Normally, for the Fourth of July weekend, I fly back home to New Orleans to attend Essence Music Festival. Growing up, my aunt and I would go religiously to the convention center for the empowerment seminars, brand pop-ups, day parties, and leave with tote bags filled with hair care products from the various sponsors. Occasionally, I would attend a concert or an after-party as I got older. But as Jay-Z once said, “Blacker than the Essence Fest…” I love attending Essence Music Fest due to the sheer volume of us that would flock to the city, and I’d be enveloped in sisterhood and community.
Since Spirit Airlines ceased operations in 2026, U.S. flight prices have gotten out of control! Usually, when I book a flight from Chicago to New Orleans months, if not weeks in advance, flights are priced on average around $200, maybe upwards of $300 for certain events such as Jazz & Heritage Festival, Essence Festival, and certain holidays. For Mardi Gras, you can expect to see flights priced at $400 or higher. When I checked flight prices to New Orleans after Sprint went out of business, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines were all priced at $400 and higher. Unfortunately, the prices didn’t decrease, and I wanted to have a vacation for the July Fourth weekend. I went to Google Flights to see which cities had decent flight prices for the long weekend, and saw a round trip basic economy ticket on United for $255 to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for that weekend. I immediately booked it for 48 hours in the city. There was a World Cup game happening in the city that week, so maybe the flight prices were low because I just missed the game and the compression.
I’d been wanting to visit Buffalo, Niagara, and Toronto for a while, and I had planned to use Buffalo, New York as my base, taking day trips to Niagara on the Canadian side, then visiting Toronto. However, I didn’t find the charm or appeal of spending days in Buffalo, New York outside of trying their buffalo wings.

I reviewed Downtown Toronto hotels and booked a 2-night stay at Revery Toronto Downtown. The hotel is a 20-minute walk from the Union Station train station as well as Scotia Bank Arena where the Toronto Raptors play, a 13-minute walk to CN Tower, and a 9-minute walk to Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays MLB team plays. Revery is centrally located to many tourist attractions, is accessible by Toronto’s streetcars, and is in a very walkable part of the city.
Revery is a Curio by Hilton property and is absolutely beautiful. The rooms have burgundy accents throughout, has master room light switches that allow you to automatically open and close the curtains with the touch of a button. The hotel has a cafe and bar on the first floor open to the public, a restaurant and bar on the second floor also open to the public. Hotel guests can use the gym and valet parking. Besides the chic rooms, I loved that the hotel had water and ice machines on every floor, and the ice machines produced the good pebble ice! There are also microwaves on every floor instead of guests having to ask the front desk lobby.
My hotel room tour on YouTube is linked below.

I took an early morning flight from Chicago to Toronto. The flight was only an hour or so, and I slept the entire time. Once I landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, I took the Union Pearson Express (UP) train from the airport to Union Station. The fare costs $12 CAD with 4 stops and took about 35 minutes. You can purchase your fare at the UP terminal at the airport with cash or by credit/debit card. The ride was seamless, and felt like I was on an Amtrak or suburban commuter train. The trains have free wifi, luggage storage, outlets, the seating was spacious, and the ride was quiet.There is no assigned seating — you can grab the first available seat. I walked 20 minutes from Union Station to the Revery Hotel and, luckily, was able to check in early to hit the ground running.

By this point, it was almost noon, and I was famished. I saw so many TikTok posts saying the pancakes at Susie’s Rise & Shine were the best pancakes hands down. Google reviews also mentioned that the sweet spot is to make a reservation 2 weeks in advance to avoid long wait times. Unfortunately, their reservation system does not allow reservations for parties of 1, so I had to be optimistic that there wouldn’t be a long wait for one seat on a Friday afternoon. Luckily, when I walked in, I was able to sit at the bar with no wait. Susie’s is a diner with a small menu serving their breakfast and lunch menu available all day. As I sat at the bar, I could see everyone’s order being made in front of me. The staff were all so kind and hustled getting orders out. There are a few tables on their patio, a few booths inside and maybe seating for 8 people at the bar. On weekends, I can imagine the wait time being over an hour without a reservation.
I already knew what I wanted before I sat down. I had to try their pancakes and the Big Trouble Breakfast Sandwich. Their pancakes are basically fried in butter with the crispy edges, fluffy interior, and topped with lemon zest, a slab of butter, and your own drizzle of maple syrup. Your food comes out as it is ready, so not all the time will you and your table receive the entire order at once. About 15 minutes after I placed my order, my pancakes were delivered to me. The pancakes were so delicious! Obviously my favorite part was the crisp edges. The pancake centers weren’t doughy, but fluffy and were easily able to soak up the maple syrup. The lemon zest may be a little overpowering to some people who may not like citrus.

I also ordered the Big Trouble Breakfast Sandwich which is a scrambled egg and cheese sandwich layered with a fried hashbrown and char siu sausage in between a scallion milk bun. I needed savory to balance off the sweet. Initially when I put my order in, my waitress asked if I wanted a half portion of the pancakes because I’d ordered the sandwich as well — absolutely not, give me both! If you only want to taste the pancakes, ordering a single pancake is an option. I was halfway done with my pancakes before the sandwich came out. I’d never heard of char siu before, so when I looked it up, it is described as a Cantonese roasted pork, and based on the pictures, I thought I was familiar with char siu and was sure I’d eaten it before at Chinese restaurants. However, the char siu sausage that was on the sandwich was moreso like Spam. To me, it was a lot of flavors and textures on the sandwich from the scallions to the hashbrown, egg, and the sausage. I would likely order the sandwich again, but instead of their take on char siu, I would sub it for bacon.

After brunch, I needed a pick up me to keep me awake for the rest of the day. I took the city’s streetcar to Wu Wei Coffee in Kensington. Wu Wei is a tiny matcha and coffee shop where you place your order on a kiosk upon entering, watch your drink be made in front of you until your name is called, and walk out. There is a bench for sitting while you wait for your order, but there is not seating for you to enjoy your beverage inside. Initially, I wanted to try their strawberry matcha with strawberry compote at the bottom, but I needed something stronger. I ordered my first dirty matcha with oatmilk. It was delicious and only set me back $9 CAD. All of their matcha orders are whisked to order, and they have unique matcha combinations like strawberry, blueberry, apple pie, black sesame, hojicha, coconut yuzu, and red bean.

To use the streetcar, you can pay cash with exact fare, Apple Pay, or the metro system’s Presto Card. You can purchase a physical Presto card at stations like the airport and Union Station, or add it to your phone’s wallet to tap and pay. I’m not sure if Presto offers a daily pass, but a single pass is $3.30 CAD and you get free transfers for 2 hours. Besides Toronto’s streetcars and buses, you can also use the Presto card for Union Pearson Express (UP) and the GO transit. While taking the streetcar, it was fascinating to see the streetcars don’t align with the sidewalks and passengers sometimes have to cross a lane of traffic to enter and exit the streetcars. The streetcars do have signage on the back to tell drivers to stop when the streetcars stop and not to pass. When the streetcar doors open, there are red flashing lights warning drivers to be careful of riders entering and exiting. As an American, I found this to be so fascinating and curious if there are any car-pedestrian accidents. Riders can enter the streetcar at any open door and there are fare card readers at each entrance so you don’t have to solely pay at the front door near the driver. I didn’t see anyone monitoring to ensure passengers tapped their fare card upon entering. Toronto’s system reminded me of Amsterdam’s, as it was very European and went on the honor system, trusting that riders pay their fare.

Walking through Kensington to Wu Wei, there are so many second-hand and vintage shops with the merchants’ goods on the sidewalk and in the stores entrance to entice people to come in. The area is very eclectic and diverse. In the 2 hours that I had been in the city so far, I was in awe of just how diverse the city is. Blocks away from downtown is Chinatown along Spadina Ave which is a main thoroughfare. Adjacent to Chinatown is Kensington Market. I saw a jerk restaurant next to an Afghani restaurant next to a boba shop, next to a Popeye’s all on one block! From what I could see of a few residential homes, Toronto reminded me of Boston, but the diversity of the city’s people reminded me of London or New York.

I stopped at Ozgeist booth operated by Mike Ostroff to view some of his Cubism paintings illustrating sumo wrestlers and the Toronto skyline, then bopped in to Jenny Greco’s jewelry store. All of Jenny’s jewelry is handmade in Canada from brass, leather, and wood. I then went to Peace Collective, a lifestyle, sports, souvenir, apparel store. Peace Collective is great if you want Toronto gear or if you’re going to a Blue Jay’s baseball game and want a cute sweater or t-shirt that isn’t a jersey. I made my way to Bergo, a homegoods and decor store. Bergo has a nice selection of Jellycats and Canadian themed Jellycats like a stack of pancakes with syrup, a maple leaf, and teddy bears. Besides Jellycats, you can find novelty home goods, cookbooks, greeting cards, and Canadian souvenirs.

I was walking aimlessly from one building to another, window shopping in the 90° weather and had to stop in Sweetie Pie Bakery for a pineapple lemonade. There were huge cookies in the display case, along with savory handpies, sweet pies, and cake jars, but I was so delirious from the heat I could only focus on a beverage. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Sweetie Pie is in front of the love lock sign. You can purchase a padlock from the visitor’s center and lock your padlock on the wrought iron installation of the letters LOVE with a heart.

I made my way back to the main area of Distillery District to drink my lemonade and listen to the live band perform. The district had cute inflatable sofas throughout the pavillion, and I believe seasonally, they change the the seating and set up. Once the performance was over, I stopped in a few more shops, including Hoi Bo, a sustainable fashion brand where everything is handmade using natural fabrics like linen, silk, cotton, and leather. They have a signature pleated bucket bag that I fell in love with, but I’m kicking myself that I did not purchase it in store. Luckily they do ship worldwide.

I visited one last activation before I left Distillery District. Toronto’s Foosball Club had an activation with foosball tables and a Nutella sponsorship offering free games of foosball. Since I was solo, one of the volunteers or employees showed me the true rules of the game and played a few rounds with me. It was so fun, and I walked away with their fliers and a selection of TicTacs, which I hadn’t seen in years, oddly.

My last excursion for the day was Graffiti Alley, located in the Fashion District it’s a 3-block stretch between Queen and Richmond Streets and Spadina and Bathurst Streets. I originally heard about Graffiti Alley on TikTok, and expected it to be more artsy, along the lines of Wynwood in Miami or the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago with wall murals. Graffiti Alley was mostly tagging and graffiti. There were a handful of actual art pieces, and I was able to see one artists tag in-person. If you are near Spadina, or passing through the Fashion District, I think walking through the alley is worth it. There were several other people walking through the alley with me viewing the art. The alley is an actual alley and utilized as such for the businesses on Queen Street, but the area was clean, and I felt safe walking throughout.

Leaving Grafitti Alley, I headed back to Revery Hotel to rest for a moment, but stopped at a World Cup pop-up by Minute Maid, sampling their newest zero sugar juices and real fruit blends on Spadina Ave.

I stopped to take some pictures before getting ready for dinner at
Conejo Negro, a Caribbean and Creole fusion restaurant in the city’s Little Italy neighborhood. I actually did make reservations about one week in advance for this dinner. The restaurant is intimate and moody, and there is bar seating for solo diners. Everything on the menu looked delicious, so I was unsure what to order. I knew I wanted the firecracker shrimp. I debated on the jalapeño cheddar cornbread, even though I heard so many people rave about it; I felt like the cornbread would be too similar to the pancakes I had earlier in the day. I also wanted to try the jerk chicken with pumpkin rice, but figured that would be too heavy. I settled on the firecracker shrimp, a side of the macaroni pie, and a side of the collard green with ham hocks. The collard greens had a kick to them from the scotch bonnets. They are described as Southern greens, but they were moreso a Caribbean influence than a Southern U.S. collard green in my opinion. The greens were mostly stems, no juice, and garnished with green onions. You could not present that in front of my mom or aunts and call that Southern. However, the side dish was filled with ham hocks, and they did not skimp on the meat. The greens were flavorful, spicy, and definitely a different take on collard greens that I hadn’t experienced before.
The firecracker shrimp were colossal shrimp. I assumed they would be like Bonefish Grill’s Bang Bang shrimp: flour-battered, deep fried, then tossed in sauce. When I bit the first shrimp, I didn’t like the texture. Even in the dimly lit dining room, I could see that the shrimp were not deep fried, maybe pan fried. Because the shrimp were so large, the texture tasted raw and tough, as if it wasn’t cooked long enough. I immediately got the ick, and was not able to finish the shrimp dish.
My last dish was the macaroni pie. There is a debate in the U.S. if Caribbeans know how to make good mac & cheese. I can’t speak for all Caribbeans, but the mac at Conejo was solid. They use cavatappi noodles, and the cheese was saucy, not thick or stiff. I was too full from the sides, so I couldn’t order the jerk chicken. I’d likely come back to Conejo to try more items on the menu, but would for sure skip the shrimp, even though I think I just received a bad order.

I made my way back to the hotel for an early-ish night because I had to be up bright and early the next day for Niagara Falls!
I was set to visit Niagara Falls on Saturday, July 4. I booked the GO Transit Weekend Pass a few days before for only $10 CAD! On Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, you can purchase an all day pass for only $10 to ride GO trains and buses unlimited for the day. Once you purchase the pass online, it will be emailed to you, and it will be valid for 7 days after purchase. Ensure you purchase the ticket within the week you plan to travel. At least 5 minutes before you are to board the GO bus or train, you need to activate the ticket.
From Toronto’s Union Station, the GO train takes about 2 and a half hours to arrive to the Niagara train station. There are a few bus options as well between Union Station and Niagara. If you decide not to take the public train or bus, you can purchase a group all-day excursion through a tour agency on Viator, Expedia, or Get Your Guide. Alternatively, you can drive down to Niagara, or you can order an Uber for around $120 each way.

I took the 9 am GO Transit train from Union Station to Niagara with the expected arrival time of 11:30 am. Again, there was not an attendant checking tickets on the train, and we didn’t have to show proof of purchase before entering the train. Even though the GO trains travel all throughout Canada and are considered for longer travel than the Union Pearson trains, I found it interesting that the cars did not have outlets, but they did have spotty Wi-Fi.
We arrived at the Niagara station on time, and all of the passengers disembarked at the same time which was a little hectic. There are restrooms inside the station as well as seating. There is a taxi stand to take you throughout the city if needed, or the more economical route is to purchase an all-day bus pass for $16 CAD with the Niagara WEGO bus system. WEGO buses operate on 3 routes through Niagara every 10-30 minutes. The WEGO buses were waiting at the train station for passengers. It is easiest to purchase the all day bus pass upon arrival with a debit/credit card or Google/Apple pay. If you have cash, you can purchase a ticket inside the Niagara station, but the line was quite long and wrapped around the building. When you pay online on your phone, you’re given a mobile barcode that you can save to your Apple Wallet and must scan every time you enter the bus. If you purchase a physical bus pass, you’ll receive a lanyard that you must scan every time you enter the bus. The WEGO bus system brings you to all of the sites in Niagara. I had no real plan or itinerary once I got to Niagara, as I only wanted to see the Falls.

I got off the bus at Clifton Hill to purchase my ticket to the Falls. Everyone mentions Maid of the Mist, but that boat only operates on the U.S. side. Niagara City Cruises operates only on the Canadian side. Those are the only two boat operators in Niagara. Besides taking a boat tour on the Falls, you can also zipline along the Falls, and journey behind the Falls via a tunnel, both of which are operated by separate companies. I purchased my Falls ticket at the self-service kiosk for $47 CAD. If you have cash or would like to speak to a person, you can stand in line, which was considerably longer than the kiosks. I purchased a ticket for the 2:30-3:30 pm slot, which gave me 2 hours to explore the area and find something to eat.

I walked over to Clifton Hill, which is an uphill attraction area, in my opinion, catered to American family tourists. The area is filled with chain restaurants like Burger King, Wendy’s IHOP, Rainforest Cafe, Benihana’s, Dairy Queen, Domino’s Pizza, Dippin Dots, and several Indian restaurants. There are carnival and amusement rides like small coasters, bumper cars, a Ferris wheel to see the area from above, putt putt golf, and more. You can purchase tickets for individual games, or buy a bundled pass to play and ride multiple games.

I had breakfast at Clinton Hill Family Restaurant, a diner-style eatery serving all-day breakfast, sandwiches, burgers, pasta, fish & chips, and BBQ. It’s not much to write home about— the service was friendly, and my bacon breakfast burrito with hashbrowns came out fairly quickly. The restaurants in Niagara aren’t necessarily noteworthy, but you can grab a bite to eat while you’re in the area for a few hours. When I return to Niagara, I’ll spend the night in Niagara on the Canadian side to take my time exploring the Falls, Behind the Falls, and actually go to the amusement area. From what I experienced in a few hours at Niagara, I think one overnight stay for the area is sufficient.

I walked around the area for a while, even going in to the various souvenir shops to find cute magnets to no avail. I made my way back to Niagara City Cruises around 2pm for my 2:30pm cruise time. Just because you purchase a ticket for a specific time slot, you don’t have to honor the time of your ticket, you can board the boat at any time. There was a huge crowd of hundreds of people, and I thought it would take hours for me to get on the boat, but the process is pretty seamless. I think there are 2 City Cruise boats: when one boat departs from the dock, another boat pulls up and people board the boat. From the ticket terminal, we walked down a spiral walkway to wait for an elevator to take us down to the dock. Once we were on the lowest level, you are able to take pictures (like cruise ship photos in front of a white wall, which the photographers later add a background to). There is a cafe and bar before entering the boat that you can order food and drinks. All of this is available before your ticket is checked or scanned, so it is basically available to the general public. Once your ticket is scanned, you’re then given a poncho and make your way to the boat.

Surprisingly, there are no chairs on the boat, so you need to hold on to the railings for support. We were packed on the boat like sardines, and the boat moves slowly, so I didn’t feel too unsafe or unstable even though the floors are wet from the mist. I stood on the top level facing the U.S. for the best view of the Falls. There are loudspeakers on the boat, providing information on each individual Fall that we pass, but the boat had hundreds of people on it and the sheer noise of the water falling from the Falls made it impossible to hear. The boat ride lasted for about 20 minutes, starting off at the American and Bridal Veil Falls on the U.S. side. There was light mist and a little wind, but the perfect time to take pictures, videos, and make sure your poncho is secure. We then sailed over to Horseshoe Falls, where we were dumped on by rain and mist — it felt like a perpetual rain cloud was over us. It also felt like we stayed in this area the longest. We saw several rainbows as we approached Horseshoe Falls. Horseshoe Falls is the largest of the three waterfalls. It handles about 90% of the Niagara River's water, while the remaining water flows over the American and Bridal Veil Falls. Approaching Horseshoe Falls, I would recommend keeping your phone and any other electronics covered under your poncho unless you have a fully waterproof case. I wore the poncho with the hood on, but my arms from the elbow down were soaked as well as my legs. We only sailed in the small area of the three waterfalls, and after 20 minutes, we sailed back to the dock to disembark. You can keep the poncho as a souvenir, or put it in the recycling bin upon departing from the boat. No one is walking around the area in their poncho once they leave the boat. After disembarkation, you’re in the same area as the bar and cafe so you can grab a bite to eat before you make the trek back up to the street level. We used the same elevator bank to go up to the street level that we took to go down to the bank. This time, as we were departing, the elevator doors opened at the gift shop: sneaky, right? The Niagara City Cruise gift shop was more thoughtfully curated than the souvenir shops I stopped in along Clinton Hill. I found a greater selection of magnets and souvenirs that I actually liked and was able to purchase two Niagara Falls magnets. This gift shop also sold clothing, maple syrup, and other Canadian specialties.
If you purchased pictures before boarding the boat, the kiosk to purchase your pictures is right outside of Niagara City Cruise’s gift shop. The background selections are a nighttime fireworks theme or a still photo of Niagara Falls. My photo came out pretty, so I purchased one physical print for $40 CAD and it came in the souvenir photo holder. You can purchase both backgrounds as well as the digital images from the kiosk.
Now that I’d seen what I came to Niagara to see, I was ready to take my time meandering around the area. As I mentioned, you can zipline along Niagara Falls on the Canadian side as well as go behind the Falls, but I was a bit undone once I’d gotten off of the boat because my arms and legs were wet as well as my shoes, so I wasn’t really in the mood to walk in water behind the Falls, or possibly get drenched again on the zipline. When I return to Niagara for longer than a few hours, I’ll likely do those activities.

I hopped back on the WEGO bus headed South to see where the rest of the route takes passengers. On the green line, the southernmost stop for the last excursion is Floral Showhouse to view the botanical gardens. The last bus stop on the line is at Rapisdsview Parking, which is also a transfer point for passengers who would like to switch to the blue line bus going towards the hotels, or if you have a car you can park here then take the bus throughout Niagara. All along the Niagara Parkway I found people having picnics, sitting in the grass, and enjoying looking at the Falls. The stop at Rapidsview Parking offers unobstructed views of the Falls, and I felt the closest to the Falls here without being in the water. Rapidsview is the drop point where you can see the water falling from the Niagara River into the Falls. There is a coin-operated binocular tower here to gain a closer view of the U.S. and the Falls.

Once I took a few pictures at Rapidsview, I hopped back on the green line bus headed north for Maple Leaf Place. I originally found this place on TikTok after they advertised free maple syrup samples. Maple Leaf Place is located on the opposite side of the Falls on the Niagara Parkway. There is no WEGO bus stop for Maple Leaf Place headed north, because you have to cross the highway; instead, you’ll need to exit the bus one stop before at the White Water Walk, then walk about 5 minutes to Maple Leaf Place. I was unaware of White Water Walk before this trip. It is a self-guided boardwalk that spans a quarter of a mile, and 230 feet below street level, putting you slightly elevated to the Niagara River.
As I exited the bus at White Water Walk, I saw a plaque commemorating the voyage of Harriet Tubman and thousands of enslaved Black Americans from the Southern United States to New York, and finally to Canada using the International Suspension Bridge. This bridge was a two-deck suspension bridge with trains utilizing the upper deck, while pedestrians and carriages used the lower deck in the late 1800s. This bridge was the first of its kind, and the final engineer on the project was John Roebling, who later went on to build the Brooklyn Bridge in New York as well as the Roebling Bridge in Cincinnati. The International Suspension Bridge was initially made out of wood, then replaced with steel 40 years after it opened, and finally dismantled one year later and replaced with the now-standing Whirlpool Rapids Bridge. The Whirlpool Bridge has the same concept of carrying trains on the top deck, but instead of pedestrians and horse carriages, the bottom deck is solely for automobiles. If you were to take the Amtrak from New York to Canada, you’d ride on the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, and only if you’re a NEXUS member, you’d drive on this bridge. For all other vehicular traffic going between the North American countries, you’d use the Rainbow Bridge, less than one mile away to clear Customs. White Water Walk is also on my list of attractions I’ll come back to Niagara for.

I arrived to Maple Leaf Place, which is located in a strip mall, and was immediately greeted by a giant seven-foot plush Canadian moose. Maple Leaf Place is a gift store with Canadian apparel, souvenirs, chocolate from The Chocolate Factory Experience, and obviously maple syrup. I made a dash to the maple syrup samples at the Maple Syrup Experience, and the demonstration was already set up for shoppers. The maple syrup samples are free for all ages, there is no schedule for the samples as they are always available. The employees offer three different types of maple syrup: golden, amber, and dark. Depending on when the sap was harvested determines its sweetness, taste, and color. To be honest, I am not a maple syrup connoisseur the way that I am a wine connoisseur so they all tasted the same to me. The samples were served in little shot cups, so it felt a little odd tasting pure maple syrup by itself without waffles or pancakes. Maybe their flavor profiles would taste different with food. Maple Leaf sells the sample kits with 1.7oz of each of the three syrup flavors as well as the board to hold the sample cups and a FAQ card for maybe $50 CAD if I remember correctly. There is also a conveyor belt with bottles of maple syrup, but the longer I watched the production line, I don’t think I saw anything happening like bottling, labeling, or weighing. Maybe the production line was just for show. I then walked over to The Chocolate Factory Experience for more samples. There were dozens of flavors of fudge and shoppers are able to sample two flavors at a time. They sell standard fudge flavors like chocolate, maple, salted caramel chocolate, mint chocolate, turtle, and toffee as well as specialty flavors like maple chocolate, raspberry vanilla, and Snickers. I’m not a big fudge person, or a plain chocolate person. I sampled the maple fudge and the salted caramel vanilla fudge. Both flavors were good, but I couldn’t see myself eating a block of fudge alone. Next to the fudge were samples of chocolate covered nuts, both from The Chocolate Experience. The employee at The Chocolate Bar was full of vigor and seemed like she loved her job! She told us about her favorite chocolates that they sell and encouraged all of us to try the spicy beernut balls. The name sounds intimidating, but surprisingly it was just a chocolate malt ball dusted in habanero pepper dust. They weren’t spicy, but would be a great addition to a charcuterie board. The Chocolate Experience sells dark and milk chocolate covered fruit like cherries, blueberries, and apple pie bites as well as traditional chocolate covered nuts, truffles, and almost all of these options are available as a maple chocolate covered concoction.
I ended up purchasing the maple chocolate covered almonds as well as the maple cream cookies. If you are part of a bus tour or tell the cashier that you are part of a bus tour, you’ll receive a 10% discount.

By this point, I had been awake for almost 12 hours, traveling to Niagara and being in Niagara. I was ready to get off of my feet and finally relax. I walked around Maple Leaf’s shopping center until the next WEGO bus came to bring me back to the Niagara train station.

There are 3 GO trains daily from Niagara to Toronto, with the last train departing at 10 pm. If you want to leave Niagara at a time that the trains are not running, you’ll need to take the 12B GO bus, which is an express bus from Niagara to Burlington. At Burlington, you can then transfer back to the train line, which will bring you to Union Station in Toronto. There are attendants at the train station to help travelers and explain the process. It was an easy process for a solo traveler like myself, and I didn’t feel lost, defeated, or overwhelmed. There were dozens of other people who, like me had to take the bus back to Burlington and transfer to the train. Once the bus arrived, we didn’t need to show our GO ticket, we just took a seat. There were no outlets on the bus either, which was a shocker and disappointment, but we arrived in Burlington maybe an hour or so after we left Niagara. The 12B bus only made one stop between Niagara and Burlington. We drove down a scenic road through the city of Niagara, which until that moment hadn’t dawned on me that Niagara was a city outside of the Falls. There are homes, schools, stores, and playgrounds! We hopped on the interstate, and it looked very American from the interstate signage, cars, and overall layout. Throughout my time in Canada, I saw very familiar cars that I would see in the U.S., and learned that Canada does not manufacture any passenger vehicles. Because we were so close to the U.S. border and on the same highway from the border crossing, many of the highway signs had the speed limit listed in kilometers and miles. We passed the Outlet Collection at Niagara, which doesn’t include any high-end or designer stores, primarily mall stores and a few Canadian stores and food court restaurants.
The GO bus schedules are meant to align with the train schedules, so as we were leaving the bus, the train was at the station. We had to run through the small terminal, down, then up a flight of stairs to get to the tracks, and by the time we made it to the tracks, the train had pulled off. The next train came about 30 minutes later, which wasn’t terrible. Once the train arrived, all of us from the bus hopped on and headed to Union Station. Without the missed train, the bus and train combination would have taken about the same amount of time as only using the train. We left Niagara a little after 5 pm, and I arrived back in Toronto after 7 pm.

Besides seeing Niagara Falls, the second reason I wanted to visit Toronto was to dine at Cactus Club. Drake posted on his Instagram story back in 2023, basically feening for their frozen peach bellinis. Social media users began recreating the famous frozen drink recipe using his sound bite, and it made me want to try the drink even more. Cactus Club Cafe opened U.S. locations in Boston and Miami. I saw people online giving backlash to the chain for their Miami location increasing food and drink prices, not offering happy hour, requiring reservations, as well as enforcing a dress code, followed by Canadians in the comments referring to Cactus Club as their equivalent to a Cheesecake Factory and there is no dress code at Canadian locations because it is a business-casual establishment.
I wanted to go straight to the source for the authentic experience, which is one of the reasons I wanted to go to Toronto. Once the GO train arrived in Union Station, I walked 10 minutes to Cactus Club Cafe’s First Canadian Place location on Adelaide Street in downtown Toronto. At quarter to 8 pm, there were no tables available, and because I didn’t have a reservation, I had to sit at the bar. Cactus Club has happy hour from 2-5 pm, and a late-night happy hour from 9 pm until close daily. It was about an hour before the late-night happy hour started, when the Bellinis are $9 CAD. I ordered a regular priced Bellini for $14.75 CAD as soon as I sat down and watched the bartender make almost a dozen for the various people who ordered one throughout the restaurant; they are clearly a hit! The Bellini is served frozen in a coupe glass, from a mix of Bacardi rum, peach schnapps, peaches, and sparkling wine poured from a slush machine, then topped with red juice. I initially thought the juice was grenadine, but the menu says sangria. It was delicious! I’m not a fan of anything peach, and the peach flavor did not overpower the drink. The consistency was perfectly smooth and not icy or dry. To eat, I ordered the Creole crab & spinach dip served with tortilla chips. I found the dip to be more cheesy than spinachy or crabby. It could have benefited from Old Bay seasoning or actual Creole seasoning, but it tasted okay. I waited until the late-night happy hour to start to order another Bellini and the prawn crunch roll. I love their presentation of their sushi rolls. The wasabi is served in a ball on the same saucer as the ginger, while the soy sauce is served from a stainless steel dispenser, and a separate saucer is provided for you to dip your rolls in the soy sauce. Everyone says the Parker House rolls with the honey truffle butter are a must order. I didn’t think the sushi and dip would be enough food for my dinner, so I also ordered the rolls, but didn’t eat them until the next day when I got home. The rolls and butter were good, but for $10.75 CAD I wasn’t blown away. Maybe I’ll order them again and eat them at the restaurant fresh to see if they taste different, or if my opinion changes. All in all, I enjoyed Cactus Club. The service from the hostess and my bartenders was great, and the food was good. The prices during happy hour are great for the value, especially considering how long happy hour lasts.

I took the streetcar back to Revery to enjoy my last night at the beautiful hotel and dread my early morning flight back home.
In the morning, I packed my bag and said bye to Revery and the city. I ordered an Uber to take me to Union Station because I wanted to sleep in until the last minute, and didn’t feel like lugging my heavy personal item for the 20-minute walk to Union Station. I’d taken a few Ubers while in Toronto and I was surprised by how cheap the rides were. On average, my rides were around $6 USD either to or from dinners or to Union Station while in Downtown. In Chicago and other major U.S. cities, there are congestion fees of $5 USD minimum plus city and state taxes. I did incur fees on my Toronto Ubers, a $0.70 CAD insurance and payment fee, 13% HST that was always less than $1 CAD, the Toronto Fee Recovery Surcharge for $0.35 CAD, and the Toronto Accessibility Fee Surcharge for $0.10 CAD. Uber does charge fees and surcharges in Canada, but for literal pennies, making the rides affordable.
HST, or the harmonized sales tax is charged on all goods and services with the exception of basic groceries and prescriptions. It is Canada’s version of sales tax that businesses pay to the Canadian Revenue Services.
Once my Uber dropped me off at Union Station, I purchased another one-way ticket at the kiosk to Pearson International Airport (that no one checked) and waited for the next train. The UP trains arrive 10 - 15 minutes from Pearson Airport or Union Station with only 4 stops in between. I slept the entire journey to the airport. When I arrived to the airport for my 8 am flight back to Chicago, I went to the international terminal, T1. The airport is easy to navigate as there are signs throughout. If you are going back to the U.S., you will go to the international terminal T1, and all flights headed to the U.S. will be in the F section.
In Pearson Airport’s security, we had to take our shoes off, take laptops out of our luggage, and put each bag in to its own bin with the security agents shoving bins down the automated conveyor belt. I hate this process because it is easy for travelers to forget an item at security if you have to put your belongings in multiple bins. Besides the process, going through security was fairly easy. Even though there were a lot of people in security, the process moved quickly and took less than 10 minutes. Now once I left security is when I started to see a hold up; there was a 25 - 30 minute wait to go through Customs to have an officer review your passport. Luckily, there is a Global Entry line, so if you’re a Global Entry or NEXUS card holder, or have the Passport Control app, you’ll be able to breeze through the line. The Global Entry line only took 2 minutes from me standing at the end of the line to getting my picture taken at the kiosk and the Customs officer confirming my name. If you’d like a passport stamp and you have Global Entry, I highly recommend asking for it and getting it upon arrival to the country because there will not be an opportunity to receive the stamp as you’re departing back to the U.S. with Global Entry. By the time I got through Customs and found my gate, my flight was about to start boarding. Only heaven knows if I would have made my flight if the airport did not have Global Entry. Since I was in boarding group 6, I had a little time to roam around the area.
If you didn’t have a chance to purchase pure maple syrup while in Canada, a few kiosks sell pure maple syrup for the same prices as Maple Leaf Place, though it was not the same brand. There was also a Tim Horton’s next to my gate. I’d wanted to try the Canadian version of Dunkin Donuts, but I didn’t have the time to visit the downtown Toronto locations early in the mornings. If I wasn’t running late for the GO Train to Niagara, my plan was to go to a Tim Horton’s because I couldn’t find a cafe or restaurant open early in the morning in the downtown area. Tim Horton’s is a Canadian-based fast food chain specializing in coffee and donuts. There is less frill at Tim Horton’s than at Dunkin, but the menus feature hot and cold coffees and speciality refreshers and frappes, a baked goods container as well as lunch and dinner menu items like sandwiches and salads. At the airport location, I saw that the brand sold hot chocolate mix in a tin can, instant coffee mix, as well as vanilla cappuccino powder in a can. Why did seeing the powdered vanilla cappuccino and instant coffee bring me back to my childhood?? I would have purchased it, but I wanted to get rid of my Canadian bills, and only had enough cash for my breakfast sandwich and a donut. I also probably would have drank one cup of the cappuccino and let the can rot in the back of my pantry. I ordered the classic sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich on an English muffin, which was fine: it tasted similar to a Dunkin sandwich but not buttery like a McDonalds McMuffin. I also had to try their classic glazed donut and chocolate donut. The glazed donut didn’t taste like it was glazed with the traditional sugar glaze, but a honey glaze, and the donut wasn’t doughy, it tasted cakey like an old-fashioned donut with spices. I had no desire to order a beverage or a coffee before my flight because I knew that I would immediately fall asleep on my flight, and that is what I did! Going to Toronto and leaving Toronto, I slept the entirety of the flights, even missing the beverage and snack services. I arrived back in Chicago around 10 am on a Sunday, took the train home from the airport, and took a long nap in my bed. While I appreciated being home and in my bed by noon on a Sunday, my drawback was waking up at 5 am in Toronto and not having another full day or extra hours to explore the city.

I showed you that 48 hours are doable in a new country, taking advantage of new experiences. I also shared what I would go back to Niagara for. Have you done a quick turnaround trip to Canada or any other country? Let me know in the comment section below what else I should add to my list of things to do in Ontario the next time I am there!

Jul 24 48 Hours in Toronto