Oh, Canada!
And just like that, we left the vast beauty of Iowa. The hardest part was saying farewell to Diesel. He's been my main man for more than 9 years. The York family (Matt, Karly, Ben, Jude, and Harley) will be watching Diesel for us. They will do a wonderful job and we're very thankful.
Our original flight from Des Moines was delayed four hours, which would leave us missing our connecting flight, which only runs once a day. To hell with you, airlines! We're road-trippin' folk! We rented a car in Des Moines and drove to MI. We stayed the night in Bridgman, MI with our friend Allison and some of her family. The house was freakin' amazing. A modern paradise set in heavy woodlands just a few minutes walk to Lake MIchigan. We arrived late and had to leave early, but we made the most of our time by eating, playing games, working on a crossword as a team, walking along the beach, and sipping coffee.
We left later than we should have, surprise, and had to make up some time on the road. Here’s another surprise; It didn’t work. A very nice MI state trooper pulled us over doing 88 in a 75 and let us go with a ticket for doing 5 over. That’s $115.00 that wasn’t in our budget. From there to Traverse City, I kept the speeding to 7 over.
We were about 5 minutes late to Dan and Diep’s wedding, sneaking into the back row of seats almost unnoticed. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony was held atop a bare hill in a vineyard. The reception was held in a barn on the same property. We devoured perfect roast beef, and even more perfect bourbon and vodka. That’s about when the dancing started. The groom pulled out some moves I’ve never seen before. They were confident moves. They were questionable moves. The crowd loved him. We all sweat our asses off on the dance floor while the DJ played every late 90’s and early 2000’s rap song I could think of. The official party ended at 11 and of course we had to keep it going. We didn’t need to do that. We shouldn’t have done that. The after-party led us to downtown Traverse City. Bar #1 denied our entry because the bride was not carrying her ID. C’mon bride! Wedding dresses need pockets! Bar #2 allowed us entry on the grounds that every person besides the bride had a valid 21+ ID. Jackpot. I think at this point we all realized we had already tied one on and didn’t need to do anymore tying, but nobody suggest we leave. The bride and groom eventually left to consummate their marriage or pass out. Obviously, the best thing for the rest of the party to do was to head back to bar #1 since we didn’t have the bride holding us back. The doorman oddly made a few of us do a sobriety test as he thought we were too drunk to enter. Jokes on you, doorman, we were too drunk, but we’re good at it! We went through the motions at bar #1 for a bit, and then Leah and I finally got smart and left. We hoofed it 3 miles through a new city to our AirBnB and passed out hard.
The next morning left us hurting BAD, but it was time to drop off our rental car in Detroit, and cross the border into Canada. I had previously researched crossing the border in Detroit and found that you cannot cross on foot via the Ambassador Bridge or the tunnel. We were looking for a bus to take us across the bridge or tunnel when we decided to ask a police officer for directions or help crossing. She laughed at us and told us we could just walk and told us where to go. We went where she said, and were laughed at again by a transit officer who told us we’d be killed if we tried to cross there on foot. So we got a bus ticket and that worked out just fine.
We used Booking.com for our night's stay in Windsor, Ontario; a cheap motel we could walk to. The walk was 3 miles, in the dark, in unfamiliar territory. We didn't love it, but banked on the stereotypes of Canadians being super polite to keep us safe. Our motel looked shady. The front desk worker was very confused by our appearance and said he never got a reservation from Booking.com, but said he could get a room ready for us; he just needed to get somebody else out of that room first. Uhhhhhhh, what? I called Booking.com to express my confusion and hoped they could book me a different room. They obliged. As they were searching for a new hotel and new room, my phone died. Leah and I went ahead and booked a room at Howard Johnson and got an Uber so we didn't have to walk 3 more miles. The HoJo was exactly what we needed; hot water and a clean bed. Booking.com did end up refunding me, but did not offer up any credit for the inconvenience.
We headed to a Greyhound station the next day to hitch a ride to Toronto. That was pretty uneventful. We arrived to the city late and of course had to walk another 3 miles to our hostel. I'm getting really sick of all destinations being 3 miles away. It's too short to waste money on Uber but too long to haul our packs while its hot and humid. The hostel was great. A very friendly check-in staffer showed us around and gave us the rules. We were in a 10 person dorm, but most people were already settling in for the night so we didn't make any new friends.
Walk 3 miles. Coffee. Travel research, We checked our bags at a convenience-like store which turned out to be very convenient. We hopped on a ferry and explored the Toronto Islands. It's really one island with 3 different sections and names. We walked from one end to the other, 3 miles or so...and stopped at a clothing-optional beach. We opted to take our clothes off and go for a swim in Lake Ontario which felt great. There were hundreds of other naked people, and by 'people' I mean men. We were not equipped with a towel, so we stood in our birthday suits to air dry. We took a nap in a shaded grass area and were woken by curious ducks trying to steal my passport. Not today, ISIS!
Here comes our big flight. We are now sitting in the Toronto airport, ready for a flight to Atlanta, then Tokyo, then Singapore. Its going to be 26 hours or so in planes and airport terminals. Our first flight is to leave at 6am, and because we're flying internationally, we thought it would be smart to actually show up early like mother always suggests. being at the airport at 4am would mean leaving a hostel an hour before that. We decided we'd save a few bucks and hang out at the airport all night instead of buying a room. At midnight we tried to go through security to get to our gate, which is when we were confronted by staff who told us security won't open until 4am. Here we are. Sitting in the main lobby on the handicapped-designated chairs. No sleep in sight. No electric outlets to be huddled around. Awful WiFi. Please send help.
Tyler NairBare
Walking 3 miles somewhere or another. Toronto, ON