We’re back in Nyon after spending two weeks in Canada. We greatly enjoyed our stay there—the wedding as well as the exciting and varied places we visited in Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa and Montreal. Even though I had been to three of those cities many years back, it felt very much like a first time visit. There was so much new to see and do.
Canada has its own share of problems and people who’ve fallen through the cracks—for instance, we unexpectedly walked through a drugs colony on a side street one afternoon in Montréal’s city centre. It looked like a completely different world. However, at no time did we feel threatened walking around the four cities; nor did we read or hear about homicides and gunshots. We felt completely safe throughout the journey.
Four big developments made our visit enjoyable and stress-free: Google Maps; Uber; digital payments; and travel blogs, videos and TripAdvisor. This is the first holiday we’ve had where we’ve extensively used these four facilities. When we holiday in Africa we always hire a taxi for a whole day; Google Maps is not comprehensive in most countries of that region; and digital payment systems are yet to incorporate most businesses.
However, gone are the days when we would spend a lot of time to ask for directions to places we want to visit. Especially in Europe and North America, Google Maps accurately maps and takes you to your destination. It also tells you the time it will take to get there and obstacles you’re likely to encounter. Our knowledge of the four cities we visited improved by walking long distances everyday using Google Maps. For instance, on the day we went to the Biodome to experience the four ecosystems of the Americas, we walked 15,360 steps.
Second, when we couldn’t walk to our destination, we took Uber, which costs much less than a regular taxi. You can call it from anywhere. The system is very efficient. Our average waiting time for a car to arrive was about four minutes after we left Toronto, which was bedeviled with traffic because of large-scale road reconstruction. We used Uber a lot during the trip. The company even sent me a congratulatory message as a top customer! Indians seem to dominate the Uber driving business in Toronto, Kingston, and to some extent Ottawa, but not Montréal, which is predominantly French-speaking.
Third, Canada is at the forefront of the digital payment system, which seems to be transforming the economies of many countries. You can transact most, if not all, businesses without cash in Canada if your debit card is linked to the Western payment system. Some businesses even refused to take cash from us. We didn’t in any case travel with much cash. It felt great to move around and pay for goods and services in a foreign country without worrying about cash.
Nigeria has also massively forged ahead in digital payments, as we experienced last December when we were there. However, holders of foreign debit cards who lack access to the country’s digital POS (Point Of Sale) payment system may experience a cash crisis, as we did last December when we were in Abuja and Lagos.
A fourth development that made our trip stress-free is the large number of travel blogs, videos and user responses that are available on Google and YouTube. In most of our travels, we simply google the top attractions of a country, read and watch videos about the country, and consult TripAdvisor to learn about the experiences of those who’ve visited the places or used the facilities we’re interested in.
On-the-ground or local knowledge is still important, such as our visit to Toronto Islands and Swartz’s Dell restaurant—both of which were recommended by people who live in Toronto. However, we independently researched all the other places that we visited. It was fun and educative to do it.
We had a list of places we wanted to visit and things to do before we left Nyon, but we didn’t book them in advance. We wanted to include a few surprises when we arrived in each city. The one disappointment we had was our inability to go on a cruise from Montreal to Quebec and tour Quebec City, which would have taken 13 hours. The Saint Lawrence River goes all the way to Quebec from Montreal, which is a distance of 418 kilometres. Our Google search suggested that the cruise was operational, but we were told at the harbour that it would only be available in October.
*Oddities*
There were a few odd experiences in our tour. All four hotels that we patronised asked us to deposit between CAD100 and CAD200 against damages, even though we had paid the full cost for the rooms upfront through our travel agent. This was the first time of experiencing such a procedure in all our travels.
Annoyingly, our hotel in Ottawa even deducted CAD 33 from the CAS 100 deposit as tax even though this was not stated as a requirement when we booked the room.
Also, our hotel in Montréal asked us to pay CAD 4 each for our two suitcases for safekeeping when we checked out, while we went to Parc Jean Drapeau to have lunch before our flight, which was in the evening. We have never previously paid for such a service in any hotel.
We also found the tip culture in Canada a bit weird. It’s almost as if it’s an obligation to give a tip for a service. Unlike in Europe and other regions, there’s no subtlety in giving tips in Canada. The demand for tips is bold and direct or in your face. The tour guides in boat cruises and bus tours are the most barefaced. The guides would ask for tips at the end of every tour and hold a bag or container for guests to drop money. I guess such oddities add spark to the joy of holidaying in Canada.
We thank you all for following our travel blogs.
Yusuf Bangura
Nyon, Switzerland
2 August, 2025
Bangura.ym@gmail.com
