A week in Ontario

I flew from Saskatoon to Toronto on the evening of Friday the 13th.  The plane was probably about half full but even less full in the seats near me.  With the exception of a couple of super short half-hour flights, I don’t think I’ve been on a flight this empty in the last five years.  I’m thinking there must be some truth to many people avoiding Friday the 13th flights.  Anyway, it was nice to be on a non-crowded plane. Sadly, I was leaving very nice weather in Saskatchewan and heading to not so nice (rainy) weather in Ontario.

Empty seats on the plane.

I spent Friday evening at an airport hotel and then took a bus and subway and then unexpectedly, another bus as part of the subway was closed to reach downtown. I saw advertisements for a new train that will go from the airport to Union Station soon but upon further investigation I found that the price will be nearly $30; so, I’ll be sticking with the $3 TTC option! Anyway, despite the rain I walked around a fair bit. I found an interesting machine at the Eaton Centre that was giving surprise gifts from MasterCard. Just before me it started having issues which was annoying but I eventually received my surprise. It looked like a lot of people were getting gift cards but I only received a notebook. I then took a $2.83 ($1 plus taxes/fees) bus to St. Catharines. I still can’t believe how MegaBus can be!

The MasterCard machine.

I managed to come down with a bit of a cold and I haven’t had a cold in a few years. So, the rest of the week I was a bit lazier than I would have been otherwise. Still, I did a fair bit of shopping. I went over to the U.S. and the border really wasn’t too busy during March Break (when kids are off school in Ontario); the lower dollar must really be having an effect but I still have a fairly large amount of U.S. dollars so it wasn’t a big deal for me. I also went to a (Canadian) Target that was closing within a week and despite the fact that there was more merchandise there than I anticipated, I still only found a couple of things worth buying. I went out to eat a bit as there are definitely better restaurant options there than here.

I flew back to Saskatoon yesterday morning (because it was cheaper than flying later in the day or today). This turned out to be a good decision for more than financial reasons as we ended up getting quite a bit of snow later in the day and I’m sure the highway wouldn’t have been fun to drive on.