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chris' wander around canada

a travel blog by chrismcginley


starting this nearly 4 months into my year long "working" holiday in canada but hey better late than never
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toronto

Toronto, Canada


My journey started off on a bad note falling into a bonfire at my going away party causing major burns on my arms really was not the ideal way to start off but I got over it and against doctors orders I hopped on the plane anyway full of excitement about what Canada would hold.
On arrival in the city i proceeded to go out drinking on a pub crawl and got totally smashed and i believe i stayed in a similar condition for the next few weeks as most of my memories of toronto are a bit vague!
i stayed in a hostel for the first few nghts and made a load of friends but then to save money for more drinking i moved in with my cousin in the suburbs!
as i could not look for work for the first few weeks i decided to take a trip to a few other cities.


permalink written by  chrismcginley on September 25, 2008 from Toronto, Canada
from the travel blog: chris' wander around canada
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ottawa

Ottawa, Canada


After doing my orientation in the swap office on king street west I decided to take a trip up to Ottawa, Montréal, Québec and further. I made a plan not to plan anything just see where the road would take me so hopped on a bus to Ottawa and managed to find the Ottawa jail hostel so booked in there and we went out that night with a few others and visited a few bars made plans with a kiwi and a Canadian to head to Montréal the next day. We headed to about 3 or 4 bars then heading to the last bar I fell behind the group and when i got to the door the bouncer looked at my passport and because I was 14 and bald in the photo (or maybe it was due to the fact that I was in quite an intoxicated condition who really knows) he would not let me in so I headed off to the hostel, the only problem being I was in a completely strange city at about 2 in the morning without a map and no idea where I was and pissed out of my mind I really was fit to kill that bouncer but somehow, I’ve no idea how, I made it to the hostel (a few stops to ask directions and a few French conversations later it’s amazing what you can do when your drunk).next morning I felt very sick and head down to the kitchen where nerissa started talking to me it was only when she mentioned Montréal I realised who I was talking to and why she was talking to me and that I’d actually made plans to head to Montréal so I drank lots of water and tried to eat but felt sick so I left Ottawa with a sick stomach and a bad impression of the city even though I did not see much of it!

permalink written by  chrismcginley on October 7, 2008 from Ottawa, Canada
from the travel blog: chris' wander around canada
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montreal

Montreal, Canada


We took the train to Montréal which took something like 5 hrs so I was feeling a lot better once we arrived and was ready to head to the hostel checked in and had some of the beer I’d packed then had dinner played pool and drank more made a few more friends and we decided to hit a karaoke bar so after stopping in an Irish bar we finally made it to a karaoke bar numbers dwindled down to 5 by the time we made it there so we drank 4 pitchers (4L) on top of shots of tequila and all the beer we drank earlier sang many songs like YMCA and American pie and then invaded the stage it was fun then after closing i headed back to the hostel I went to get into bed and realised there was already someone there so I just hopped into the nearest available bed only to be moved, this happened 2 more times until I finally found an empty bed so I was happy till I woke up practically naked and freezing with no blanket, pillows or even sheets I was disgusted and feeling very sick.....again!
That day I wandered around Montréal did not see much as I was too sick to really care about it I just walked to be able to say I walked around Montréal. That night about 30 of us went on a pub crawl it was epic one of the best nights of my life. I really improved my French and ended up doing pole dances. some of us took a taxi back to the hostel I remember speaking French to the driver a lot of French I was very impressed with myself then after I remember sitting down outside the hostel with a few others and discovering a bike so we took turns cycling around the streets of Montréal fun times!
Next morning feeling....you guessed it very sick I went to book in again for another few nights but unbeknownst to me it was thanksgiving weekend so there was no accommodation to be had in Montréal or Québec so I had to get all the way back to Toronto and fast otherwise I’d be homeless so numerous busses later and major queues in Ottawa I finally made it to Toronto and got off at the wrong stop so i had to catch a bus again and missed my stop there so had to get a train home it took me an eternity to get home! But I left Montréal with some of the best memories from my trip so far!


permalink written by  chrismcginley on October 8, 2008 from Montreal, Canada
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toronto again

Toronto, Canada


i stayed in toronto for a few weeks trying to find work well not really trying i was just hopeing that something exciting and financially rewarding would turn up but i did apply for a few jobs!!most of my time was spent partying and recovering! one of my favorite nights was halloween. Halloween was epic it was a fantastic night I’d decided to go as a woman so nerissa took it upon herself to ensure I was beautiful so we went shoe shopping that day which was not easy as women’s sizes don’t go big enough but eventually we found a pair of heels I could squeeze into...unfortunately so we went back to the hostel and drank some beer while doing my nails then had dinner and returned to finish me off with more beer and a hair straightener nerissa also donated tights and a dress to the cause and Ruth had donated a feathery boa getting ready was interesting every stage was a transformation and when I was finally unveiled to the greater hostel community let’s just say I caused a few nightmares as I’m embarrassed to say I looked very hot as a woman!

. Nerissa and I walked all the way up church street to Bloor to the peridot lounge on the way church street was closed off for a major street party and I flirted with everyone and I mean everyone I really got into character as crystal nerissa had to keep pulling me away from girls I was chatting up so we eventually made it(half a water bottle of vodka later)and we went in leaving the vodka at the door for later I think my first drink was a cosmopolitan which was a bad idea as I in my drunk state got most of it on myself the party was ok there was some amazing costumes like Mr.T and Lego man. John finally arrived as a vampire so we drank a load more there is pictures of me chatting up girls I can’t even remember so we were all pretty hammered and by about 2 nerissa and I left to find a small pub we could terrorise on the way we met giant Burt and Ernie and a few other good costumes had a few falls nerissa grazed both her knees and we ended up in McVeigh’s an Irish bar by the hostel and I was certain we’d get drinks there now as it turned out we could not get served I’m not sure was it because it was after last orders or because I was dressed as a woman and hanging onto the bar for dear life shouting “I’m Irish and I want a drink” I guess I’ll never know!
due to not finding work in toronto and getting bored of the same city i decided to go to vancouver to try the west coast and see what it had to offer!
For my last night in Toronto I went to the hostel for a few drinks and we ordered in food from dangerous dans I got the quadruple C which means colossal colon clogging combo and consists of 1.5 pounds of beef ½ a pound of cheese ½ a pound of bacon 2 eggs and all the usual burger toppings with poutine and a milkshake somehow I managed to eat the entire burger ½ the milkshake and some of the poutine on top of 5 beers in under 15 minutes I was very proud of myself until my stomach felt like it needed to burst I was in pain for about 3 hours it was terrible! We later went to a few bars on queen street west and had good fun I was unable to get drunk though as I’d eaten so much! Next day I woke up early to finish packing and tidying up and went to get the plane to Vancouver!


permalink written by  chrismcginley on January 23, 2009 from Toronto, Canada
from the travel blog: chris' wander around canada
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