Restless Explorer | Travel Blog – Tips, Reviews & Destination Guides

Looking where to stay in Ottawa?  The best location is ByWard Market and we ended up going with Andaz Ottawa ByWard Market. We only had one night in Ottawa to start our trip before we headed off to Quebec; so staying in a prime location was paramount.  When searching for hotels, I came across the Andaz Ottawa ByWard Market which like the name said I in ByWard Market.  The hotel looked trendy, modern and in ByWard Market, the prime location, and it is a Hyatt hotel, which we’ve always had good experiences with, so we booked it.

Fallsview is the hotel district in Niagara Falls with hotels, resorts, casinos and views of Horseshoe Falls.  For a bit cheaper, you can stay in hotels near Colton Hill with views of the American Falls, but since we drove up from Toronto and were only staying one night, we decided to splurge and stay in Niagara Falls Marriot Fallview Hotel & Spa with a Fallsview room.  How was the hotel and the upgraded room? I will tell you about the location, the rooms, the amenities and services, the view, and the prices. 

📍 Location: Ontario, Canada🌊 Known for: Massive waterfalls & lively entertainment district🎡 Top attractions: Clifton Hill, boat tours, Fallsview, casinos🍷 Nearby stop: Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries and old town charm💵 Prices: Hotels and parking can get expensive near the Falls🚗 Road trip vibe: Easy and scenic drive from Toronto👨‍👩‍👧 Best for: Families or weekend getaways

Toronto has many things to do, and you can't read through a Toronto Travel Guide without hearing about the CN Tower . Standing 550 m, the CN Tower , once the tallest building in the world, now holds the title of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. For our trip to Toronto, we planned to visit the CN Tower and decided to pay a little extra to visit “ The Top”.   The Top is 33 stories higher than the main observation deck so we decided to check it out. The CN Tower was a perfect place to visit on our Spring Break trip to Toronto, especially since two years ago on Spring Break, we checked out the next tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, The Willis Tower in Chicago. How would it compare? And was the experience worth it?

Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and this is something you can really notice through the food. You can go from street food and busy markets to high-quality restaurants; all serving just about every type of cuisine you can think of. And you can experience most of this all within a few blocks.  That’s what makes going out to eat in Toronto so fun. There’s always something different to try. Before our trip, I did a lot of research and while exploring, talked to some locals.  Because of this, we ended up checking out some amazing places, unfortunately we didn’t get to eat everywhere we wanted to, so those spots will have to wait for our next visit.  Here are a few spots we checked out around Toronto, including Aloette, Chengdu Street Food, Pai Northern Thai, and Gusto 101.

What is it like to attend a Toronto Raptors game at the Scotiabank Arena, or hang out in front of the arena at Jurassic Park? When travelling, if possible, I like to attend a professional sports game.  So, when heading to Toronto I had to attend a Raptors game.  I went expecting a great atmosphere but ended up witnessing the wildest run I’ve ever seen!   In the past, I’ve been to two other NBA games, a Chicago Bulls game and a Minnesota Timberwolves game, so how did the Raptors game compare and was it worth it?

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and has the third biggest skyline in North America.  So, if you’re wondering what it’s actually like to visit Toronto, here’s the full experience – from downtown vibes to the food scene and getting around. 

A high-rise condominium in downtown Toronto, located next to Scotiabank Arena sounds excellent, right?  Toronto is a global city getting a nice hotel downtown can be pricey.  That’s why when we came across RivetStays on York Street, we were shocked by the price.  RivetStays are high-rise condo in the heart of downtown; and our stay only cost us $200 a night during spring break! While we booked through Hotels.com, the stay felt very similar to a modern Airbnb.

To explore far and cool places, flying is usually inevitable — but let’s be honest, flying these days can be long, painful, and uncomfortable. The whole experience gets even worse when fellow passengers act like first class jerks (even in economy).  So, don’t be a douche bag and help make everyone’s flight a little better.  No one wants to fly with someone who:

I love travelling, but dislike flying.  I get claustrophobic, antsy and bored easily.  But to travel to cool and distant places, there’s no escaping it, you need to fly, and usually for longer flights.  I’m no stranger to flying on long flights, whether it was Europe (twice), Asia and South America, I’ve been on some long flights and had some nasty layovers.  I always try to make my experience as comfortable and entertaining as possible. 

We wanted to have a fancy dinner for my wife’s 40th birthday dinner; we originally thought about one of the many beach restaurants in the hotels on Palm Beach, but most had limited reservations available or looked too expensive.  Aruba has good food, but it’s mostly westernized.  The meat is okay, but the specialty of the island is seafood; so that’s what we knew we had to get.  We decided to go with Pinchos Bar & Grill in Oranjestad.

Aruba is famous for good weather, beaches, the flamingos and the Fofoti Trees.  But Aruba is more than beaches, a lot of people don’t realize Aruba is a desert, so there are lots of cool things to do that involve exploring the island’s landscape.