Day 43 - Leaving Canada

Tuesday 31 August 2004

Summed up as: rain, humidity, packing, repacking, and flying. I haven't done the flying yet though.

Hostels in Canada

I wish to have a whinge at this point. I've been hostelling for over a month, and have seen varying qualities of hostel on my stay.

The best was without question Quebec City - beautiful wooden finish, comfy beds, clean and modern shared facilities, and all in a quaint old building that is very well located. Vancouver would come a very close standard, and easily has the best service of any of the HI's I have visited anywhere.

The worst would be Halifax. It came across to me as slightly rundown, and the service standard just wasn't up to the other places I have visited (the office was often unattended or people there couldn't help). As far as the hostel itself, there was no concept whatsoever of personal space, even in the common rooms and relaxation areas. It was, however, well located and a comfy bed.

I should temper my whinge by saying that all HI hostels would get at least a 5/10 score, through being in an association which has standards. There are hostels in Canada which are not HI hostels that you would not keep a dog in.

Best and worst in Canada

After touring the entire country, my favourite places to be so far have been Greater Vancouver, Quebec City and Saint John. I would gladly visit all of these places again, and hope to do so as soon as I can get money to do so.

Edmonton would get my bottom vote, but it actually wasn't a bad place. I just felt somewhat bored there. Kind of the same with Halifax - although there's a lot more happening here than I got the chance to see. To be honest, I will be looking at different accommodation options for Halifax next time.

Things that I'll probably miss when leaving Canada

- The local obsession with hockey and Tim Horton's coffee
- My friend Daniel, who has been an amazing travelling companion
- Yellow-box traffic lights and uniform traffic rules (and generally orderly traffic) throughout the country
- Friendliness overall of Canadians
- The amazing amount of green everywhere, even in cities
- The smell of the local forest - different from home, and quite nice
- The accents, most of which are quite pleasant, and the local language
- Bilingual signs and products (even if noone can speak one of the languages on the sign or product)
- The cool looking coins (I won't actually miss those as I've kept a few)
- The ruthlessly efficient way by which most things work in cities here
- Canadian and provincial flags flying everywhere (does any Australian my age know what their state's flag looks like?)
- Running lights on cars in full sunshine in the middle of the day.

Things I probably won't miss

- Homeless people begging on city streets (this is No.1 for a reason)
- The ruthlessly efficient way by which most things work in cities here
- Being completely lost when confronted with French-only Quebecois
- The world-aware-yet-unaware thing one often has to confront in attitudes to Australia and NZ (it's different to the States, but still hell annoying)
- The lack of seating options and restrooms in public places (although the restrooms here are almost without exception clean and well maintained)

* To respond to two emails, yes, one item is in both lists, and deliberately so.

What would I do next time?

Vancouver
Banff National Park (not just Lake Louise) probably with Moose or another tour
Calgary
Winnipeg
Toronto as a base for the region
Montreal, Quebec, possibly some of the region (learn French first)
Saint John (Acadian/Orleans goes Quebec -> Moncton)
Halifax region via Digby
(Cape Breton? Lunenburg?)

Summary of Day 8-43

I have had an amazing time in this country. I've had opportunity to whinge at times, but that's because I've thrown myself wholeheartedly into an environment to which I had no exposure prior to my trip, and decided to go hostelling for most of the way which comes with its own unique set of problems and frustrations no matter where one does it. But I have no regrets (other than possibly not checking that taxi in Toronto before getting out sans camera) and am already looking forward to my next visit. My departure is bitter-sweet - I'm eagerly looking forward to new experiences in Ireland, Eastern Europe and Turkey, but am sad to leave this country that has treated me so well behind. Canadians are in many ways a lot like Australians so many times I have not felt that far from home here. I will be curious to review this entry after I've finished Eastern Europe.

(Edit from Poland:) I pretty much agree with what I said above.