I believe starting the year off with any kind of travel sets the tone for the rest of the year with whatever else is remotely possible. Even though Canada is thisclose to us, did I ever think I’d go there? Nope. Not even so much as a weekend trip to Toronto did I consider as an option. Either way, it happened.

For the last few years, traveling in January has become a tradition for me and Robert. We went to New York last year and Mexico the year before that. This year, we went right up the international streets to Toronto, Canada. We (meaning Robert) have talked about going to the country for years now but him being the travel savant that he is, found flight tickets for cheap and I put in my PTO ASAP.

Our flight went off with a hitch and within a couple hours, we were landing in Toronto. The good thing about flying in the morning is when you land, you can go straight to breakfast or lunch. We landed around 2:30 p.m. and headed to our hotel on the train. We got settled and headed to Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen for happy hour and now I’m obsessed with festival and crispy fired okra. The food at the restaurant was so good. Later that night, we got some views as we walked up the street to the ScotiaBank Arena for the Toronto Raptors/Miami Heat game. It was great they acknowledged the fact the city sits on Native land and gave tributes to the tribes. I tried a Korean hot dog for the first time; it was cool. The temperature was dropping plus we were getting tired. We walked back to our hotel and called it a night.

After some good night’s rest, we got up and seized the day. Robert had already been up for a while getting in a few more sights while I laid in bed for a while longer. Breakfast for the day was at the local Tim Horton’s basically across the street from our hotel. It was cool; you can’t go wrong with a hash brown, breakfast sandwich, and a hot tea. We hopped on a train over to St. Lawrence Market to see what souvenirs and food we could find. I walked in and immediately imagined what the building was like prior to becoming a market. We did a lap around St. Lawrence looking at different vendors offering food, sweets, various meats, and more. I was surprised to catch Wish Farms internationally. We bought a few small bottles of maple syrup to bring back home. By now, we got a little hungry and went upstairs for Toronto’s iconic peameal bacon sandwich from Carousel Bakery, which we’d just watched a Youtube video about maybe a week prior.

Now, if you know me well from the content I post, you know how much I enjoy buying thrifted and vintage pieces. We went to several around the city, making a stop at Graffiti Alley and looking at the artwork on the buildings first. It’s insane how artistic people can be with spray paint and whatnot. There was so much to look at in this small space but all of it was so wonderful. We left and continued our vintage shopping excursion at Value Village and other places before walking around the city and ending the night with dinner from Nando’s.

Our time in Toronto is winding down so we spent the day chilling and going with the flow. We didn’t have any set plans for the day. We headed downstairs and pretty much across the street to the Evviva Restaurant for breakfast. I went with my usual savory breakfast meal and it didn’t disappoint. After that, we hopped on the subway and walked our meals off by doing some more shopping. We went to the area where you can find the higher end stores. We ended up at Kith and getting a few things before heading to another part of town. One goal for the trip was to get some Sweetie Pie treats so we hopped on the subway again of course. After another brisk walk, we arrived and it was hard for me to choose what I wanted because all the baked goods looked delicious. If I could order one of everything, I would’ve. but we got their butter tart and rainbow cookie.

The thing about Toronto is it’s extremely walkable so we headed to the mall for even more shopping. We couldn’t leave without checking the OVO store first before perusing the rest of the area. Our shopping excursion took us to the Stussy store located close to our hotel for a quick visit.  We were a little pooped so we rested a bit in our hotel room before getting dinner. Our last dinner in Toronto at the 360 Restaurant at the CN Tower was a bit more fancier. My mind was blown; you take an elevator up several stories to the top of the tower and rotate 360 degrees while enjoying your meal. You feel some slight movement but nothing that’ll cause anything. It was amazing to get a bird’s eye view of all of Toronto. I knew we were close to Lake Ontario but I didn’t realize how close.

Since that trip, we’ve talked ad nauseam about going back for another weekend trip to Toronto in the spring or summer when temperatures are up. Funny thing about it is we were looked at as crazy for coming to Toronto in the cold from the warmth of Florida from our server at Evviva and a store owner. A couple laughs later, I completely get their sentiment because it’s usually the other way around.

There are some more sites I’ve learned about in Toronto after the trip, so we’ll be back in the 6 soon.