Canada calling - From Fuel Guzzlers to Frozen Trails and Everything in Between - Part 5

This is the 5th post in our series. So far, we've had some interesting moments, including a backstory, a frustrating IVR experience, and the fuel mystery. We've also enjoyed spectacular sights like the majestic Niagara Falls and the Rideau Canal. This time, we continue our journey westward to explore the arguably more scenic part of Canada.

• The Back Story
• East Canada - Toronto
• East Canada - Niagara and 1000 Islands
• Rest of East Canada
• From Fuel Guzzlers to Frozen Trails and Everything in Between ← This post
• Ice, Bears, and Fuel Scares: A Rocky Mountain Adventure
• When we Lost Rishabh for 45 Minutes
• The Final Few Days

Lost in Translation: Hidden Cards & Costly Bags

Alright, so now we were at the Montreal airport, checking in and dropping off our bags. An airline attendant approached me and asked if I could relay a message in Hindi to a fellow passenger who didn’t understand English. The passenger, a young Punjabi fellow, hadn't completed his web check-in and needed to pay $28 to check in. I was surprised by this charge and asked if he could complete the web check-in now, but she refused. I conveyed the message to him, and he didn’t object, wanting to get on the plane quickly. He took out cash, but the attendant said only cards were accepted. I thought he would just pull out his wallet and hand over a card, but he did something unexpected:

• He sat down.
• Took off his backpack.
• Pulled out a file folder from it, the kind used for keeping certificates.
• Retrieved a card from the folder and handed it to the attendant.

She swiped the card, it went through, and he then reversed all those steps. I suggested he keep his card in his wallet, as in Canada, you can't get very far without easy access to your card!

The flight from Montreal to Calgary is about 4.5 hours long—Canada is a huge country. The ticket was reasonably priced at around 4500 Rs or $55, but the cost of baggage was another story. Checking in one bag cost an additional 8300 Rs or $100! Believe it or not, the cost of bags was almost double the cost of the human passengers!

Meet the Fuel Guzzler

We arrived in Calgary and were warmly greeted by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. We were especially excited to see our very young nephew for the first time!

The next morning, we headed to a car rental place and rented a 7-8 seater Dodge Durango.

Don't be fooled by its looks—this car is massive. Inside, it feels like you're driving a mini-bus. It has other mini-bus-like characteristics, too, including a huge fuel tank. At one point, I filled it with about 95 liter of petrol! Its fuel consumption is equally impressive, making it feel like I was driving from one fuel station to the next with barely any stops in between. On a full tank, it barely goes 700 km!

House of Cardboard

One striking difference in Canada is the building materials used for houses. In India, we are accustomed to steel and concrete houses with brick walls. If you bang your head against these walls, it's usually the head that breaks, not the wall.

In Canada, however, houses are made predominantly of wood and a thick cardboard-like material. The frame is solid wood, but the walls are made of this thick cardboard-like material.

I’m sure there are numerous advantages to this, but it doesn’t feel solid. If you bang your head against the wall, or even bump into it with some force, the wall might break, and you could end up in the neighbor's living room!

Dinos & Hoodoos

One of the days, we visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum, a dinosaur museum. If you remember, the ROM in Toronto had dinosaur exhibits, but this museum has two main differences:

It is dedicated exclusively to the study of ancient life, particularly dinosaurs.

It is located where dinosaur fossils were actually discovered.

The museum features actual dinosaur fossils, some of them displayed in full-scale, life-like forms. It's incredible to walk among the giant creatures that once dominated the planet!

If you look carefully, you'll notice people in some of these pictures, highlighting the humongous scale of these creatures. Just one limb measures 12 feet tall—more than twice my height! I'm glad I wasn’t around when these giants roamed the Earth.

Here’s the skeleton of a fully grown mammoth, smaller than a dinosaur but much bigger than an elephant!

Next, we visited the Hoodoos. These natural formations typically consist of a hard rock on top and relatively soft rock below it. The hard rock protects each column from erosion, resulting in beautiful, naturally formed structures. It feels like nature was in the mood to create a masterpiece!

Some of the hills are so beautifully eroded that it looks like a giant is sleeping beneath them, covered by a satin blanket. The blanket is the hill!

The Dog Park

Calgary has numerous parks, each offering a unique charm. One such park, located next to a river, had a beautiful walkway. What made it interesting was that it was a dog park where pet parents could let their pets roam off-leash.

We met a super friendly dog that was almost half as tall as me!

I'm not sure if my son was trying to do some acrobatics or if he got stuck on the fence while trying to cross it.

Johnston Canyon

It was finally time to visit Banff and, specifically, Johnston Canyon. Banff and Jasper are enormous national parks that host the Canadian Rockies mountain ranges, among the most beautiful sights in the world!

Johnston Canyon offers a 6 km long trail (12 km round trip) through the canyon, featuring stunning waterfalls along the way. Even more picturesque are the scenes you pass by while on the trek.

The water is incredibly clean, with turquoise pools all around us. The trails are well-marked and easy to follow.

The last 500 meters of the trail were really icy and slippery. One wrong step, and we could have gone sliding down. We had to tread carefully and slowly.

The final spot on the trail was the Ink Pots! These are gorgeous blue and green pools of water. They differ in color because of their fill rate—how fast or slow they fill up. The milky-green pools fill more slowly compared to the clear, deep-blue pools.

On our way back, two kids—my 19-year-old nephew and my 11 yr old son—went quite ahead of us. At one point, the trail splits into two. To make sure we knew they went the right way, they decided to leave us a sign "Neel Went" (Neel is my Nephew) with twigs. It was quite thoughtful and resourceful!

Next Time

We'll continue our adventure through the stunning Canadian Rockies and share the unforgettable moment when everyone in the car panicked upon realizing we had only 300 km of fuel left while needing to cover over 450 km—with most of it through areas with no gas stations! This was especially nerve-wracking given that we were driving the notorious fuel guzzler!

Canada calling - Niagara and 1000 Islands - Part 3

This is the 3rd post in the multi-part series of our trip to Canada.

• The Back Story
• East Canada - Toronto
• East Canada - Niagara and 1000 Islands ← This post
• Rest of East Canada
• Family Reunion and West Canada

We have now reached Niagara Falls, a sleepy town that hosts the world-famous Niagara Falls.

First, we visited the Skylon Tower, which is similar to the CN Tower. Basically, a lift takes us up about 158m (roughly 52 floors) and we get an aerial view of the Niagara Falls. At night, the falls are illuminated and look stunningly beautiful. Pictures don't do justice to the view. In the morning, it feels like you're looking at the falls from a giant drone.

Illuminated falls

The border between the US and Canada passes through the Niagara Falls, but you can see the entire Horseshoe Falls very clearly from the Canadian side. From the US side, you only catch about 30% of it.

The best way to see the falls up close is by going on the Hornblower Cruise. These boats take you very close to where the falls are crashing down. The water falls with such intensity that it forms a mist cloud at the bottom. By the time you reach near the bottom, you are guaranteed to get completely drenched! Needless to say, this is an absolute blast.

That boat you see near the falls, thats the cruise

Our stay was close to the falls, about 1.5 km away. We walked to the falls numerous times. No matter how many times we saw the falls, we wanted to see them one more time. They are mesmerizing!

We can walk right upto the tip of the cascade, looking at the sheer speed and volume of water flowing down the cascade can make you feel dizzy!

While Niagara is famous for the falls, the parks around them are equally beautiful. We saw cherry trees in full bloom and lots of nicely done landscaping. We spent almost half a day roaming around the parks.

The Fuel Mystery

Remember how I had forgotten to ask the car rental company what kind of fuel to put in the car? I was somewhat certain it must be diesel because we had an SUV, and most SUVs in India are diesel cars.

To be doubly sure, I decided to call the car rental company's customer care. I tried to ask what kind of fuel to put in the car. They said, "Regular." I was confused. I asked specifically if I should put gasoline (petrol) or diesel. The person on the other side kept saying "regular fuel," but wouldn't clarify if it was gasoline or diesel. When I persisted, they finally said "use diesel." That kinda confirmed what I had in mind all along. I thanked them and disconnected the call.

In the morning, we had to leave for 1000 Islands. On the way, we planned to have breakfast at my cousin's place in Toronto. We reached their house and had a lovely time with their family.

It seemed like time was flying by. Soon enough, it was time to head towards 1000 Islands, or we risked missing our cruise.

I only had 25% fuel left in the tank. I had thought I'd take my cousin's husband along with me to the fuel station to get fuel. On the way, we started chatting about the car, and he mentioned that most cars in Canada are petrol cars. I confidently said that this car is a diesel car—I was sure since I had confirmed this with customer service. He was a bit surprised and said usually only big trucks use diesel fuel in Canada.

We reached the fuel station. I stopped at a pump, but there was no nozzle for diesel. Again, my cousin's husband reiterated, “See? There are so few diesel cars that even the fuel pumps don’t dispense diesel at all outlets.” My confidence was now slightly shaking. We moved forward to a pump where diesel was available. In front of us, a mini bus (a 12-seater) was filling up. To my surprise, the bus was filling up with petrol. This shook me and caused me to doubt what I knew. If this big mini bus was using petrol, why would my SUV be a diesel car? But I had confirmation from customer service!

Noticing that I wasn’t backing down, my cousin’s husband said, “Okay, let’s try filling it with diesel and see what happens.” We pulled the nozzle out and tried to insert it into the car’s fuel tank. To our surprise, the nozzle wouldn’t fit—the nozzle was bigger than the opening in the car’s fuel tank! This was concerning. I requested him to talk to the car rental customer care and check what to do. This time again, the customer care representative insisted we use “regular” fuel. On pressing whether to use gasoline or diesel, the person again said “diesel.”

This was super confusing and frustrating. The diesel nozzle not fitting was a huge signal that this might be a petrol car. So, we decided to take a chance and fill petrol in the car—the fuel whose nozzle would fit the tank opening!

If we had filled petrol in a diesel car, a disaster was waiting. I thought the car would stop working in about 30 minutes or so. We went back to pick up my family, said goodbye to my cousin's family, and decided to move towards the 1000 Islands cruise.

At the back of my mind, I was making backup plans for backup plans—what if the car stops working? But luckily, it was indeed a petrol car, and we had filled the right fuel. I thought of some curse words for the car rental company and thanked my cousin's husband and the diesel nozzle for saving the day!

1000 Islands

We reached the place where our cruise was starting and boarded the boat. 1000 Islands are called that because it’s a cluster of many tiny and some big islands. Two-thirds of these islands are in Canada, and the rest are in the US. Some of the islands are so tiny they just have one small house on them, while others are so big they have communities living on them. The houses on the islands are incredibly pretty. Guess what they keep in their parking space? A boat, obviously!

People who own the houses on these islands must be super rich. This would be their second or third home, which they use when they come on holidays!

There were many pretty houses, but the king of them all is Boldt Castle. It looks like it came straight from a Disney movie. As the story goes, George C. Boldt was building it for his wife, but unfortunately, she passed away only months before its completion. The husband was inconsolable and abandoned the house, deciding never to step foot in it. Now, the Canadian government looks after the mansion!

Next Time

I will complete the story of what is left of East Canada, i.e., Ottawa, Quebec City, and Montreal.

Canada Calling - East Canada - Toronto - Part 2

This is the second post in the multi-part series of the trip to Canada.

• The Back Story
• East Canada - Toronto ← This post
• Niagara and 1000 Islands
• Rest of East Canada
• Family Reunion and West Canada

Arrival at Toronto Airport

Upon arriving at Toronto airport, the first thing I did was get a local SIM card. I needed it for navigation since I would be driving everywhere that too on the right side of the road for the first time. To ensure Google Maps worked flawlessly, having a local SIM with enough data was crucial.

The Airport Drama

I got the SIM from a kiosk, and the lady assured me it would activate after restarting the phone in 15 minutes. Next, we went to the car rental desk in the airport parking lot to get our prebooked car. The attendant asked for my credit card to complete the payment. Although I had entered my card details online, he needed a physical credit card in my name.

I handed him my ICICI Bank Forex PrePaid card, but the system didn’t accept it. He explained they couldn’t accept prepaid cards. I then gave him my Standard Chartered credit card, but that didn't work. SCB blocked the transaction for security reasons. Frustrated, I tried another ICICI Bank credit card, but that also failed.

Situation wasn't cool: we were stuck at the airport after a long flight and my Dad was a bit impatient and concerned at the same time. To add to the pain, it had been 45 minutes since I got the SIM card, I had already restarted the phone 10 times but it still had no signal. 

The attendant warned me that if the next attempt failed, I’d lose the booking. He wouldn’t accept cash or someone else’s card either. I was running out of options, without the SIM, I couldn’t call the bank to resolve the transaction issues. 

The Hopeless IVR

Luckily, I had enabled international roaming before I left India, so I called Standard Chartered’s customer care. The call connected to an IVR menu, which informed me about my outstanding balance and last five transactions—none of which I cared about at that moment. Finally, the IVR informed me that their call centers operate from 9 AM to 9 PM India time. It was 4 AM in India. I cursed SCB a little, they not only wasted my time but also weren't being any helpful. The idea of cutting cost by not operating bank call centers 24/7 is such a bad idea!

Change in Fortunes

Finally we decided to divide and conquer, my wife went back to the airport to get the SIM card operational while I tried calling ICICI Bank. To my relief, ICICI Bank connected me directly to an agent who whitelisted the car rental company and requested I try the transaction in 30 minutes. I was slightly relieved and went to join my wife at the SIM kiosk. 

The lady there informed me their server was down and they were activating SIMs manually. Activating our SIM will take another 30 min. I explained her our situation and told her, it was really important for me to get the SIM activated and I am not going anywhere without getting it done. This changed her attitude and she decided to prioritise our activation and finally it was done!

We returned to the car rental place and I asked the attended to try the card again since it has already been 30 min past my call with the bank. After an anxious few minutes, the ICICI Bank transaction went through. We finally got the car and were ready to leave the airport. We spent about 1.5 hrs at the airport juggling these things, but all's well that ends well!

Driving on the right side or the road wasn’t as difficult as I expected, especially with cars in front to follow. We reached our homestay, but I realised I forgot to ask what kind of fuel the car needed.  This is going to come and haunt me later.

Day 2 - A Road Ticket for Nothing

We slept well and woke up early at 5 AM all fresh and full of energy. I was thinking to myself that we had beaten jet lag — soon enough, we will see how I was horribly wrong!

I saw several missed calls and an SMS from the bank about a $500 (Canadian Dollar) transaction labeled "Roadways." Shocked, I thought I had gotten a ticket for something while driving, this is an expensive country, $500 for one driving ticket, in India I could have settled it in Rs 500 or less! I couldn't pinpoint any violation. After cursing myself a little, I decided to leave it behind me and be more careful from now on. Obviously I didn’t say anything about this to my family. I didn’t want to ruin the trip before it started!.

We got ready and left to meet a longtime friend for breakfast. It was great catching up.

After breakfast, we visited ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium, and Nathan Phillips Square.

ROM

ROM is a massive museum with artefacts from various civilizations, including Egyptian, Chinese, Korean, and Indian. The biggest attraction was the fossilized dinosaur bones. It was awe-inspiring to see how huge they were compared to us.

 Full scale Dinosaur Skeleton

CN Tower and Ripley's Aquarium

Both are next to each other. CN Tower is a huge radio tower and observatory. Ripley's Aquarium has a vast collection of exotic sea creatures, including colorful starfish, beautiful jelly fish, giant sharks, sea turtles, and ray fish. We even got to touch the ray fish, which felt very gooey!

CN Tower

Jelly Fish

Spool of fish

Ray Fish

Can you spot a see turtle?

Star Fish

Nathan Phillips Square

This square features the famous Toronto sign in the middle of an artificial pond, surrounded by ancient churches. On the way randomly you will see a patch of freshly bloomed tulips - it looks very pretty!

Nathan Phillips Square

Tulips!

Old Church On the way

All these places are in downtown Toronto, where parking is expensive, on an average, in East Canada, one will spend around $70-90 per day only on parking. We used to park at one place and then walked to all nearby attractions, this saves significant time and money.

Journey to Niagara Falls

At 6 PM, we left for Niagara Falls, a two-hour drive away. Toronto’s traffic was terrible, think Mumbai traffic, with two exception, people stay in their lanes and don't honk. 

While I was navigating my way out of Toronto, I heard something - big snoring sounds of my entire family. Everyone in the car was sleeping and that too like there is no tomorrow! I too felt extremely drowsy. In the morning I had thought we had beaten the jet lag and here I was felling very drowsy at 7 pm - I was so wrong! Had to drink lots of tea to stay awake. 

Finally we reached our hotel in Niagara Falls safely. That's when I realised who had charged that $500 in the morning, it was our hotel at Niagara - the hotel was called “Roadways Inn”! I breathed a sigh of relief.

Next Time

In the next post, we’ll explore the amazing Niagara Falls, 1000 islands and how I almost ended up filling diesel in a petrol car!