Toronto is by far one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. It's like the NYC of Canada, and I am in love with it. It is huge and there seems to be something fun to do or look at on every street corner.
My friend and I decided to road trip from Maryland to Toronto, pretty spur of the moment. We had both always wanted to go to Canada and we thought, "Why the heck not?" So right after seeing a concert, at 12 A.M., we departed for the ole maple leaf country.
The drive ended up being about 10 hours long, with a few stops along the way, watching the sun rise over the mountains in Pennsylvania, and a minor hiccup where we pulled over to take a nap and left the lights on and woke to a dead car battery.
We stopped in Niagara Falls and all I have to say is I have never in my life seen that much water. The falls are almost incomprehensible in their enormity. The rest of Niagara is a creepy ghost town filled with weird amusement park rides and attractions. I would 100 percent recommend seeing the falls sometime in your life, but do not plan to stay longer than 2-3 hours, the town isn't worth more time.
I was very pleasantly surprised with how easy the border crossing was, we crossed into Canada at 10:00 on a Monday morning so almost no one was on the road, and the border officer was super nice.
Niagara to Toronto is about two hours, so if you plan to drive into Canada, be prepared for the Canadian highway system. While fairly similar to the American system, the change to kilometers instead of miles threw me off. Also, in America, the left lane is not always respected as a lane just for passing and going fast. In Canada, the left lane is a big deal. You do not hang out in it unless you are prepared to go really, really fast.
In Toronto we stayed in a hostel. I have stayed in many hostels before in various countries, and this one was no different. Same loud, co-ed rooms filled with bunk beds, same crappy showers and same sense of community. Hostels are great for meeting other young people and you always end up having really cool conversations with people from all over the world. Traveler tip: bring your own towel, most hostels charge for one.
In Toronto, the food was amazing. There are so many great and super cheap places to grab a bite, especially if you like Asian food; there seems to be food from almost every Asian country on every street. I had the best ramen of my life here.
Toronto as a whole seems like a giant version of Brooklyn or Williamsburg or any other really cool, chill place in New York City. Everyone has a "hipster" style, and there are so many cool little record stores, thrift shops, and museums.
The Art Gallery of Ontario is amazing. They have some really diverse collections, my favorites were "SuperReal: Pop Art", which had a giant hamburger that was hilarious, and "Outsiders: American Photography and Film 1950s-1980s".
Immediately upon entering the city I turned to my friend and said, "I would love to live here." Toronto is an amazing city. It is much more culturally diverse than a lot of American cities, has seemingly endless things to do, has a super young and hip population, and I have fallen in love with it.
So my recommendation is to go. Even if it isn't to Canada, get up and see the world. Take random road trips with great friends, drive for hours and eat crappy food, and make memories with people you love. There is so much to see and you've only got so much time. Make every day an adventure, and maybe put Toronto on your list.
