I recently took a day trip to Toronto.
The last time I was in Toronto I was freezing in the chilly winter months. This time around I got to enjoy Toronto in the blazing summer sun!
Let me tell you all about this relaxing summer day in the big city!
The Train
My day started out on the train.
I decided to give the Go Train another go and had a better experience with PRESTO this time around due to setting a default trip. Seriously, if you take GoTransit, you have to do this.
By setting a default trip, I only needed to tap on instead of both tap on and off the train. I find I either often forget to tap off, or when I do they still double charge my card. Default trips make this so much easier as you just pay the full price for your trip up front.
On this trip, I discovered that the upper section on the train was the quiet area. I find in the mornings, with the commuter traffic, the upper level is quite quiet, but not so much any other time.
A nice surprise though was that they offered a free audio book on Audible. The book I got was Sydney Crosby The Rookie of the Year. Not really my style, but nice anyway.
I also discovered there are some places on the train that do have outlets, but those a few and far between and heavily sought after too. Definitely need to charge your phone and/or laptop prior if you plan on using it during the ride.
Whole Foods
I had been traveling a lot at this point, so I wanted a more relaxed, mundane kind of travel day. A kind of slow, self care day.
So, I started it off with the breakfast of champions at, you guessed it, Whole Foods.
I went to Whole Foods in Yorkville Village for some breakfast from the hot bar. I got some sweet potato wedges and scrambled eggs, along with some fresh cut strawberries. I have this obsession with strawberries lately, can't seem to get enough of them.
It was a pretty good breakfast. That said though, I have always been a picky eater, so it might shock you when I say I've never been a fan of black pepper, which was in the eggs.
While waddling around the store, I somehow ended up in the chocolate aisle and to my surprise I found a chocolate I thought only existed in Germany! It's called Vego and is a vegan hazelnut chocolate.
While in Germany on the CSSG program last summer, for my birthday, my host mom gave me this chocolate and told me that this was her daughters favourite.
Again, being a picky eater, I don't love chocolate, but this one hits different as it holds a special place in my heart. It was really lovely to find it here in Toronto.
I also bought some snacks for the train ride home. Some delicious spicy guacamole - I swear Whole Foods is the second best guac I've had next to Chipotle - and some blue corn tortilla chips.
Word to the wise, bring a plastic bag to keep the guac in. I learned the hard way that once the container is open, it doesn't like to stay closed.
A Change of Pace
Because I wanted a more relaxed, mundane kind of day in the city, I spent most of the day working away on some online classes that I'm taking to become a better blog writer, as well as working on the website.
I'm learning a lot about online marketing, content creation, and what it takes to be a professional blog writer.
It's a lot more work with AI's - crawling bots, SEO assistance, etc. - than I expected, but I do want to be a great writer with a website that has a great reading experience for all of you.
A fascinating tool I learned about while I was in Toronto is Google's Page Speed tool. It tests the load speed of a website for both desktop and mobile. It'll definitely be a great resource for me to use as I can continue to make the website even better for you.
It was nice to have a change of environment in Toronto. Sometimes I get cabin fever being at home for too long (more than a week) but don't quite want a huge adventure. A day away in a different setting was just what I needed.
Toronto is an amazingly large city, full of traffic and construction all year round. It is a very busy, crowded city of nearly 3 million people. People are constantly moving, everyone seems to be dressed in suits, and always appears to be on an important phone call.
I'm not sure I could see myself living here. It's a bit too busy and stoic for me, but it's nice to visit from time to time. Especially when those visits involve the airport.
Pearson is definitely a happy place for me, specifically Terminal 1 because of AC - Air Canada!
While I was walking around Toronto, I saw tons of people with drinks from a place called iQ. It seems to be a smoothie/health drink kind of place, which is right up my alley. I'll have to try it out the next time I'm in Toronto.
Have you been to Toronto before? Are there any places you would recommend I visit or any places you've wanted to visit, but have yet to?
Let me know in the comments below!
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