Angela and I recently returned from a short trip to Toronto for the fourth of my semi-annual credit card and travel enthusiast meetups. While there, we took a daytrip to the most popular tourist destination in Canada, ate delicious food, and hung out with awesome people.

I really value these opportunities to meet up with my geographically distributed friends in an away-from-keyboard context. As an added bonus, many of the participants brought their spouses and children to the event, giving us a chance to meet the people who we only see pictures of or hear about.

Bookings

There’s nothing exciting in the below bookings. The flights were booked with a cash equivalent and the hotels both had wide availability with no constraints.

Flights

• Angela & Nicholas
  • 1753.71USD per person (United TravelBank)
    • LAS-YYZ on AC J
    • YYZ-DEN on UA J
    • DEN-LAS on UA J

Hotels

• One room for four nights at the Hyatt Regency Toronto for 12,000 World of Hyatt points per night
• One room for one night at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport for 42,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night

Activities

• Two tickets to Journey Behind the Falls for 27.97CAD per ticket

Transport

We used public transportation when possible during our time in Toronto, and I won’t detail those costs. I did book a single discrete train journey that I think is worth noting.

• Two tickets on VIA Rail’s Niagara Falls to Toronto service for 29.38CAD per ticket

July 3, 2024

After dropping Fitz off at boarding, we made our way to the airport for our late-morning departure. With a short TSA preCheck line, we made it from the parking garage to our gate in less than fifteen minutes.

After a single lap of the airport to stretch our legs, we boarded and settled in for our Air Canada operated flight to Toronto. I continue to be amazed by just how much better the travel experience is on non-US carriers. The planes are in better condition, the flight attendants are friendlier, and the food is, almost without exception, tastier.

We landed in Toronto around 1900 and made our way through customs. For the first time in a dozen international arrivals, my passport worked at the electronic reader. The train to the city center was a short walk away from the arrivals area and we tapped on using our mobile wallets. I love that so many public transit systems have switched to allow the use of NFC enabled cards and devices.

After arriving at Union Station, we walked to the Hyatt Regency Toronto. Check-in was smooth and our room was decent for the price we paid. I didn’t love the furnishings, decor, or bathroom fixtures, but the location of the hotel is great for experiencing downtown Toronto.

We dropped our bags off and headed out in search of dinner. Angela had saved Juicy Dumpling in Google Maps so we set off to see if the restaurant would live up to the hype in the reviews. We ordered each of the soup dumpling options, the pan-fried chicken dumpling, and the shrimp wontons with spicy sauce.

The meal was inexpensive, but the taste did not match our expectations based on chatter both online and in-person. If you go in with a realistic view that you’re getting good dumplings on the cheap, you’ll be happier than if you’re expecting some of the best tasting dumplings of your life.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Kung Fu Tea for dessert. While dinner was somewhat mediocre, the tea at Kung Fu Tea was awesome and a nice way to finish the day.

July 4

Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Toronto consists of a small buffet with a variety of hot and cold items alongside a small omelet station. In addition, both Starbucks drip coffee and espresso drinks (from a machine, not a barista) were available.

After breakfast, we walked to Union Station and boarded the Lakeshore West GO Transit train towards Niagara Falls. The train was comfortable for a commuter railway and the journey lasted two hours and fifteen minutes with a small number of stops on the way. Surprisingly, the Niagara Falls GO station is devoid of services or any real amenities. When we disembarked, there were a number of free shuttles present to take everyone to the main tourist area near the falls, but Angela and I decided to walk.

We made our way along the Niagara River before eventually reaching the tourist area. If you’re going to visit the falls, I think it is important to remember that it is the single most popular tourist attraction in Canada and that the crowds of people are certainly indicative of that. Do not expect to have a peaceful view of nature’s wonders.

Of course, there’s a reason that tourist attractions are busy, and it is generally because they are really cool. I can confirm that is definitely true of Niagara Falls. While the American Falls are fairly basic, the Canadian Horsehoe Falls are incredible, demonstrating the totality of nature’s terrestrial power. We stopped to take many pictures as we made our way to our final destination.

After viewing the falls from the boardwalk, we entered the Table Rock Centre and checked in for our timed entry to Journey Behind the Falls. After waiting in a very long line and eventually being given a poncho to wear, we descended in an elevator to the tunnels bored into bedrock. Once there, we quickly made our way to the lower observation deck.

The observation deck is relatively close to the falls, so you are guaranteed to get wet from the cascading water of the Niagara River. It was incredible to be so nearby such a beautiful sight, and we made sure to take plenty of pictures.

We left the observation deck and made our way down the nearby tunnel to view the falls from behind. While it was cool to see the sheeting water flying past the portal, waiting in line for half-an-hour while everyone spent time trying to pose for the perfect picture made the experience a little underwhelming. I’m not saying that Angela and I didn’t take pictures, of course, but I guess our selfie experience allows us to move a little faster than everyone else.

There was another line to wait in to ride the elevator topside. Luckily it moved relatively quickly and, before long, we were exiting through a gift shop. We explored Table Rock Centre a little bit before exiting to take some final shots of the falls from above the cascade.

I was craving a burger, so we walked to The WORKS Craft Burgers & Beer for lunch. I ordered an elk burger and onion rings while Angela opted for a beef burger and poutine. Both of our burgers were tasty and my onion rings were delicious, but Angela thought the poutine was mediocre.

At this point, we still had three hours until our return train was scheduled to depart. Angela found Cafe Dalbodre and we stopped in for an afternoon snack. I enjoyed a tasty mocha while Angela tried the bingsu with black sesame. The iced milk dessert was quite tasty and unique.

We walked back to the train station through the non-tourist parts of Niagara Falls which can only be described as light urban blight. Arriving at the station about forty-five minutes ahead of our scheduled train, we took a seat in the depressing waiting room as it filled to capacity.

I was surprised to find that VIA Rail between Niagara Falls and Toronto is operated by an Amtrak train. The seats were comfortable and there were power outlets located in every row. Our ride back to Toronto was pleasant and took a little under two hours.

We returned to the hotel. Angela was tired and went to bed while I headed to the lobby to hang out with David and Pete and meet David’s kids for the first time. While the Hyatt Regency rooms were OK, I did enjoy the lobby quite a bit because there was a ton of space to meet up with people and the staff didn’t constantly pester us for drink or food orders. Delightfully, I asked the bartender for a virgin cocktail that tasted good and she was happy to whip something up for me without additional input.

July 5

After breakfast, Angela led a delegation of four churning wives to Brass Vixens for a private pole fitness class. By all reports, they had a delightful time.

While the ladies got their groove on, I accompanied David and his kids (plus a bonus child) on a geocache search. He introduced me to the Geocaching app and showed me how it worked. Afterwards, we stopped at two different locations, finding the cache at each. With the discovery complete, the children played at a nearby park where we met up with Paul and chatted for a bit.

Angela messaged me to let me know that they were done with the class and we met her and her companions back at the hotel. At this point, Angela and I decided we would go for a run along the waterfront. Our intention was to take a tram from a stop near the hotel to The Palace Pier before running back towards the hotel. Unfortunately, the tram never came.

We walked towards the waterfront and started our jog, but ran into a number of construction barriers as we tried to make our way around Trillium Park. We finished our prescribed time and, frustrated by the lack of a path along the water, headed back towards our hotel.

On the way, we decided to grab something to eat and walked to Seven Lives Tacos y Mariscos for a late lunch. There, we had the best street tacos I’ve ever tasted. In addition to the delightful flavor, each taco was absolutely packed with meat.

After lunch, we stopped at Blackbird Baking Co for some sweets. Angela chose a kouign amann while I opted to get both a cinammon bun and a brown butter chocolate chip cookie. The cookie, in particular, was one of the best store-bought desserts I’ve ever tasted.

At this point, my friend Ranjeet had arrived for the night and I was eager to meet him for the first time. We returned to the hotel and grabbed some drinks from Starbucks before sitting in the lobby and chatting for several hours. Ranjeet is someone who I’ve known for years, but have never met in an away-from-keyboard context and it was a real delight to finally put a face and voice to the name.

Angela and I returned to our room to freshen up before returning to the lobby. There, I found Ranjeet and a few others hanging out. We sat and chatted for another hour or so before heading to the Wellington Market Food Hall for a casual dinner. Angela and I both opted for poke bowls from Pokeworks. I ordered the Yuzo Ponzu Salmon bowl while Angela chose the Umami Tuna bowl. We both thoroughly enjoyed the fast-casual takeaway.

After eating dinner, we returned to the hotel and hung out in the lobby as a group until midnight. It was fun to just hang out and chat with some good friends.

July 6

After a quick workout and a late breakfast, Angela and I headed to Chefs Hall to join the meetup. We started our time there with a pair of cortados from Lost Coffee, which were quite delicious. I handed out trivia quizzes to each of the spouses willing to participate in some good fun and was pleasantly surprised by how many of them answered a majority of the questions correctly.

To get the party really started, Angela did a shot with some of the other wives before settling in to get to know everyone. Later on in the day, I enjoyed lamb biryani from Charcoal Biryani. Angela opted for a Greek salad and gyro skewer from Aphrodite’s Taverna. I also ordered a chocolate chip cookie from Mary’s Brigadeiro, which was absolutely delicious.

In all, we had fourteen people and their families attend our Toronto meetup, which I find to be incredible given how geographically distributed we are. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a picture of the full group, but the following shows a small slice of people who attended.

After returning to the hotel to grab our climbing shoes, we headed to Joe Rockhead’s Indoor Rock Climbing with a couple of people for some bouldering practice. The gym was different than the one we have at home, lacking numeric grades on the routes, but we still had a good time. It was nice to get some climbing work in while we were on vacation.

Having worked up an appetite, the four of us headed to Muay Thai for a delicious meal.

Finally, we returned to the hotel to have drinks in the lobby with a smaller group. We said goodbye to the people we wouldn’t be seeing the following day.

July 7

After a late breakfast, Angela and I walked through Graffiti Alley, admiring the incredible street art (and bellyaching about some of the vandalism done to a couple of awesome pieces).

We then caught a tram to the far western edge of High Park. We jogged around most of the park before emerging at the eastern edge and making our way to the lake to finish our run along the boardwalk. We passed by Sunny Side Beach as part of our run before walking back to the hotel.

After returning to the hotel, we packed up and checked out, leaving our bags with the front desk temporarily. On the recommendation of my friend David, we visited Kinoya Sushi and Bar for lunch. We ordered the sushi boat consisting of 15 pieces of sashimi and 18 pieces of sushi. The pieces were a variety of tuna, white tuna, seabream, and salmon. The sushi course featured both raw and grilled options. Everything was tasty and we enjoyed our meal quite a bit.

We picked up our bags and walked to Union Station where we took the UP train to the airport, connecting to the Terminal Link to take us to the Sheraton Gateway Hotel. After an easy check-in, we dropped our bags in our room before heading down to the lounge for some light snacks. The rooms at the Sheraton Gateway are nicely appointed, spacious, and comfortable.

The lounge offerings were nice, but we didn’t eat a ton as Angela had arranged for some friends of her family, whom she hadn’t seen since she was eleven, to meet us for dinner at our hotel. We wandered over to the bar to wait for them and spent the evening catching up on the last twenty-five years of life, reconnecting Angela’s grandma with the couple, and swapping life experiences.

July 8

We woke up early and departed our hotel room around 0500. We took the Terminal Link to Terminal 1, from which our flight was departing, and walked to the immigration and security checkpoint. We arrived fairly early because we were worried about the time required to clear security, but our fears were unfounded.

After security, we walked to the Maple Leaf Lounge Express near Gate 84, bypassing the main Maple Leaf Lounge (as the signs indicate to do). I would not recommend this. The lounge is tiny and offers a very small selection of pre-packaged foods. Before long, though, we were on our way home.

Our flight to Denver left forty-five minutes late but arrived only fifteen minutes behind schedule. After disembarking, we walked to the Capital One Lounge and put our names on the waitlist. Luckily, we only had to wait five minutes before entering and enjoying some small dishes and desserts. An hour later, we left the lounge and were on our way home.

Thus came to an end another fun trip. I was so happy to have Angela join me and meet many of my friends. It was nice to finally meet many of their spouses who I’ve heard about second-hand for years. Above all, I feel so lucky to have these people in my life, and look forward to additional meetups in the future.