I have flown the Atlantic many times, I have flown with many different airlines, Virgin being the best for service, and British Airways were also excellent. I have flown Economy and I have flown Business Class, now I have flown what I can only call NO Class.
My wife and I were going to Canada to visit our eldest daughter Joy, who has been on a student exchange for the past year. We booked with a budget airline company called “Canadian Affair” flying from Manchester to Toronto. I told my wife how flying the Atlantic was very different from the trips we had taken to Paris or Venice with Ryanair. How wrong I was. The budget airlines flying out of Liverpool to European destinations are far superior to “Canadian Affair”.
The first surprise was the plane, I have always flown the Atlantic in 747s, Jumbos, this plane was a Boeing 757 200, operated by Thomas Cook and as far removed from those glossy holiday adverts featuring the Rednapps as it is possible to get.
It was an old plane, this is not a problem, I am old; but this plane was unsuitable for long haul, it was unsuitable for short haul if the truth were told. The seat was uncomfortable, which is a problem when you are sitting in it for over six hours, at least there was plenty of legroom. It went from being very cold to being very hot and you cannot exactly open a window at 37 000 feet, no matter how uncomfortable it gets and it got very uncomfortable before the temperature levelled off.
In the true tradition of budget airlines everything was charged for and it was not cheap, that is apart from the free inedible “meal” that was served. Want a cup of tea? You pay for it. Want a kit-kat? That will be £1.10. Want to watch the movie? That will be £2.50 for the headphones; there were no individual screens in the seat in front of you, there were small screens at intervals in the ceiling of the plane. I thought that the George Clooney film “Up in the Air” was quiet appropriate. As I had seen this film I did not pay £2.50 for the earplugs and I am glad I didn’t, the film was so worn that it was in Black and White.
I cannot stress how appalling this flight and the return flight was, affairs often end in tears and this did, there will be no more “Canadian Affair” for me.
Do not be swayed by the “cheap” prices, once you start adding items like £16 for paying by credit card, prebooked seat fee £9, fixed fuel surcharge £55, the price raises and DO NOT even think of going an ounce over your 20 kilo limit. It will cost you around £12 a kilo in extra charges.
We watched as people dumped possessions to get the weight down by a couple of kilos and that was from their hand luggage, everything was checked. Take my advice and use a better travel company and a better airline. The cabin crew and the pilots were very good under what must be, for them, very trying conditions. Read the reviews of “Canadian Affair” on line if you have any doubts before you book.
Everything improved once we arrived in Canada. Having left Manchester at 3.30 in the afternoon, it was six thirty in the evening Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) in Toronto, which is five hours behind England. Strange to be in a country that has numerous time zones, it must be confusing when you travel across Canada.
The Customs officials were very pleasant, the people on the information desk were very helpful and the sun was shining. We had decided stay at an airport hotel before heading down to St. Catharine’s, were our daughter has been staying.
When I say that we stayed at an airport hotel you have to take in to account that this is a vast country the free airport shuttle took about half an hour to reach our hotel and ours was the first stop. The hotel being part of the Monte Carlo chain, inexpensive and pleasant enough for tired travellers, again the staff was very pleasant, I was beginning to worry that I had wandered into a parallel universe.
We took the Niagara Airbus down to St. Catharine’s, at £80 it was expensive, but it had the advantage of taking us right to the door of Springbank House, our bed and breakfast.
Calling Springbank House www.springbankhouse.com a bed and breakfast does not do it justice. This is a gem of a guesthouse run by Stefan and Andrea; it is like stepping into a 1920s country house film set. The rooms are extremely comfortable, as was the bed. The Maple Syrup French toast at breakfast may be an acquired taste that I did not acquire; I stuck to the Bacon and eggs.
I had not realised how much wine is produced in Ontario and there are regular wine festivals. Springbank House is ideally situated for the many local wineries, Stefan runs a “Wine Around” tour visiting four local wineries by luxury Sudan, which includes tasting and also sampling local cheeses, great for the wine buff.
St. Catharine’s is close to Niagara on the Lake, a very picturesque town and also home to The Shaw Festival, www.shawfest.com one of the biggest theatrical events in Canada, running thought the summer and showing a large number of plays.
We were guests of Ridley College www.ridley.on.ca were our daughter Joy has been an exchange student. Ridley is a prestigious Canadian College established in 1889 set in the most beautiful grounds with a great tradition of high achievement in the Academic and Sporting fields. Joy has had a tremendous year there having gained a scholarship from her involvement with the English Speaking Union and debating.
It surprises Joy that more sixth form students don’t apply to the ESU for one of the many scholarships available and the opportunity to spent time at a College in Canada or the United States.
Joy has taken part in many activities including winter sports such as skiing and skating as well as sailing on Lake Ontario. She has also been able to visit Québec, Ottawa, Toronto and St Johns, as well as taking several shopping trips to New York.
On the Saturday the Graduation Ceremony took place followed in the evening by the Graduation Ball. Ridley is an International College and there were students from Thirty-one countries represented, including Russia, South Korea and many Caribbean Islands after the evening entertainments Joy went off to a party in a field, as she called it. She did pay for this, not with a hangover but with mosquito bites, she had about thirty bites.
St Catherine’s is a small Canadian Town population around 120.000 beautiful streets, the houses gave the impression that you are on Wisteria Drive, all different styles of detached houses. When we were walking back from the Graduation Ball we stopped to talk to Jim, a visitor from Florida. Jim stayed in St. Catharine’s in the summer months to get away from the heat of Florida. Which surprised me as I was feeling the heat and it was nearly midnight.
I commented that the houses only had small gardens or yards as they are called in Canada. Jim commented that “Why have a large garden when you have the whole of Canada out there, you have to look after a garden, the outdoors takes care of it’s self, just take care to avoid the bears” I don’t think he was joking.
I did not expect the Province of Ontario to be so hot, the temperature was in the 80s, high 20s centigrade, for some reason I went with no preconceived expectations, but I did expect it to be cool. This is not the case from the beginning of April the temperature rises and you can expect good weather right the way until October. It does not start to snow until November or December, even then it does not get really heavy snowfalls and sometimes they don’t have a White Christmas, which must be a bummer when you live in Canada.
After our two-night stay in St Catharine’s www.stcatharines.ca we took the one price Gotrain for the short 14-mile trip to Niagara to see the Falls.
Arriving in Niagara the easiest was a bus to our hotel, at $3 it was much cheaper than a taxi and took us right to the door of The Oakes Hotel Overlooking The Falls. www.oakeshotel.com It does what is says on the tin, we had a great view of The Falls. At £58 for a large room with comfortable beds and the most enormous breakfast it was very good value and that was for three.
The Oakes staff were very pleasant, particularly in Applebee’s, the hotel restaurant were the waitress immediately said “ You folks from England, you’ll want tea” and the tea kept coming, no charge for as much tea or coffee as you could drink. We only stayed one night and we were able to leave our luggage with the Concierge at no charge.
Niagara is a brash town, like Blackpool or Benidorm, lots of attractions to keep people occupied and spending their money once they have seen The Falls. From a Guinness Book of Records Exhibition to a Niagara Wheel and several casinos. We just missed Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band kicking off their tour with two nights at the Niagara Casino.
One of the great natural wonders the Niagara Falls is really worth the trip. The Falls are the border between Canada and the USA, the Horseshoe Falls are in Niagara Ontario and the American Falls is in Niagara, New York State.
During the summer months there is a firework display over The Falls from the Canadian side at 10 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday that is worth seeing. The highlight and to use those well worn words, not to be missed, is the trip on The Maid of the Mist, the Mersey Ferry may be fun, but does not even come close to a trip on The Maid. At $15.60 or around £10 this is really good value. There are so many Maids going to the Mists that even the long queues are dealt with very quickly by the very efficient and again pleasant staff, who all seem to want to make this the best experience of your trip. I was getting paranoid, when was some one going to be unpleasant. Within minutes we were in the lift down to the waters edge and on the Maid in the Mist.
Everyone is issued with a blue plastic poncho so that you stay dry when you are under the Falls. The Maid of the Mist goes pass the American Falls and goes right into the mist of the Horsefalls Falls, without the blue cape you would be soaked and if you want to take photographs do remember to take a waterproof camera. It is a very strange experience not dissimilar to being inside a cloud, but with the added sensation of the water and the noise as, above you, six million cubic feet of water pour over the 170 foot drop every minute. The Maid of the Mist beats any theme park ride I have ever been on for thrills. The boats do not run in winter, the waters get too strong and do not think of going for a swim you will not survive. You get to keep the ponchos and a couple of days later we saw several being worn in Toronto Zoo, purchasing one costs $4.50
The staff in the lifts are all so pleasant, I don’t knew if they are paid per smile but it really adds to the experience. The lift from the waterside opens out in the gift shop, now there’s a surprise, the Canadians do this so much better than we do. You can pick up a reasonable Niagara Falls souvenir here.
If you feel inclined and hold a Full British Passport, you can walk across Rainbow Bridge, fill in a Card, give Immigration your fingerprints; six American dollars and you can visit the United States as a day-tripper for Ninety days.
We collected our luggage, waited for the bus to the station and took the Gotrain to Toronto at $16 (£10) a distance of seventy miles and by far the easiest way to travel especially if you have plenty of luggage, which we did as our daughter had been in Canada for a year and a girl needs shoes.
Next stop Toronto.
"It's a Wonderful Life"
(Thu 02/12)
TURN IT DOWN.
(Thu 11/11)
Do we need another Beatles book.
(Mon 11/10)
President or Pope, who is most welcome?
(Mon 16/08)
