The last half of my Toronto trip last week was spent lazily vacationing with my boyfriend Adam. We’re pretty relaxed travelers, in that we like to just check a few things out, take our time, eat good food, and enjoy our hotel room. That’s it. No schedules, no real plan.

I might make us sound more chill than we really are; we are human, after all, and we do get annoyed with each other or stressed out because we wanted to see an attraction and we have to plan how best to do that.

But, overall, our vacations sound pretty boring to anyone else. “So what did you do in Toronto?” People ask me this now that I’m back.

“Umm, mostly lay in bed! And went out to eat.”

“Oh, anywhere fancy?”

“No, mostly cheap street food. Burritos, hotdogs.”

“Oh…” (Awkward silence.)

I spotted this headline and for a second I honestly thought it was referring to the water filter company, Brita.

Those burritos I mentioned.

Yonge-Dundas Square, which was a minute’s walk from our hotel.

The Winter Garden/Elgin Theatre, where we saw Ani Difranco play.

Ani! Oh my, she is lovely and spirited.

Hot child in the city! (Ha..)

There was “Kony” stuff everywhere. I still don’t totally get what it’s all about. But I don’t care enough to find out.

Le subway.

Birthday bellini.

My reflection in Adam’s sunglasses.

I like bright neon lights.

I also like apartment buildings at night.

 

Where we stayed.

Outside the Royal Ontario Museum.

Punch that horse!

Pretty fish with orange background. Colour love.

This guy is the Lord of Hell. I can believe it!

In the gems and minerals exhibit.

Dinos!

I need trips away from home every so often, for lots of reasons, but most importantly: to keep me feeling inspired by new scenes, and also to remind me that the rest of the world exists. That sounds silly, right? But honestly – holed up in rural Cape Breton, and hearing the news, you can easily forget or at least ignore that there are millions of people in cities around the world, and what life is like for them. So it’s good to get out of my routine and see other places. Yep!