With the positive news yesterday from Dr. Bonnie Henry, we feel it's time to book a vacation. We decided to travel in our own country this year! We've seen a lot of British Columbia and some of the prairies, but Cec and I have never stayed in Ontario! I took Cheryl to Ottawa when she was a teenager for a long weekend and Cec thought we were crazy for going so far for so few days. Of course I worked for an airline and the flights were cheap.
My long time friend Jeanie has been talking about a rail tour in Eastern Canada. Jeanie has been a travel agent for many years and works at Maritime Travel. She priced taking VIA Rail from Vancouver to Toronto. The price wasn't as much as I thought for a sleeping cabin and meals but the number of days on a train just seemed a lot.
We've decided to fly to Toronto. We booked an Anderson Independent Rail Tour, that Jeanie tweaked. It originally went to Quebec City. We've both been to Quebec City so we exchanged that for Kingston. Anderson is a Canadian company with their head office in Calgary. We decided to "all Canadian".
We fly to Toronto on August 15th and are booked at a great hotel downtown. They've included tickets for the CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium. We will probably purchase the Hop On Hop Off bus and do a lot of exploring on our own. We are not on a guided tour but on our own time.
VIA Rail has cancelled rail trips right now because of COVID from Toronto to Niagara Falls. We are booked on a coach, but if VIA rail is operating in the summer we will take the train to Niagara Falls. We are staying at a hotel very close to the falls and included is the Hornblower Cruise, Journey behind the Falls, White Water Walk and Hop On Hop Off Bus!
Then it's back on VIA Rail to Kingston! Our hotel is right on the waterfront! We are doing the Heart of the Islands Cruise around the 1000 islands!
We are back on VIA Rail from Kingston to Ottawa. We have a guided walking tour of downtown Ottawa. I am hoping the Parliament Buildings will be open to tours. When I went to Ottawa with Cheryl we went on the French Tour of the Parliament Buildings! It was great for her, but I didn't understand much. This time, I'll make sure I register for the English tour.
From Ottawa, it's VIA Rail to Montreal. We are staying downtown and have a guided walking tour of Old Montreal. A cruise is booked along the St. Lawrence through the Canal Lachine to the Boucherville Islands. We will again buy Hop On Hop Off as we love these tours.
Anderson Vacations booked our hotels, tours and rail transportation. It's a great way to vacation in your own country. We've done a few coach tours and while they are guided and it's good when you are in another country. With this tour we have a lot of flexibility.
The deposit is refundable, not that we want to cancel but if health conditions deteriorate, we have that option. We are all ready to travel again!
