (we had not noticed the train line) - then a 5 minute walk along the 30+ carriages to find our seats.

That night we explored the town as with the 6pm return night was falling, and seen that two bridges crossed the river to access the USA. Each bridge was lit up with the colours of each country and was quite spectacular.

In S-S-M, there is a Canal, a hydro power station and various museums, one we visited was the Bush Airplane Museum which offered walk-on experiences as well videos of flight journeys outting out forest fires and along the coast as well as the canyon.

North Ontario - Days 5 & 6
Returning along the highway back past a small town called Spanish we seen our first bear - a 2/3 yr old cub stealing apples from a garden tree.
Heading East towards Ottawa, we had set another ambitious target of reaching it within 2 nights/3days from S-S-M to occupy a prebooked house in the Quebec side of Qttawa called Gatineau.

We travelled along to Sudbury to stay in a motel allowing us a visit of the Nickel Mine experience called Dynamic Earth, which gave us a tour of the one older mine and history of the area.

Staying on the main highway to move through Sturgeon Falls and North Bay we then headed South towards Huntsville viewing lakes and rugged land that was littered with farming estates and small villages. We chose this route to allow us to see some of the Lakes Area and also Algonquin Park, a large area of protected forest that allows canadians to canoe, kayak and walk in controlled environments containing wildlife. One road passes through the lower side eastwards and through it we slowly moved.

On exiting the park we passed Barry's Bay and stopped in an area dominated by Polish names, and experienced a unique evening in a traditional house in Wilno, located beside a Polish Historic Museum that showed much of old living in the area and how people worked.

Spooky Moment- During our journey to Wilno we stopped at a random service station to refresh rations. Whilst in it we were investigating beer and with the many offered, choice was difficult, during this hesitation a young man also visited the beer area so not being slow going forward I asked if he had any suggestions. In a twang of Canadian mixed with a British accent he answered, then realised we were British he told us he was from just down the road and where I had been the week before TRURO. Who'd have believed it. We were invited to a lakeside BBQ and beer, which due to other commitments we had to decline.

Next day touring through Ontario avoiding the main highway was interesting and awkward as signposting is not Canada's strongest practice, often only giving you the name of a town at a junction, and occasional road numbers as you went along. With the borrowed maps we found our way to Ottawa eventually. After an hour of searching for our next abode in a maze of one-way streets the borrowed SatNav was awoken for the first time.
The known address was entered and off we went following the spoken instructions to a location in Ottawa over the river and in the western suburbs. Odd? - no number 92 found. After some head scratching, double checking we resigned to conversing with the natives. Aha they said - you need Gatineau, not Ottawa. We then realised that Gatineau is Ottawa in Quebec, Main city of Ottawa is in Ontario and our borrowed SatNav only had Ontario, also both Ottawa and Gatineau had the sane street name in them. Very frustrating. Back to "Tim Hortons" for wifi to find a map and to verify address - Sod it, we had to go back to the maze of one-way streets (and detours by roadworks) and seek the house we had for 2 days.

OTTAWA - Days 7 & 8
A very easy to tour city, very easily walked around having most sights and museums within 2 miles of town hall. Parking is $18 for a day.
Worry Moment did not realise they close car parks under buildings at 6pm so panicked when returning at 7pm, but thankfully they allow exiting upto 8pm - phew, brow wiped.

Government House (parliament) was free albeit you have to queue for tickets in a building opposite early in the morning and choose what time you wished to visit and hope some were left for you to have. Well worth it.
National Gallery was OK but also dissappointing as a third of it was closed for renewal of exhibits to celebrate next years 150th.
Cathedral was very elegant.
Near to Parliament Byhouse Museum is very good at presenting how the Rideau Canal was built, why and who looked after it.
The canal locks and adjacent buildings lead to a ferry that takes you across the river to the history museum or casino - your choice.
National War Museum has interesting iitems and worth visiting if you have not seen other military museums in Canada.
City had variety of architecture with a mix of old and new fresh looks.

Funny Moment
We were seeking wifi to ascertain our next address. Stopped at a Subway in french Gatineau for a drink refresh and to get online at 5pm. First - No Coffee served after 11am, ??? then we find no wifi offered ??? Oh well the french do things differently dont they.


Next will be days 9 onwards Quebec, Quebec City and Montreal then Niagara.

 

[Stanski]

CANADA - Sights & Scenes Days 9 - 18 (Chapter 3 contd)

Apologies to anyone expecting a quick follow-up - annoyingly we had our ipad stolen so frantic enquiries to try to recover it has been main focus.

Tremblant and Mountains - Day 9
We did not want to go into Montreal as we had planned to visit on our journey back from Quebec City. This decision caused a few difficulties as there is no natural alternative road to get to Quebec City from Ottawa, so map-reading became very important as the road network twists and turns. Quebec is also very french and all notices and signs are french orientated so a little confusing when we had become accustomed to Canadian signage.

With a morning departure the journey from Gatineau, Ottawa was again fraught as one of the main roads and bridges crossing the St Lawrence was closed for repairs thus the detour took us back into the city again. Unfortunately we missed the exit to take the North Road above the river, and ended up having to negotiate the roadworks, one way system and city traffic with the South Road until we could get to the next crossing.

At Lac-Remi we stopped to have a restbite and found ourselves in the Information Office which coincidentally was one half of a chocolate factory which sold very very nice single items at $1.50 a piece. At the other end of the village was a cheese factory and just before you enter the border of the village a very nice wooden arch and gatehouse that leads along a drive to the largest wooden loghouse in Canada, doubling as a hotel and leisure park.

Heading North to Tremblant allowed us to stumble on a nice restaurant "The Red Chicken" offering lunch meals of pasta or omelettes with chips.

The journey to North Quebec City where we had a pre-booked Gite was via a myriad of roads and junctions zigzagging across the land to avoid the main highway 40. Here the awkwardness experienced sometimes were road signs only at junctions, no confirmation of road numbers as frequently as we would have liked and the unnatural continuation of road markings from one road to another when at the junction the actual original road turned left.

Reaching Quebec City in the dark was not comfortable with various highways criss-crossing or offering too many options at junctions with names that were uncommon and or contradictory to the previous one. Again the size of the country caused misinterpretation of distance and expected junctions. The use of a SatNav may have been prudent but reliant on the few maps we had after only 2 u-turns we found the area we needed and the Gite - which was superb in what was offered.

QUEBEC CITY - Days 10, 11 & 12
Three full days were quickly taken up with a full day touring the river towns north of the city also.

Within Quebec City the intricate narrow streets were a reminder of some french towns. Some beautiful buildings, also wall murals along with Art gallery's made the whole french experience much more so. On the edge of the coast two significant buildings were to be visited, Le Frontenac - a large 600 bed hotel that again is a picture postcard scene that denotes Quebec City, as well a little further down the road was the Main Citadel that still offers tours and reminders of what the historic fort was like 150 years ago.

Within Quebec City there are various museums and both modern and old architecture to view. Government house was having some modernisation and an extension built so access although free was limited with security and restrictions on viewing. Parking is provided on the harbour ($18) which allowed a short walk back to the city center and all the offerings it has.

Mingling along the narrow streets and mixing with cruise ship customers in the gift shops was often too frenetic and at times tedious. Art gallary after art gallery mixed with clothing boutiques probably took up half the stores. In the town square a church stood that offered a different variety amongst the norm.

North of Quebec City you can pay to go on a train ride - similar to the Agawa Canyon, to see waterfalls and tree colours, or you caould drive on the main road adjacent to the highway to experience the same. Montmercy Falls are quite dramatic and have viewing points as well a very long wooden ladder down to the lower rocks to see it in all its glory. Further north you see many zinc covered churches with single and dual spires. At Ste Anne-de-Beapre you find a very grand Cathedral with 2 spires and a very interesting history (2 survivors of a shipwreck were the founders), and soon became a notable pilgrimage when special healings began to be experienced. Opposite the entrance on the main road is a hotel with a hostelry that is open for meals at very competitive prices.

Isle Orleans is a farming community offering wines and ciders along with traditional farming fare of eggs and veg. Worthy of a visit to enjoy sprawling farms and sprawling countryside.

Montreal - Day 13
From Quebec City the southern main highway 20 was chosen as weather was poor and we wanted to get to Montreal asap. What we did not expect was the traffic congestion. Some 30 minutes to move approx 3 miles was souring the journey so a decision to find an exit and see if we could negotiate the city was taken. The largest standing platform at an angle of 45 degrees belonging to the Olypic Park was viewed in the distance, it would be an item we seen much closer up as we departed.

Our journey eventually took us along the river bank and across the railway bridge, an old looking metal structure that had seen better days. On arriving at the other side we sought parking - to find most of the roads had parking restrictions or needed local permits, so the main harbour car park was our only solution ($20 all day).

The Cathedral was very elegant with very impressive windows and internal artwork. The main square was full with people enjoying the fountain and sun. Again the city had a variety of museums, typically $15 entry, with some different offerings such as Architecture Museum, Fabric and Clothing Museum also Natural Living Musuem.

The harbour front has a pleasant look with old storage and mill houses as a backdrop to the cruise ship moorings, with fresh baked bread and food offered with lager or hot drinks on the waterfront.

We found the city to be very hectic and busy with a continuous flow of traffic and movement of people in most all the streets. The city was much more modern than Quebec City with wider roads that had more lorries on them.

CORNWALL & THOUSAND ISLANDS - Days 14 & 15
Very much a beautiful area with many options to abscond off the highway to see very many historic English forts, landing points of adventurers and in amongst all of these over 1800 islands to see lying on the river.

A spectacular viewing point of the islands is actually along the entry road to USA near Plattburgh, where a small toll ($4) is paid to get to the USA customs, then turn left to "SkyTower" a tall lighthouse type tower that after an entrance fee ($24) you can get a lift 3/4 way then walk the rest to oggle the islands.

On the route down from Montreal to Toronto the old road gives you opportunity to actually drive across about 20 islands using causeways - which is very pretty and unique.

WELLAND & NIAGARA FALLS - Days 16 & 17
Zipping through Toronto using the QEW (Expressway) we travelled quickly to Welland where stoping at a respectable Motel ($84) quickly found using booking.com allowed a day to explore Welland - a poor town that has over 20 wall murals and nearby the Welland Canal lock system that provides for large container ships and cruise ships to navigate to Lake Erie from the Lawrence River.

Niagara-on-the-Lake
A very wealthy area in the main that oozes houses of the show-off kind. Apparently owners have as part of the council permission to live have to keep the lawns and gardens in trim shape. We managed to get a Gite in the area and waking in the morning certainly felt grand.
Also in the area are over 40 Vineyards, some making Ice-Wine (Wine produced from grapes once they have lived 3 days in -8 degrees ). Ice-wine is very very expensive at a normal cost of £100 per bottle for most types, and luckliy most vineyards offer you a taste of 4 wines for $7, 1 an ice-wine.

Niagara Falls
From visiting Welland we travelled up to Niagara Falls along the boulevard then by parking near the hydro electric station walking to the falls from the river bank reveals many different and unique scenes.
We discovered the 'Niagara Pass' ($70) would give four experiences of Niagara along with bus travel in the area, so we moved on to the Gite and prepared to for an early start.

Part of the experience bought with the pass gave us a walk along the rapids (Grade 6 - Extreme), then with a boat trip upto the actual Falls and a tunnel behind the water falls the cost was very very worthy.

It has to be said that Niagara Falls was certainly a highlight.

Toronto - Day 18 & 19
We returned to Toronto (West Suburb actually) and used the days to do Laundry, investigate bus and train routes as well as tour the main train station "Union Station" area around the CN tower / Aquarium / Steam Whistle Brewery and the harbour to familiarise ourselves for future forays into the city.

On the day we travelled into Toronto we found that the baseball team "The Blue Jays" were in a play-off game to decide who would be moving toward the World Series. Tickets were being sold at $150 and the queues were long, we had made a decision to leave the next day to go to Montreal as part of our journey to Halifax to get the RV, so we declined the idea of watching the game as it oftens does not end until midnight.

They won and next played Clevedon Indians over a best of 7 competition.

What we did find was the TORONTO PASS - A booklet allowing 5 of 6 entry's to top attractions, costing $72. This we took advantage of on our return after dropping off the RV.

 

[Stanski]

CANADA - The RV Adventure (Chapter 4)

I have started this message in readiness for the details of our RV Adventure.
It was 18 days long, over 4 states, and a lot of kilometers.

 

[Stanski]

CANADA - FINAL COSTS (Chapter 5)

Canada for 49 Days (7 Weeks) = £7k approx

Flights, Ins and Visas ---------- £ 825
Accommodation --------------- £1075 (not inc Hotel) (£37 per day)
Hotel ( Anny Weekend ) -------- £ 380
RV Rental & Excess Charges ---- £1450 (£1100 initial rental charge)
Entry Fees -------------------- £ 565
Parking, Tolls, Ferries ---------- £ 175
Trains, Bus, Trams, Car Hire ---- £ 520 (including VIA train to Halifax $240 each)
Food, Laundry, Meals ---------- £1050 (2 washes in Laundrette = $20)
Fuel (Cars & RV) --------------- £ 825 (Avge $1.07 per Litre)
Postcards, Gifts, Items --------- £135 (each stamp was $2.50)

Days/Nights
15 - Car
18 - RV
01 - Train
10 - Toronto Houses
05 - Halifax