Toronto, Canada

My first flight of the New Year was to Toronto in Canada – a new destination for me and also my first flight of my reserve month. I was over the moon when I saw it on my roster as I have wanted to visit Canada for a while now. We departed Dubai around 4am and touched down 14 hours later in Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Arriving at 9am, we drove over to the hotel in Downtown Toronto and got ourselves checked in to the hotel. I originally wanted to visit the Niagara Falls, but with only a 24 hour layover, it is a bit of a tight squeeze. The hotel concierge also said that the boat tours do not run during the winter, and also, the buses to Niagara come every hour as it was a Sunday so I just didn’t think it was the right time to go – plus none of the Crew fancied it either.

I love the Winter coat so much!

Although I was a little disappointed about missing out on the Niagara Falls, I didn’t want to waste my layover, so instead I decided to explore Toronto itself and walk through the city, down to the Harbourfront. It was minus 2 degrees so I didn’t mess about with my outfit!!

I walked right the way down Gould Street to the Harbourfront and then took the ferry over to Toronto Islands. I had seen that you can get a nice view of the skyline and CN tower from the Islands so I bought my ticket, and 10 minutes later, I had arrived on Wards Island.

Gould Street

Gould Street

First peak of the CN Tower

Ferry Ticket

Ferry to Toronto Islands

When we arrived on the Island, there was a local man who told everyone about the island and what there is to see. He said that most things are closed down in the winter so there is not much to do, but there is a nice beach nearby. I firstly admired the skyline view and then walked over to the beach.

Toronto Island

Toronto skyline

I walked to the beach which definitely would have been a lot prettier in the summer, but it was still so lovely! The beach and all of the houses reminded me so much of Montauk after watching ‘The Affair’.

By this point, it was absolutely freezing and there wasn’t much else to see, so I walked back to the ferry and just as I was waiting for the next one, it started to snow!

Snowy Toronto

Happy in the snow

I got the ferry back to the mainland and then headed straight to a Starbucks to warm up with a hot chocolate. I then walked up to the City Hall where they had an ice skating rink and a great bit Toronto sign.

Toronto City Hall

Ice skating rink

Lastly, I thought I would end my day in Toronto by having a look around in the Eaton Centre – a huge shopping mall in Downtown and only down the road from the hotel. I was feeling pretty exhausted at this point so only looked in a few shops but I did manage to buy a couple of cosy winter jumpers and then some dinner in the food court!

Eaton Centre

Dinner

Downtown Toronto by night

Favourite snack

The next morning, the wake up call was at 10am so there wasn’t much time for anything except a coffee and a bagel. It had snowed some more during the night so I had a little look out on my balcony but came straight back in and jumped back in the bed!

My first time in Canada was incredible – despite having such a short layover and not visiting the Niagara Falls! I will definitely try to come back in the spring/summer to do the Falls and I’ve also always wanted to visit Western Canada and some of the National Parks.

So far, a brilliant start to my reserve month and I’m excited to see where I will end up next…

Thanks for reading.

Kerry May xo