We were very fortunate because my boyfriend has family who live out there who we stayed with for 2 weeks. With this, we only had our flights to pay for.
Speaking of flights, this was my first ever long haul flight. I was nervous but it was ok. First of all, we flew from our local airport to London Heathrow which took us around 30-45 minutes. This flight was the best one for me as it was quick and as we came into land my ears didn’t pop at all. I always suffer from this for at least a couple of days so I was very thankful for it. The next flight was the Montréal one which took us 7hrs. I wasn’t ready to be on a plane this long but I enjoyed it, the staff at Air Canada really looked after us, they often came round with food and drinks which were all free and we had TV screens to watch films and TV series on. As I didn’t have any earphones with the correct jack I had to use Air Canada ones so my ears were really sore from them as they were the ones with rubber covers which I hate. I could only watch films for half of the flight. I began by watching The Greatest Showman which I personally didn’t think was that decent. I then came across Bohemian Rhapsody which I have seen so many times already but I love it so this took up another 2 hours. For the last 2 hours of the flight, I decided to have my music on for a bit. When we landed, we had Josh’s family welcoming us with open arms which were so lovely of them and then we got back to their house and had tea almost ready for us. This photo below is of our landing into London, I managed to get this while we were circling around London getting ready to land at Heathrow.
One of the first days that we were there, Josh’s cousin took us to a place that had a bit of a beach there called St Jacques. This was such a beautiful place, it had a stunning pebble beach with the river coming at your feet and in the distance you could see mountains. I had never seen a beach like this before, it was strange at first knowing it wasn’t sea coming at your feet and the closest I’ve seen to mountains in the distance would be at Morecambe which has the Lake District in the distance. I managed to get some good photos around this area even though it was extremely windy! Another highlight of my holiday was that there were loads of black squirrels around which I had never seen before.
The next day, we went to see the Saint Lawrence River/Seaway. This was so unusual to me! Number one this was the largest river I had ever seen in my life and number two, there were cargo ships going over it in the distance which you would only expect to see going over the sea rather than a big river. This was a really nice area to be in. It had a country park area to it which had what I would class as a wedding venue in that was very nice inside. Further down the road was a viewing post where you saw most of the river and the cargo ships. Even further down the road was a yacht club for the locals. Thankyou to Josh’s cousin for being a history fanatic, I actually found out that this river was how North America was discovered and the reason behind why Quebec (where Montréal is) is made up of both French ancestry & American ancestry.
Focusing on the area where his cousin’s lived, this was classed as St Jean Boulevard which had so many shops on. Life is very different for them than it is for us brits. For us to go shopping, we would most likely have to go into our local town centre, for those who live on boulevards they don’t need to even drive to their local town they have it all there. They had restaurants local, clothes shops and just the average everything else. There were retail parks one after another that had different things on. They had a lot of choice for coffee shops around them too. On this boulevard was where I tried both poutine and Dairy Queen, we also had an A&W but I was not impressed at all, it was just an even more expensive Burger King to me. So starting with the poutine, there were so many poutine places around. We went to one in Fairview mall which was walking distance from their house. For anyone who is unsure of what poutine is, it’s chips with cheese and gravy, in some places you can have extra toppings. My personal favourite topping was a hot dog sausage. We also tried it from a place called Dirty Dogs which was quite nice but the service was appalling! Poutine is a popular delicacy over there. Secondly, I went with his cousin Carole to a local Dairy Queen which is a fast food place but also does the most amazing ice cream. I had a mint Oreo ice cream which was perfect and Carole had a Reese’s pieces one so we had a nice chat together and enjoyed our ice cream while Josh stayed at home chilling and looking after their 3 beautiful pooches Chulo, Tango & Baloo. Whilst on this topic, we also tried some doughnuts from a place called Mr Puffs and omg! They are the most Insta-worthy doughnuts you will ever see and they tasted amazing.
PS: I had to get an old school bus in here just to make it that bit more American.
The day after this we decided to check out Downtown Montréal a bit and Mount Royal which is a mountain in the middle of the town. This was an amazing day!! We started by going into the park just below the mountain which was a very weird experience. Stephen, Josh’s cousin took us to see a group of people who were all playing drums and smoking weed. According to Stephen, as weird as this was, this was part of Montréal culture as all these people were local homeless people who were battling substance issues. This group get together every weekend and play the drums while people go and watch them. After this, we walked through the rest of the park and to the area of St Laurent which was an extremely rundown area, I didn’t feel 100% safe here if I’m honest, everyone you walked past was high on drugs or drinking cans in the street and there were emergency sirens left, right and centre, all 3 of them too. This was the area these homeless people came from which I believe Stephen said that they now live in some kind of hostel but I could be mistaken. Nonetheless, as we kept walking through we came across the most amazing Portuguese restaurant. Even though their speciality was Portuguese chicken, like Nando’s we ended up buying steak sandwiches and I have never been so amazed by a sandwich in my life and no I don’t care how dramatic that sounds. The fries were also perfect from this place.
After food, it started dropping dark so we decided to drive up to the Mount Royal which was such an amazing place and we 100% went at the right time. We were originally going to climb it but from a previous break, I have a bad foot that still hurts if I put too much pressure on it for example climbing steep hills are really bad for it and the damp weather also gets to it as well. Anyway, we got to the viewing point of it which had these swing seats on it so that you could admire the view, I wanted a photo on these but they were never free unfortunately. With it being dark, I heard a noise behind me which ended up being a raccoon digging through a bin, I was so happy because I’d never seen one before but then it just got better! I’m not sure how we found out but there was a woman a bit further down the road so we went to talk to her and she was feeding a huge family of raccoons. I was delighted to have seen this and incredibly lucky! She was explaining to us that she was a nurse. She had a syringe with her full of flea and tick stuff with a bag beside her with fruit in to feed them and to persuade them over to her. When we looked at her, she looked as if she was on something, she had old clothes on and a pair of trainers with gashes in so our best guess was that she was homeless but what’s to say she wasn’t a vet nurse before this happened to her? It was so beautiful to see and that she had something to pre-occupy herself with and that it involved caring for the local wildlife. I was fascinated and to be honest this was certainly a highlight of my holiday, I have to admit I had a lot of respect for her and she was such a kind and friendly lady. After we had our raccoon fix, we went climbing up the rest of the mountain, it was still bad for my foot but not as bad as before which was further down the mountain. When we made it to the top, the view was worth every bit of pain I was in! We came to the Mount Royal Cross which with it being dark was lit up in white and overlooked Montreal. It was an extraordinary picture to see and the view of Montreal fascinated me.
On our second to last full day, Carole decided to take us to Lachine Canal which I think was part of the Saint Lawrence River and this area was such a nice and peaceful spot. This was also not like any canal I had ever seen before. When us brits think of a canal we think of a narrow strip of water with riverboats going down it don’t we? Well no this wasn’t all that narrow it was quite a large space and the riverboats on it looked more like small yachts. Either the people who owned this were incredibly rich or this is what a Canadian riverboat looks like. Afterwards, we went into a small Mexican restaurant just over the road for a drink. I think that later on in the day, we went to Centennial Park as well which was just around the corner from where they lived and where we took the dogs for a walk. This was also quite a relaxing place to be, it had a big lake in the middle but it was also advertised as a ski slope park, the hills that were here were absolutely huge, great for anyone who loves skiing. It was a lovely walk around and as we got further into it, we saw that there was some building work going on and it was the most posh street that I had ever seen! It had the nicest houses on, they must cost a fortune to buy.
On our final full day, we had a brilliant day and crammed so much in, in one day! We were originally meant to have an early wake up and go boating but this was cancelled as they didn’t have enough bookings. In the end, we were all so glad because we had a great day. We decided to go Downtown Montreal again but this time to see the rest of it rather than the mountain and culture of it. When we arrived our first stop was The Old Port which was absolutely gorgeous. When we parked up, poor Stephen had a bit of a rough start as a woman came speeding down the road as he was getting out of his car bearing in mind that she wasn’t there when he started getting out of his car. The stupid woman came slamming into Stephen’s car door, nearly ripping it off and she still carried on driving. Stephen had to get out of his car and knock on her window to stop her from driving. When she stopped she tried to put the blame on Stephen and then stormed off into her house which was on this main road. Luckily, her husband was very calm about it and came to sort the insurance details out so it got sorted in the end, well except his car door but that will come I guess. Anyway, he didn’t let it get to him we looked around the Old Port which had a man-made beach on there with what looked like a river rather than the sea and it had a few food vans around and an area for a cruise ship, there was actually one in the port when we were there. I also saw a spa on a boat which I thought was pretty cool to be honest. Further round was also a big wheel where you could see the view and a zip line. As we went further on, the streets were so small and narrow just like French streets which were full of fancy restaurants and bars, to make it more French there was a guy playing an accordion in the main precinct.
The next area we were in was Chinatown. I’ve never visited a Chinatown anywhere before so I was excited to see this, it was a whole street full of Chinese restaurants and stands and also small Chinese gift shops that sold things like the Maneki Neko (Lucky Cat) or Buddha ornaments. There was even a small Chinese market. It was a nice area, there were Chinese flags hanging from the trees and buildings and you went through Chinese-looking arches to get onto the main street. It also smelt amazing for anyone who loves Chinese food as much as me. Unfortunately, we couldn’t have anything too big as we were having homemade lasagne for tea so we had to deal with fried chicken, even though it was nice it wasn’t a chow mein.
After this we just went into the town centre and had a look around, towards the end of the trip, Stephen took us to the underground malls which were pretty cool but weird. These 4 malls were all connected to each other by the Metro underground system that they have. This was a very weird experience because it looked just like a normal shopping mall but then there was a full underground station in it. In one of them there was a barbie expedition going on which was the most weird thing I had ever seen, there were glass cabinets full of Barbie dolls dressed up in different outfits for example, there was one Barbie & Ken doll dressed as Prince Harry & Meghan Markle. It was extremely odd! I thought I had a picture of it but didn’t unfortunately!
On our last day, we were flying from Montreal at 10 past 3 in the afternoon so we had time to go out in the morning. Carole, Dave & Stephen decided to take us out for breakfast to a beautiful place called Coco Loco’s where I had chocolate chip pancakes with some fruit on and maple syrup of course. These were also insta-worthy pancakes and tasted delicious!
Whilst over there I did a ton of shopping and wondered why I was left with no dollars at the end of it. The first shop I went to was,
Forever 21
I’m sure most people have heard of Forever 21 and most probably been there as we have a couple in the UK but if not, it’s a clothes shop which I would say is pretty similar to Primark or New Look. From here I bought a really nice white oversized t-shirt that has an image of a rose on it and just says ’careful with my heart’. I will try to find a picture of it on their website as mine is currently in the wash covered in purple hair dye which I am praying to all the gods out there that it comes out. I think I paid around $20 for this. What I didn’t like about Canada was that you had to add tax onto everything you bought and it wasn’t as an overall price it was on each individual item so you almost paid double for it. But I will mention my prices without tax on top. This top is very comfortable and a decent fit as well. What surprised me is that it’s very thick so you can wear any bra underneath without it showing through so you can ditch the white/nude bras for one day.
Marshall’s
Somewhere else I went to was Marshall’s which is a counterpart of TK Maxx for us and I believe it was also owned by TJ Maxx. They have a few businesses under their belts in Canada: They had Marshall’s, Winners which I will go onto next, Homesense and possibly TJ Maxx. When I worked for TK Maxx back in 2015 they only had a few businesses, I had never heard of Marshall’s or Winners before. From here I just purchased a pair of charcoal grey Calvin Klein Performance joggers which are also in the wash right now so I will try and find some similar ones or if not the same pair that I have. These joggers are the comfiest pair I’ve ever owned, I travelled home in them and they were great. They were also really soft on the inside which is a godsend for anybody like me who has eczema on their legs. I also only paid $30 for these which was amazing because back home Calvin Klein joggers are at least £50.
So these ones are the most similar pair I could find but mine are long ones rather than capri.
Winners
I personally preferred Winners to Marshall’s and I would’ve bought so much more from there but I had just bought a pair of shoes someplace else so I didn’t need the pair of cute Tommy Hilfiger’s I’d seen or the nice Tokyo Laundry coat I saw for only $50. What I really didn’t need though was a pack of 3 pumpkin flavoured coffee syrups by Skinny Syrups but I got them anyway. The 3 that came in the bundle were Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Spice & Pumpkin Caramel. They sounded amazing and were only $13 which was around the same price as what they’d be at home. I got them because I didn’t think TK Maxx would’ve sold them as pumpkin flavoured everything is more American than British. I have only gotten round to trying the pumpkin cheesecake one and that was really nice in my morning coffee so I am looking forward to trying them, one of them is currently at my boyfriend’s so again I will try and find one online.
Little Burgundy
Whilst I was over there, my old vans started becoming wrecked and giving me blisters so I needed to buy myself a new pair. I went and picked up some Vans Old Skool’s from this shop which I paid $80 for and to be honest it wasn't bad because in English money that would only be £40 which is even cheaper than you would usually buy them from here in England. I don’t feel like I need to do a short review on these shoes because everybody seems to own them and I am a bit late to the party. Little Burgundy seemed like the Canadian version of Schuh or Office.
Sephora
The main reason I wanted to go shopping in this specific mall was because it had Sephora in which is a shop that we don’t have in England and I didn’t even know it existed in Canada, I thought it was just America but then a few people told me about it so of course I had to look in there! I only picked up 2 things in there which I needed and that was a Clinique foundation which I hope is decent and an Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow. I already had a L’Oréal Paris eyebrow pencil but it got blunt too easily, I hardly wear makeup and I had to sharpen it whenever I used it which made it really small and not easy to use. Because of the tax on top I ended up spending $70 in here! Safe to say I never went back, I’ll stick to Debenhams next time or Boots & Superdrug. I may do some reviews on these.
Bath & Body Works
Now, this may take up a big section of the post because I bought a few bits from here. We don’t have Bath & Body Works at home so I was really eager to go in one and I went a bit crazy! To be honest 2 items were gifts and the other 3 were mine. I have to say their scents for autumn/fall are as amazing as they are hyped up to be! Starting with the gifts, I picked up 2 candles, one in the scent ‘Honey-crisp Apple’ which has the most gorgeous apple smell to it, it gave me Snow White vibes and also vibes of walking past an apple tree. The second candle I picked up was in the scent ‘Pumpkin Peanut Brittle’ which also smells really good, it does smell like you could eat it. Onto the things I bought for myself, starting with the Marshmallow Pumpkin Latte body wash, I really wanted to buy a fall scent for myself and I smelt this one in a candle originally and was in love so I decided to pick it up in a body wash. It smells amazing! I also picked up a body mist in the scent In The Stars but I picked it up in the diamond mist which adds a bit of glitter to your skin when you spray it. I can’t even describe the scent of this but it is so so nice! It’s very different from regular sprays but I absolutely love it and it lasts all day. They had an offer on where you bought 2 products and then got a 3rd free so with my freebie I picked up a ’Sweet Pea’ body mist. I love anything sweet pea scented and my favourite Yankee Candle scent is ’Garden Sweet Pea’ which I think they have now discontinued! I am heartbroken. This one smells so nice and flowery and also lasts all day. The candles were also $13.95 instead of $25 so I saved a lot of money there. I initially went in to purchase everything in the Black Cherry Merlot smell but when I got there I found that it was way more overpowering in everything else other than the foaming hand wash that they have.
Dollarama
I feel like Dollarama was one of my favourite stores that we found while we were out there, this shop reminded me of B&M or Home Bargains or even Poundland. These are all 3 of my favourite shops in the UK so you can understand why I was obsessed. This is somewhere else that is going to take up a big section of this post, we bought so much from here! The first thing I got was my dad’s gift which was a bag of Jolly Ranchers & some other fruity sweets but I don’t know what they were called and he’s eaten them now. My dad has an obsession with boiled sweets so I had to buy him some proper American/Canadian ones while I was there and they were only $2 a bag. The next 2 gifts I got were for my grandma and grandad and these were keyrings. I chose a nice silver one with the Fleur De Lis on that said Quebec inside it and the other one was a key that said Canada on it over the Canadian flag. My grandad is into anything historical so he loved his Fleur De Lis keyring , again I think these were about $2 each. Something else I chose for my grandma was a little hand lotion in a strawberry. There were several fruits to choose from but she loves strawberries so I went with that, again it was only $2. Since we don’t get poutine at home, we picked up a few sachets each of the poutine gravy they use to bring home with us. These were around $1 a pack. I also picked a couple up for my best friend who loves getting cheesy chips and gravy after a night out. Although we can get our own version it is definitely not the same as poutine. Dollarama had a huge Halloween/fall/thanksgiving aisle so I had to look at all the Halloween stuff down here. Spooky season is the best season. I picked up an adorable little teddy bear with devil horns and a vampire cape on, I think he was only $3. The last 2 items I got were for college, when I came back I started studying a Higher Education Diploma in Criminology and Law so I needed some nice stationery. I picked up a polka dot A4 notebook with some coloured dividers in for only $3 or $4 and then I picked up an A4 size pink ringbinder file for $2. I didn’t need any pens or anything but I was lucky enough to find these and get them for college as I started 2 days after I came back. I enrolled the day after I came back and then started the next day.
Although this is a bracelet charm, it looks similar to the keyring I bought for my grandad.
Tim Hortons
Tim Horton’s is known to be the best coffee shop in Canada and I completely understand! It is amazing!! I have had their French vanilla cappuccino before as my boyfriend’s mum brought some home last time she went to Canada but this time I got to try it myself in the actual coffee shop and then as an extra I managed to get a big canister of it to bring home which I only paid $8 for. I am so happy I got to bring some home.
IGA
IGA is one of their local supermarkets and we discovered the nicest peri peri sauce you will ever have in your life! Even better than Nando’s sauce! And that’s a big statement coming from me. The sauce was called Casa Das Tias. It is well and truly the best, in the future when his family come over to the UK I will be asking for some of this sauce. They had it everyday with meals. You can get it in either medium or hot and the medium one is a bit spicier than Nando’s sauce but not too spicy. I think I paid around $4 for this sauce.
World Duty Free
So I guess this was more when we were out of Canada but I wanted to buy 2 extra gifts so I thought about the World Duty Free Store and I picked out my best friend’s favourite perfume which is Daisy by Marc Jacobs and then I picked out my grandma’s favourite perfume which is Angel by Thierry Mugler. They were so happy with their gifts and it didn’t come to that much either I think I only paid £80 for both of them which here in stores it’s usually £80 for a smallish bottle. I did mean to put pounds by the way since I bought it in Heathrow’s duty free store.
Just before I finish this post, I wanted to share with you a couple of recipes that Carole gave me too which I think are amazing and I ate a lot of it over there, the first one is just simply to fry some kale, some onion and some fresh garlic together as a healthy-ish side dish and the other one is broccoli salad which includes raw broccoli, raw red cabbage, celery, mayonnaise & I think Carole added some dried cranberries to hers just for a bit of sweetness. Trust me these are well worth making!
Overall, we had an incredible time with them and it was amazing to see Canada for the first time, I will 100% be going back once college and university is over with as these are my main priorities at the moment. I will still be blogging but it will be even less regular than it is now. I would love to see Canada in the winter next time and to go and see Niagara Falls & Toronto. See you again soon Canada! Hopefully.
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