I woke up at 4:29 and managed to prevent my alarm from going off and waking up the entire dorm.
Walking down the street with my luggage I eventually get to the bus which takes me to the airport. There I glide through security as I don’t have a checked in bag and manage to make perfect time, losing another wheel on my suitcase (2 down 2 more to go). And off I go to Vancouver. The plane is pretty empty so I have 2 seats to myself.
After the 5 hour plane ride I gain 3 hours and make my way to the house I’m staying at, friends of my parents who are kindly hosting me. I arrive there, dump my stuff and get going with the day. I ride a bike as biking is a very common thing in Vancouver and they even have lanes and specific paths for bikes.
I start out going to the beach and pool (Sunset Beach. English Bay Beach and Second Beach) and just swimming as I was really longing for proper beaches – not the fake Toronto kind. It was really cool and relaxing. People were out and about.
Next was cycling to the A-maze-ing Laughter sculptures via the beach promenade. The A-maze-ing Laughter sculptures which were a-maze-ing!!! They honestly were so funny and it was so cool to copy their posing.
Afterwards I headed to Stanley Park which was so green and luscious. So many families were there and it also was super busy and that park is big so when I say busy I mean busy busy.
I went along the Seawall Water Walk passing art as I went along. The Seawall Water Walk is a walk along the sea with a stunning view to look at. Then I passed Offsite which was quite disappointing as there was only one display and went back to the house.
It was a long busy day and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.
Morning, I wake up to an alarm going off, then it switches off and seconds later on again. The roommates whose alarm this is is in the shower. She is above me so I get up and switch that damn thing off. Well I guess I’m awake now. I look at my feet and there I see the blisters have not gotten better in fact they are bigger now! I can do this I say to myself and get ready for a busy day I planned. I wear my swimming costume again that day as I want to go to Sugar and Cherry beach in the hope that they will be proper beaches. I walk downstairs, wincing in pain, for breakfast. There I steal some snacks for the road that the hostel is offering for free at breakfast.
As I’m eating breakfast with my roommates I tell them my plan today and then we all look outside as if going to the beach is likely to happen. I’m dressed in summer clothes and the weather outside is miserable.
After breakfast I want to go to the Graffiti alley first, I wait until the rain hits a dry spell and then hurry out. I am struggling to walk basically I’m limping and look like I am a drunk person walking on the streets. As it’s a decent time I call my parents in the hope they can tell me what to do instead of asking google and it telling me REST – I can’t rest, I’m exploring!!! My mom says to buy plasters so in I go to the pharmacy and get a 80 packet of ‘bandaids’. After paying I ask if I can sit down in the store and put them on- so I get a place to sit and the guard assumingly asks if I have blisters, yayyy for him he is correct. I put the plasters on and continue my walk. The plasters don’t help and I just want to cry because I really want to explore but my feet are in so much pain and I’m just confused. I get to the graffiti alley and WOW it was worth it, there are thousands of pictures all created by talented people and it just went on for ever. After walking around the entire place and absorbing everything around me I walk to the Bentway which turns out to be closed and I only realize it when I get there (there seems to be a pattern here). The walk there was amazing though as it was great to see the city. When I am at the Bentway I decide something has to change, I can’t keep going on like this so I take off my shoes and walk and it feels so much better. Walking barefoot in the rain is such a vibe. I walk to Toronto Music in the Garden and while walking there without realizing my shoe falls out my bag. This kind women runs to me giving me my shoe back, damn now I have no excuse to buy a new pair of shoes.
People stare at me but I’m super proud of myself as my feet are feeling way better. My mom always says just do it you are never going see them again. People think I’m a rich homeless person and I decide not to write a sign saying – got blisters. This other woman tells me how good it is for my feet and I agree. I get to the garden and relax for a bit wandering around the park. It is beautiful.
I want to properly see the path skywalk as I don’t think we properly saw it on Friday so I walk to it. There I walk upstairs and look down. The view is pretty but it’s not high and I’m quite disappointed as I had the NY high line as my standard.
I walk past Power plant which is also closed for some reason and then go on my way to the Harbourfront Centre.
When I get to the Harbourfront Centre I sit down outside and eat my lunch – suddenly is starts pouring so off I run under a covering and sit down. Ok so my plan was to go to Toronto Island so do I go? I search the timetable and decide that I will go to Toronto island later in the day and first do the other things. I wait for half an hour until the rain slows down and then off I go to Sugar beach. Sugar beach is cool and although I didn’t swim it was a beautiful lake with sand and umbrellas, but still not a beach. I then decide that the rain has totally stopped so I decide to go back to Harbourfront Centre and catch a ferry. As I get there I can’t find the place where you get tickets for the company I wanted to use – I ask someone and he first says that it’s not worth going to Toronto Island in this weather as things may be closed. I search for about an hour and I can’t find anything it’s just too confusing. I put my shoes back on as I want to pop in the store.
After the store I walk to Cherry beach in my shoes saying ouch ouch ouch as I walk. Someone tells me yeah Cherry beach is just around the corner and maybe they were right and google maps showed that it was around the corner but far away but it was extremely far away to walk. I took a little bit longer than I normally would as I was limping in pain as I walked. There were detours everywhere as lots of construction was taking place but when I finally got there Toronto restored my hope that they actually did have a proper beach.
Cherry beach was a proper great beach and I stayed there for a little bit. Looking at the time I was shocked, it was getting late and I wanted to go to High park. I couldn’t end up going as when I went on the bus I needed to get more tickets for the next morning as I was leaving then so I went to Union Station to get more tickets as I couldn’t find anywhere else and then went to buy oats and went back to the hostel.
There I took my shoes off my aching feet, ate supper, did a bit of packing up, went to the rooftop to hang out with some people and went to bed.
I woke up, packed up and off I went on a bus to my new hostel called Planet Traveller. I go in drop my luggage and ‘check in’ without going to my room as that can only be done at 3pm. Then OFFICIAL YAEL DRAMA. My parents messaged me in the morning telling me that the credit card wasn’t working as the car rental company was holding a large damage deposit on the car they rented for their trip to Botswana. Now at this hostel I had only paid just over half and they wanted the money straight up, no old fashioned keeping my passport. I was so stressed – how do I give them the rest of the money. I ask if I could give them cash in US dollars with converting and they said I could but no converting I had to give them the amount in US dollars so that wasn’t an option. Then I figured out how to get the money through a different card we have so I able to give them the card details and pay (thank goodness).
I finally am able to get on with the day and go all over. My exploring goes as follows: I started off at Yorkville Rock which is a one billion year rock that is thriving in its old age. Next was looking at the Royal Ontario Museum from the outside as although you can go in I didn’t really see it as worth it for me. Kensington market was next and it was full of energy- what it is is a market taking over a street everyday filled with small stores everywhere selling food, clothes and accessories. So many people were there and it was really cool to walk by it. I go on my way to Nathan Phillips Square, walking past people dressed up for pride not thinking anything of it. I arrive at NPS and to my surprise there is a whole event happening there. There is a massive pride heart made from flowers (fake), people are playing music and singing, there is free coffee and juice. The place is bussing so I stay there for a while and decide to make my way to Yonge and Dundas Square. On my way there I see a crowd of people watching and waiting for something in the middle of the road, obviously I go and see what’s happening. I get to the front of the scene and there I see a pride parade about to happen. It was amazing – there were so many people being super creative in their outfits and choreography. Every group brought something different to the parade and it was the highlight of Toronto.
Afterwards I get to YDS and check out the vibe which is still full of people celebrating pride. After celebrating pride I decide that I really want to go to Leslieville, now if I tell you why I want to go there you have to promise you won’t laugh, … I’m serious. I want to go there because I heard that there is a house where the lady decorated it with thousands of dolls, it’s not really a tourist attraction as much as a locals attraction when they are in that area but I felt I had to make a special trip there although it was on my way to a beach, so are you laughing. I finally get there after a 45 minute beautiful walk and wow – the house is insane!!! I was scared it wasn’t going to be decorated but it was more decorated then I thought- the neighbors better appreciate that.
After laughing I decide to go the Ashbridges Bay where they have a loud, family and friends park full of people doing different things. I walk along a route to get to ‘The beaches’ where I am so excited that I spent the whole day in my swimming costume and now I could use it to go and check the beaches out. My oh my YOU WONT BELIEVE IT, it was the most amaz- (who am I fooling it was a disappointment). The beach was like a lake and it just wasn’t what I would call a beach, I didn’t like it. I spend sometime on the sand sorting out my next move as it was already 18:15 and I wanted to go to the hostel movie night and it would take me an hour bus drive to get back.
I decide to order something from this vegan restaurant and then manage to stay there over half an hour along with Uber eats and other people who had ordered something as they were packed and clearly not efficient. I then get back to the hostel watch the movie , they chose Love Simon which is a banger, then met my roommates, take off my shoes and oh no OFFICIAL YAEL DRAMA – I look at my feet and they are covered in blisters I’ve got them on both feet in the exact same places, between my big and small toe and on my pinky toe. I’m not surprised, my feet have been hurting so much up to this. I don’t know what to do and pray that they will magically be better the next day and went to bed.
Most of the family woke up at 5pm. What can I say we were all exhausted. We had lunch and the talked some more and played games. I walked around the neighborhood and went past the park. It was really cool to see little kids run around on their own looking after their younger siblings. Where I was was a mostly Jewish neighborhood so I saw a lot of black hats.
After Shabbos me and my second cousins went bowling which was super fun and then got slushes and played another game when we got to the house. At around 1am we went to bed.
Morning! I wake up with a jolt and look at my phone. I am up at 5:30 and I must have still been dead asleep as my alarm didn’t wake me up at 5. I needed to leave the motel by 6 so I quickly hurry and get ready and zip my suitcase closed.
Then OFFICAL YAEL DRAMA. I walk to the bus station using google maps and I get a bit confused. I can see a station on the other side of the road but not the side google maps tells me to be. I cross the road and ask a woman waiting for the bus where I should she says she’s also new to it but google maps were right. I see the bus approaching the other station and I get a gut feeling in my stomach that I’m in the wrong place. I run across the road and ask the driver where I should be, turns out I am meant to be on his bus so I get on.
After 2 more busses I finally arrive somewhat closer to my second cousins house. I get picked up from where I was dropped off and arrive at my destination. There I get a warm welcoming, dump everything and then me and my two second cousins go out to explore. We drove and park somewhere and then walk to the CN towers and actually go in – we see a Birds Eye view of everything and it’s really cool and we go up an elevator which is fun scary to see ourselves going higher and higher, the cube house, the distillery district, St Lawrence market and get a coffee. Then OFFICIAL EXPLORE DRAMA we can’t find where we parked so after decades of walking we finally find it by tracking where they paid for parking as the payment was done on the phone and had a location of where the parking machine was. Seeing the car was a miracle as my feet were so sore and were ready to not do anything else.
We get ready for Shabbat and have a delicious meal. We talk and play games till 3 and then go to bed.
I wake up to my alarm beeping, it’s 6 in the morning and I am exhausted. I am leaving New York today and riding on a bus to Niagara Falls.
I’ve still got a bunch to do so I planned to try get to the bus stop at 7:45 for 8:20 as they want us there 15 minutes prior and being early is not a crime.
After being all packed up and ready to go my uncle and I walk to get one last bagel and make our way to the subway which will get me to the bus station. On the way there my bag zip unzipped and the 1.25 liter bottle my sister let me borrow falls out and smashes on the pavement and breaks. If you don’t know this about me, I live for water – no I know everyone does but I consume a lot more than the average person. We decide that I need a bottle so I go to a nearby store and buy one.
Finally arriving at the station I say goodbye and off I go. I’m making good time which is always a plus but I’m not going to get there at 7:45. Sitting on the subway I realize something- OFFICIAL YAEL DRAMA , I need my passport and then I think about whether I brought it with. While the subway is moving and people are around me I start searching my suitcase tossing things everywhere and look in my bag to see if it’s there. I am freaking out – I can’t find it anywhere. I try messaging my Uncle but there is no cell reception and the WiFi doesn’t work when the subway is in motion. I decide that I should probably get off the subway because if I left it at my Uncle moving further and further away from him is not going to help. I check the time and it’s 7:50. Close to tears in the station I call my uncle to have him look and then with my bags down on the floor I start unpacking everything. It’s not in my suitcase as everything is on the floor and my case with the passports and visas aren’t on the floor. Repacking and squishing everything into my bag was taking up time that I didn’t have. Then I checked through my bag carefully taking all my food, toiletries, books, technology out and there I find it – squashed in the bottom of my bag where the food was.
It’s 8:05, the 15 minutes have started and there is no way I’m getting on the bus when I should be on. I wait for another subway going there to arrive, hop on and hop out. I go through the station and then to my amazement there is a building that looks like an airport but for the busses. Ok…so do I need to check in, go through boarding control and then enter, and what if the bus is ready to go because everyone else has boarded. It is 8:15. This is a nightmare, what do I do? I’ve booked a night at Niagara Falls, have no accommodation, need to get to Toronto for the rest of my trip to work out. Can I book another bus ticket this late? I run to a lady who tells me where my bus is and refuses to answer any of my questions about checking in. I run to the bus hurriedly asking the man in front of me if I’m allowed to go on. Turns out he is the driver and I can go in. I have never been more relieved in my life. I made it.
After the stress dies down I try go to sleep and fail. The bus ride is long so I keep myself occupied. Feeling car sick I struggle to think of anything else. We get to a stop and I breathe in some air and feel much better. The rest of the ride was uneventful. The driver was really cool as well. Finally the last stop: Niagara Falls. I jump up, carrying my luggage with me and start making my way to the Falls USA side.
I walk the various routes to see the falls from different angles and wow they are stunning. I feel peaceful until suddenly a wheel on my suitcase breaks off and I can’t find it. Then I have to carry my suitcase instead of wheeling it until I manage to put it at a certain angle to drag it.
After I feel I’ve seen the USA side of Niagara Falls I walk along the rainbow bridge to cross the border into Canada. I get into Canada and wow the sight was gorgeous. You could see the actual full waterfall instead of bits and pieces in the USA. I walked around until it started getting darker. I walk to my motel I booked and oy. The walk was brutal. It was steep for 1km and I had to carry my suitcase and it was heavy. If I didn’t do weights I don’t think I would have made it. I am strong, not to boast, but it was a struggle, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more humbled. I get to the motel exhausted and red faced and check in. The lady working sees my exhaustion, gives me the keys and I walk in the room. Exhausted and in pain (my feet were really sore), I quickly shower, eat supper and go to bed.
Today my Uncle took off work to take me around. We started off at the High line which overlooks the city and actually used to be a train track but is now a stunning garden of plants and a chilling out place for locals with an excellent view. The tour ended near the Vessel which is unfortunately temporarily closed so we saw the outside and off we went.
The next place on our list was Coney Island. The ride to Coney Island is brutally long – like long long but the subway had parts of it where is was above the ground so it was scenic. We got to Coney Island and had some scrumptious food and then walked to Brighton Beach. We walked along the boardwalk and then we reached Coney Beach. Along the way there was some beautiful artworks.
We stopped by an amusement park and I got a ticket for one ride. As we all know by now there is always drama therefore OFFICIAL YAEL DRAMA , we get told that the ride I want to go on is $12 so we wait in a queue for a good 30 minutes and once I reach the front the system beeps – like we’ve been waiting years and this happens, apparently the ride costs more than that even though I was told otherwise, we ask if I can hand them cash for the other bit and they say no so my uncle has to run to the ticket place and add more money on the card! It was ridiculous but the ride was extremely fun and scenic.
We then go back to the subway and make our way back to Manhattan. My uncle gets tickets to the Yankees game, so I quickly get last minute shopping for everything I need for the bus the next day and then we are off to the Yankees game.
We take a subway to Yankees Stadium and as we get closer and closer more people that are going to game become apparent. We get out the subway and there is this huge buzz in the air – everyone is laughing, excited and rushing to stand in line. We go through the line quite fast and then we are in.
We find our seats and everyone is full of energy creating a great atmosphere. It’s the Yankees vs Mariners. It was honestly so cool to watch – I’ve never watched baseball but it’s so different when watching it live – it’s so entertaining and fast. The Yankees won – they started off strong but then Mariners ended strong but not fast enough. It was such a fun game, I really enjoyed it.
We go back to West end on the subway and suddenly these guys come on the subway and start putting on music, hyping everyone up and doing calisthenics – it was amazing. They were basically doing advanced gymnastics on a moving vehicle it was absolutely insane to watch.
We get back and I start packing as I’m leaving tomorrow, then set my alarm and go to sleep.
I woke up and got ready for a busy fun day solo travelled NY for the first time.
I walked along the Hudson River Promenade and walked to Little Island as I hadn’t seen it yet as on the first day in NY they had closed it for some reason. The Little Island was green and lush – there was a beautiful viewpoint where you see New York and at the amphitheater there was a graduation for Grade 2’s.
I walked through Spring Street to Taylor Swifts houses to see which part of town she was in. I then walked through Chinatown and it looked like I wasn’t in America. It was so beautifully decorated and colourful. It was mainly in one road but it did branch out in near roads.
I went on a subway to Long Island City as my mom went to the MOMA and on the ticket she was allowed to go to the MOMA PS1 14 days after the ticket date. I decided to find other interesting things to do in the area. I walked along Hunters Point South Park along the sea through to gantry plaza state park along the sea and saw an apparently famous Pepsi Cola sign. I then arrived at the MOMA PS1 and the picture outside the building was beautiful I had no doubt of how stunning it would look inside. Then OFFICAL YAEL DRAMA- I looked at the glass door which was the entrance and I see written on the door that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays they are closed. I had gone to all this effort to see the artworks and now it wasn’t open- I was annoyed but I wouldn’t allow myself to leave and go back to Manhattan, instead I decided to walk to the Socrates sculpture park that I knew about but I thought it may take too much time with everything else I was doing but now one of those things I wasn’t doing so I went. Walking along Queens is completely different to Manhattan – there are big warehouses, the streets are more vacant, it’s quiet and the roads are big. It was very nice to be in that environment as it is different to Manhattan – they both were so different and both great. That’s a small list of differences but you really do notice them.
I arrived at the Socrates sculpture park where there was some figures – a woman wearing a Superman top, a guy and a dog, and a guy with a basketball. The park was quiet and green and it had a free store of give and take. I sat there and relaxed for a while.
I walked back to a subway and took a train that went above ground and got such an incredible view. Then I walked to a store far away that I read on the website would have a big container of soy yogurt and it didn’t so I walked to Washington park and people watched and lay down to relax.
My uncle and I went out for a delicious Mediterranean supper where I met a fellow swifty. I then went to the apartment and went to bed.
My mom leaves NY today. We woke up earlier than normal as we had a busy short day together ahead of us. We rushed to get bagels from the 24 hour bagel shop on Brooklyn and my oh my they were the best bagels we have ever tasted. We arrived back in west village and noticed my mom couldn’t fit everything in her bag. Luckily she was allowed two bags so we rushed to find a luggage place. The place we went was on Chelsey Rd and the person selling it to us was incredibly kind. After getting the bag (and popping into the Chelsea market) we urgently had to get back to the apartment and pack up everything. We managed to fit everything into two bags. We went on the subway to get my mom on the train going to the airport and we said goodbye – she was an amazing travel buddy.
After my mom left on the train to the airport my uncle and I walked along Central Park Reservoir and got a bite to eat of incredible vegan food. We then walked along the streets near Central Park and I went thrift shopping where I bought a piece of clothing (I find it incredibly hard to buy clothes), I was very proud!
My uncle and I walked to the east side of west end and saw really cool artworks, fun people and got delicious vegan ice cream (yum)!
We stopped by his friends and chatted and then went to sleep
We felt we hadn’t seen enough of Boston so we continued our journey on the freedom trail where we went past a bunch of buildings as most weren’t open (most things on at least the east side of America only open at 11). We looked at the Park street church, Kings Chapel, Benjamin Franklin statue, old corner bookstore, old south meeting house, old state house and the Faneuil hall. It was all fairly close which made it easy and efficient. We popped by a market to see the vibes and then the Jewish advocate which seemed closed and then went to Harvard to see the campus.
Our next stop was New Milford, you are probably asking, where is New Milford and why there? The answers my friend are it’s between Boston and New York and because it’s the place where the writers of Gilmore Girls got their inspiration for creating a gazebo. We got coffee, went and sat under the gazebo and walked around the cute small town. We think that everyone in this town is related to everyone else as so many people had the same surname. There were posters of the graduates all around the main square. We then went to an art place in the town where we talked with the owner who says he is similar to Luke from Gilmore Girls. We popped by the Shul which was closed.
We went back on our way and eventually got back to Manhattan. Now the place we hired a car from wanted us to give it back to them with a full tank – my mom asked where the best place to fuel it up is and the woman there told us which one to go to. This is the start to OFFICIAL GIRL TRIP DRAMA. We arrived there and along the way we had seen the price of petrol and this place was mad expensive. In South Africa the price of fuel has to be relatively the same amount but in America there is a big differences between each station. We decided it would be better to drive to another station so we did, and drove to New Jersey to get a good price there. We honestly could have gone and filled up on the highway which would have been so much easier for us but the fact that they sent us to the most expensive is cruel and ridiculous.
We got back in New York and spent the night in Brooklyn which was new and exciting. We walked past a 24 homemade bagel place but decided to go the next day. We got there late which meant we only got to bed late and fell asleep.
robinsinflight 