Traveling to Canada is no difficult task. Or shall I say, is no challenge like traveling to lets say Venezuela or Angola. However, from what I have been through in the past few years post college, in and out of work, going through unemployment, any trip somewhere new and different satisfies my wanderlust regardless. Traveling to Toronto was a desire for me since the towers fell to terrorists in 2001 as I had an infatuation with tall skyscrapers around the world. Because the CN Tower was and still is one of the tallest structures, going up it for the past 10 years has always been my desire. Eventually with hard work, motivation, and passion, two stables jobs in the state of South Carolina gave me the ability to not only make a trip to Toronto to go up the CN Tower and fulfill my thrill of leaning over the edge over the city, but allow me to explore Niagara Falls, Ottawa, and Montreal as well. Perseverance is key to achieving goals.
Here is my inspiring HD video of my first time in Canada.
UPDATE: My Canada Trip video on Youtube was removed due to Copyright! Those days, I didn’t know better about using music that was not mine! Sorry đ
Background: Unfortunately my love for skyscrapers began around the time the World Trade Center went down on September 11, 2001. What a horrible way to start this post? Right? Well this incident is relevant in a huge form. The following year, I had spent countless days and nights studying architecture on my own and fascinating myself with the tallest skyscrapers and towers in the world. These are days way before Dubai outdid the planet by many decades.
At the time and still to this day, the CN Tower in Toronto was and still is a free standing structure that fascinated me as well as other free standing structures of the world. Back then I didnât know much about the neighbors to the north as I thought the tower was in Vancouver. And Vancouver was near New York. Excuse my poor geography knowledge back then. Many years had passed and my strong passion for skyscrapers had died down. When my urge for travel grew more and more, so did that old passion.
I could have explained my CN Tower experience in a short and brief paragraph. But unlike others, the history behind it is pretty emotional and in the end, inspirational. My trip to Toronto was primarily for the CN Tower, the tower I had dreamed of traveling to for 12 years. Add up my wanderlust, It turned into a full fledge backpacking trip. I could have easily fled to Japan or a European country but no, my focus was on my long desired passion of venturing up this magnificent tower.
What is the Edge Walk? After my decision on traveling to Canada, I soon discovered a fairly new adventure the tower itself offered. That was a venture around the top and outside of the CN Tower which they do once every hour. This $200 ($US) adventure not only includes a 6 person max guided tour around the top, but unlimited access to the whole tower for 3 days, re-entry also. You also get a photo, âcertificateâ of completion, CD, and thumb drive of the files.
Photo from the CN Tower Edge Walk website
Preparation.
My walk was at 12pm that afternoon. I woke up at 7am in an fairly nervous yet highly anxious state. The Edge Walk has itâs own desk apart from the general entrance with clips of current and past tours. Ironically, they played the song Lady Gagaâs âOn The Edge of Gloryâ numerous times while I pace nervously back and forth. A waiver is signed prior to going up, a last minute forced bathroom visit was made, and the six adventurers go into a room to fit into shoes and an orange jump suit made for the walk. Surprisingly, I was about 30 years of a difference in age in comparison to the older men and women I walked with, one may have been in her 40âs. After thorough and secured fitting of everything and storing personals in pockets, we all received claps from onlookers into an elevator build just for our level to the top where we made our walk.
Experience
At the top is a very small hall way that leads to our very last room with one other guide. She connected two heavy duty harnesses to our backs while eye balling the cameras outside where two other tours were. I aimed to be the first to walk out, and made that happen with joy. Finally, sliding doors opened up to the outside and the earth below opened up to us giving us the intense internal battle of gravity and depth perception in a matter of seconds. We were offered amazing views of downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario and beyond but with the benefits of outdoors and a look down at will with only a thick see through metal crate below us. We make several stops around the circle of the tower doing several activities: The lean back, the lean forward, the edge walk, and a photo taking session from the guide himself. All was ok up until I leaned back and let go. In words, the best way I could explain that feeling was just that I felt weightless and trustworthy of the straps holding me. The balance in my body shot all over the place in just a split second as I look straight into the sky at 1,800 ft above the ground.
Personally, I had no fear or phobia of any kind like some of the others did. In fact, I was comfortable and extremely happy I was there. I felt liberated despite the many years it took to be on top of the tower. I did continue on with my trip to Ottawa and to Montreal, but it was that very moment that not only made my trip but became a symbol in my life that I can conquer and achieve anything I want to with the right focus and hard work. So as I leaned forward with Toronto to my left, Lake Ontario to my right with arms wide open to the world in front of me.
Traveling alone! Most people frown upon it as a sign of loneliness, a lack of fun, dangerous, or just plain out stupid. Everyone is surely entitled to there own opinions. One word I would like to generally tie to all of these responses is the word fear. Sure there is fear of loneliness or danger. Of course there is a fear of not enjoying ones self. I was once there. Typically, these mindsets share the common feeling of fear when it comes to travel alone or let alone doing anything alone just like going to the movies. Personally and oddly, I can easily go to the movies alone just because I love movies with a passion. Although I prefer company, If I really want to see a flick and canât bring my girlfriend with me, unless she really wants to see it also, I just go alone and enjoy the movie. The same goes for traveling. Traveling alone is something I just do out of norm and by default. Although it can entail missing out on more moments, spontaneous group decisions, less safety or having that extra cameraman for that perfect picture, you do end up finding it easy to make decisions on the fly and worry less about who can afford what. As for having a girlfriend who wishes to travel but canât right now, it does make planning solo trips slightly more painful.
If I do plan a trip to a new place overseas or within my side of the world, chances are I will travel alone and meet people along the way based on how my trips have turned out. Solo travel for me didn’t begin by choice though. Several years ago, a week after my college graduation, I made a stop in Miami for a few days before celebrating my first travel trip post-college in Key West. Ready for a nice celebration with about five people, the day of departure, I saw each individual back off for different reasons leaving me, my bag, my car and the road in front of me. Although the Florida Keys is not off the beaten path, a simple drive down the scenic US 1 changed my perspective for travel in an entirety. I left for the Keys with the hopes of enjoying myself and returned twice as satisfied as anticipated.
Later on, Iâd find myself enjoying the island of Jamaica, Bermuda, and the cities of Toronto and Montreal alone with many more destinations possibly solo as well. Although the appreciation of having a plus one, two, or three would be better, I still do not let invitation stand ups hold me back. You are more than welcome to come but I shall not be your chaperon. I just go! Do it now and while you can. Traveling solo does not mean youâre alone, you just donât depend of the company of others to follow your dreams. It is a discipline and surely a lifestyle at this point. The world is far too big, life too short, and youth far shorter to say I can do it later. So if you want to go somewhere that may be difficult for others to tag along, don’t turn away from that dream. Just do a little research, go, be safe, and come back with great memories and no regrets.
Solo travel in Toronto, Canada. Edgewalk at the CN TowerSolo travel in BermudaSolo travel in Negril, JamaicaSolo travel at Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas National Park. The Florida Keys.Solo travel in Niagara Falls, CanadaSolo travel in Montreal Canada
Traveling, whether alone or not, you are bound to meet amazing people.
Hostels are a center point to meet amazing people to share amazing memories with. Montreal. CanadaStumbled across a famous drummer from Reggaes Golden Age at Bob Marleys Home in Kingston, Jamaica.
I’ve spent many years with the desire to visit Canada. It’s not a difficult trip nor is it an “off the beaten path” adventure. Many years ago one of my odd infatuations after 9/11, was that of skyscrapers, building structures and building engineering. At the time, one of these record breaking structures was the CN Tower, a tall free standing structure overlooking Toronto, New York and one of the Great Lakes.
Despite the level of ease and the close proximity, I’ve always come across obstacles that prevented me to venture up to visit the neighbors to the north. Post college, a year was spent trying to finding stability in a struggling web design career. Not only was gaining experience an issue, holding a job was far too difficult. During these harsh times, a trip to Toronto alone seemed beyond my grasp as each time I went to book that flight, a job was lost. Just a simple dream weekend getaway to get to the top of the CN Tower was taken away before my eyes not once, but four times.
In due time, as a result of my perseverance, financial stability got a hold of me in the state of South Carolina, the last place I’d imagine seeing all of my dreams come true. I now work two jobs and continue to pursue my goals to travel the world. What does this all mean? Why am I talking about this? Because no matter how much I get told, “Oh, why are you going to Canada? Just go to Europe.” I still follow my dreams and remember what I couldn’t do and appreciate what I can do now. Not only do I get the opportunity to climb up the CN Tower, but also see Niagara Falls, enjoy the city of Toronto, walk around the capital, and get a taste of French Canada in Montreal with a game of hockey to go along with it.
Any one with a passport can go to Canada, but my trip to the north is beyond that. It’s a result of my hard work, perseverance, and to be proud of saying, despite all problems I faced, “I DID IT!!”. This trip is not just an ordinary Canada trip, this is my long desired Canadian adventure.
âWhen obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal, you do not change your decision to get there.â
Whats a greater way to start the near year like making a trip the first month to a place you really want to go. In the past several months my really good friend has been speaking about Toronto and seeing her boyfriend which in her case isnât really that easy. After hearing about Toronto so many times I started to get curious about the city. Let alone for many years i always seen Canada as the invisible country to the north. (No offense my northern friends). Doing my little research, Toronto sounds like a great city to travel to. Winter or Summer. I grew up in the cold and live in the heat. Doesnât make a difference to me.
So lately since financials arenât too great i still managed to save up a couple hundred for my next travel destination. Travelocity shows a round trip flight for 287 opposed to higher rates. So I said why not spend a nice weekend in the lovely city of Toronto. Problem is, I will not ask for a place to stay with my friends boyfriend or family lol. Nor do i want to spend too much on a high priced hotel room i will only sleep and shower in. So the term HOSTEL came into play. I never knew what a hostel was besides the gory movie until i did further research. Practically a dormitory or privately own spot to rent out beds daily.
As an amatuer and how protective i am with my privacy and possessions my first thought was âHell no, thatâs dangerous!â Which i am sure it is. But considering my budget and my 0% friend ratio in this new city, i thought why not. Id try it. Mixed or Male dormitory according to hostelworld.com. Since all i am doing is sleeping and showering there and as long as i have a safe locker it sounds worth the money.
So my purpose of this blog post is to grab opinions, insight, personal feedback if you had any experience with hostels. Not to forget those Toronto natives or who have traveled to Toronto to give me ideas of other activities besides the much anticipated nightlife, tour guides and CN Tower.
