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Old 29 Mar 22, 10:58 PM  
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techdan2002
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Toronto A-Level Trip February 2020

Wozzon fellow DIBB’ers, cornishfrogboy’s son Daniel here!

With the countdown to our long awaited, thrice postponed 11th family vacation to North America now into single digits, I thought it apt to do a historical trip report of my A-Level Geography trip to Toronto in February 2020, similar to my fathers 2017 ‘Panhandle Purgatory’ report written last year. Photos will hopefully follow when I'm allowed to post links.

Prologue

The seed for this trip was planted in late 2018 during an open day at Truro College exploring post-16 education pathways. With my heart already set on taking A-Level Maths and Physics (Big mistake in my case as it turned out) I needed to choose another subject. Upstairs to Geography I went to be greeted by the very enthusiastic Head of Geography Ian Hyland who went on to explain the trip options available on the course: Toronto, Iceland and Swaziland. That was it, Geography was to be my third A-Level choice (and later my degree subject at the University of Plymouth!)

Fast-forward to September 2019 during my second week at College the trip details were released. A four night trip to Toronto 2nd-7th February 2020 for the very reasonable price of £990, flights, hotel, tickets and evening meals included! (We would later go on to receive CA$140 back from that in cash throughout the trip) 16th September 2019 the trip opened up for bookings with 48 places available, and straight into the college shop from the 231 bus from Falmouth I was to put down my £200 initial deposit. Within four hours all places had been taken, a record set by the Geography department! With £790 left to pay I eagerly searched for employment, later securing part-time seasonal work and my first ever job at Poundland from a job advert in their shop window. An Autumn of hard work putting drinks into a fridge after college ensued, and by December I had fully paid for the trip off my own back. My very generous Christmas gift that year was CA$300 spending money from my parents.

2020 rolled around and excitement grew. A meeting was held with the Geography department to outline expected behaviour (strong emphasis on no alcohol, we were all underage!), give us our provisional itinerary and basic (to a seasoned NA traveller like myself) information on the process of using an airport and going through immigration etc. Hotel room arrangements were then made, with me being put in a room with two boys from my tutor group.

The Trip

2nd February 2020

A midnight coach departure from Truro College’s bus park with an 01:00 pick up in Launceston for students in North Cornwall and break at Taunton (Where I broke a chair in McDonalds!) to Gatwick ensued. Rather non eventful and by half six we were dropped off outside Gatwick Airport ready for the 11:00 Air Transat TS123 flight to Toronto Pearson on an Airbus A321neo less than a year old. Flight went as planned and I was sat next to the Geography teacher from nearby Penwith College where we discussed international trips and the course for most of the flight. We arrived at Toronto at the scheduled time of 14:15 where all 52 of us seamlessly passed through immigration without a hitch. It was very alien at the time seeing airport staff wearing masks, little did we know what would unfold the very next month! Baggage collected it was onto another coach we went for the hour long journey to Bond Place hotel, right across Dundas Square from the Eaton Centre. Fortunately the two I was sharing with had known each other since primary school so were happy for me to take the double bed in my own little alcove of the room. After reconvening in the hotel lobby an hour later we were each given CA$20 cash to go get ourselves dinner from the downstairs food court in the Eaton Centre. Burger, fries and shake from Big Smoke for me it was!

3rd February 2020

An early 06:00 start (by choice) for me it was to join Truro College trip veteran Mike on one of his optional morning ‘Ice Hikes’. Mike started working for Truro College when they were a sixth form a mile closer to town in a building now occupied by Sainsbury’s since the 1990’s. Now retired he still comes along on the Toronto trip to assist! We spent an hour exploring the Ryerson University campus and Toronto College Park before settling at Frans for one of their famous big breakfasts. After reconvening with the late starting wusses at the hotel we set off on a walking tour of Toronto working our way down to the CN tower via the Toronto City hall and museum, the Toronto sign, Chinatown and the Brookfield Place shopping centre. Up the 553 metre tall CN tower we went for some magnificent views from the tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere. It took some gentle teasing from trip leader Ian to get me to stand on the glass floor. Even my thrill seeking coaster fanatic self didn’t have the balls to at first! After coming down it was back to the hotel for some downtime, but not for me (I didn’t pay £990 and travel 3,000+ miles to sit in a hotel room) as I joined Mike again for a walk to his favourite bookstore and convenience store for some cigars. I chose a ‘mad dog’ Monster Energy myself as I was still in my phase of drinking that filth. Dinner that night was a set Chinese meal at Spring Rolls, followed by another optional ‘night hike’ with Mike back down to the CN tower to see it lit up at night via the police station to collect anther students mislaid and handed in wallet! Step count for this day was 31,803 or 15.2 miles.

4th February 2020

Another 06:00 start for me to join Mike on another Ice Hike. A record 23 of us did this morning! This time we walked to Allan Gardens and Jarvis Collegiate Institute then a must do Tim Hortons for breakfast. After regrouping a walk to and visit of Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada was in store followed by the Simcoe Wavedeck and Harbourfront Ice Rink. I managed 10 metres with assistance before giving up. Ian was gutted he failed to get me to do a lap on the rink, turns out I’m clumsier on my feet than my father! Back to the hotel we went before I joined Mike on a trip to the Allan Gardens Conservatory. An excellent reprieve from urban hustle and bustle to a serene, tranquil small-scale Eden Project type place. We then went to St Lawrence Market so Mike could buy an industrial sized tin of maple syrup. Our walk back took us past a drug rehabilitation centre, Mike said his risk assessment now notes not to take students down that street! Upon arrival back to the hotel it was onwards to the Coca-Cola Coliseum in two school buses, a Thomas SAF T-Liner and a smaller Chevrolet thing, to watch the Toronto Marlies play ice hockey against the Ottawa Senators. We were given CA$50 for food and mercy then a 3-1 defeat to the Marlies unfolded, much to Ians disappointment, as I viewed eating my triple pork poutine. The bus enthusiast inside me was delighted to get a ride on both buses! No night hike tonight, as we got back to the hotel at 22:00. Step count for this day was 24,873 or 12.7 miles.

5th February 2020

Another 06:00 start for the third and final Ice Hike of our trip. This mornings destination was the University of Toronto’s campus. A very impressive campus indeed, much more so than the University of Plymouth’s where I currently study! Breakfast time came and inevitably it was another visit to Frans for a big breakfast. Once regrouped it was time for another walking tour, this time taking in Cabbagetown, Regent Park Ghetto, The Distillery Historic District and Sugar Beach to look at gentrification and urban redevelopment. CA$70 cash given for afternoon meal and spending money and it was back to the Eaton Centre for another burger and fries from Big Smoke followed by some retail therapy (2fCA$20 t shirts from Abercrombie, I hate shopping) and a three scoop ice cream from Baskin Robins. The unexpected highlight of this trip beckoned! Gathering in the hotel lobby at 17:00 we marched down to the 19,800 capacity Scotiabank Arena to watch an NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers. All 52 of us got seats together, Ian informed me later he was hunched over his laptop the previous summer to buy tickets the second they went on sale, there were several dozen hustlers outside the stadium asking for tickets, it was packed! An incredibly intense two hours sprawled out, with the Pacers taking a comfortable lead until the very last minute when the Raptors narrowly won the game 119-118. I am not at all a sports person, I’ll only show a slither of interest in football when its nationally significant, however this was easily the highlight of the entire trip. I’d never experienced an atmosphere quite like it in my entire life! An elated trundle back to the hotel brought my step count for this day to 33,041 or 16.1 miles.

6th&7th February 2020

Final day of the trip and it was a late 07:00 start for me! Having packed my belongings I drew the curtains to be greeted with snow! Being a Cornishman a very rare sight for me to behold indeed! Onto another coach we hopped and Niagara Falls was todays destination, including a trip up Skylon Tower and a short movie screening at the I MAX theatre. Unfortunately Tim Hortons was unavailable due to extensive building work so a deli sandwich had to suffice for lunch. It was then time to go behind the falls to the two lookout points… behind the falls! Onto the coach again for our trip back to the airport via Walmart. The other students seemed perplexed at the sheer size of a Walmart compared to UK supermarket offerings, however I’ve been to several Walmarts over the years so it was nothing special to me. Back to Toronto Pearson it was for the 21:00 Air Transat flight TS122 back to Gatwick. Due to a computer fault our checked baggage reservation wasn’t recognised on the system and airport staff tried to charge us CA$70 each extra. The teachers didn’t seem best pleased sorting that out! Due to snowy conditions our plane was held for two hours for de-icing. An interesting process to watch! Once in the air however an incredibly weird occurrence occurred: I fell asleep on a moving vehicle! I later bumped into the student I sat next to on the College to Truro bus who informed me I’m an incredibly loud snorer! Upon landing it was an uneventful coach journey back to Truro where mother picked me up.


Postlogue

I was 17 at the time of this trip, I’m now 19 and living away from home in Plymouth with the end of my teenage years looming in September! This trip was easily the highlight of my pretty rotten time attempting to study A-Levels 2019-2021. Both our years of study were heavily curtailed by various restrictions put in place as a result of the pandemic. We were incredibly lucky to have gone when we did, one month later and we probably wouldn’t have made it. The trip to Iceland planned for mid March was cancelled last minute and didn’t run the next year, much to my disappointment as I was hoping to have gone in second year! I am very much so looking forward to returning to Toronto in a few days time on what will likely be one of our last family holidays as I become more independent from them.
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Old 30 Mar 22, 12:17 PM  
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cornishfrogboy
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Nothing to do with me!

Nice start, Tech Dan. I would point out to fellow Dibbers, two things….

1. Dan will be posting images, once his new membership allows him to.

2. Tech Dan is ‘freelance’ and I have no editorial or other control whatever over anything that he might post. I wash my hands of this guy!
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Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196

Edited at 12:19 PM.
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Old 30 Mar 22, 12:28 PM  
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tocpe321
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Welcome to the Dibb, Daniel. Thanks for posting your trip report.

Hope you all have a fantastic family holiday when you return to Toronto.
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Old 30 Mar 22, 07:00 PM  
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Sparksy72
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What a great report, you did well to stand on the glass floor at the CN Tower, I literally tapped my toe on it and that was sufficient for me! 😂 I really do hope that your Family trip happens. 😁
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Old 31 Mar 22, 10:08 AM  
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anji
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Loved your report and you've obviously inherited your dad's writing skills! Well done on the glass floor - I chickened out but my kids did it We really enjoyed Toronto and Niagara.
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Index to all trip reports here https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...3#post15913083
Seattle to San Francisco
Road Trip Florida 2017
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Florida Road Trip 2022
Canada/Pacific NW Road Trip 2022
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Old 31 Mar 22, 10:54 PM  
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techdan2002
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Surfing at Typhoon Lagoon
 
Join Date: Jul 19
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I’m in the process now of creating an album of photos from this trip, entitled ‘Toronto 2020’ on my DIBB profile. I’m still unable to link to the images here on my report however given my new poster status.
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Old 10 Apr 22, 05:30 PM  
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OB1LukeLucas
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Thanks for writing up your trip to Canada you definitely were lucky to get away that year! I too ended up doing A level Geography as a last minute choice and went on to study it at Liverpool. I wish we had been lucky enough to go to Canada on a field trip such a shame you didn’t get to Iceland. My field trips were sadly not as exciting but we did have the best times in the French Alps, Yorkshire, Wales and Northumberland!
Hope you enjoyed being the tour guide in Toronto and you have a great trip with your family-off to catch up with your dad’s report now
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