This month I thought about writing of my visit to Canada and a Good Samaritan we encountered there. So, the 4th of July weekend, I decided to just drive to Canada and enjoy a week of fun away from the daily grind. The planned drive was simple. Go to Quebec, then to Montreal and finally to Toronto and back.
On a fine morning, my friend and I started our sojourn to Quebec City in Quebec, CA. We already had a nice house booked some distance away from Quebec City and had no difficulty reaching there. Next few days we spent hiking national parks around there and soaking in Quebec City.
Just as it says. A pedestrian street in Quebec City. We went for dinner, and this is just a random shot from there.
However, this story is not about Quebec. This is a story of Toronto. This is a story when nothing worked as we wanted.
Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal situated in old Montreal and shows a beautiful Gothic architecture inside. The lighting creates a mesmerizing effect and makes this site worth a visit.
Morning
We came to Toronto a day back. Moved into a Marriot in downtown Toronto. We thought we will visit Toronto by night and enjoy the night life in that city. So one night stay in Toronto downtown was mandatory. There were of course a lot of activity going on there and we walked around enjoying every moment of it. Next day we planned to move to a different hotel hopefully some place closer to Niagara Falls. We already had rooms booked in a Marriot about 19 kms from CN towers.
Before we came to Toronto, we were in Montreal. We had a nice late breakfast at a diner there before we started for Toronto. We planned to go to the falls in the morning and check in to the other hotel. Next, our plan was to change and go to CN Towers for dinner as we already had reservations. Seems like a very easy plan to follow.
Steak n Eggs. It was a delicious 8 oz striploin + 2 sunny side eggs. Also included hashbrowns and poblano relish.
At: White Lily Diner
After breakfast we started for Niagara Falls and a 130kms (80 miles approx), because of construction and traffic on QEW and before took us approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. That left us with even less time to spend at the falls. Fortunately, we found a great parking next to the falls, paid for an hour and went to the falls to spend the next 45 minutes there. That was possibly where our ‘nice’ day ended. That superior being had other plans for us for the next part of the day.
The Blunder 🙁
There are of course a few problems when you do not do sufficient research and leave everything to kids with minimal information given to them. The biggest blunder was the assumption that Skylon Tower and CN Tower are one and the same. So, the only instruction given for booking hotels was book near CN Tower. For readers unaware of what I am talking about, CN tower is the taller rotating tower in downtown Toronto. It gives a nice and panoramic view of the downtown and at night it is mesmerizing. Skylon Tower, on the other hand is the one that you see next to Niagara Falls. It gives a great view of the falls but is much less taller than the other.
All our calculations were done based on CN Tower as reference. So, the hotel was booked 30 kms from CN Towers. Assumption was that it will take us 10 minutes there and since the falls was close, it would also be accessible.
However, since second hotel was also booked near around downtown Toronto, driving distance to the hotel was similar to what we took for caming to Niagara Falls. So, we left the falls in a hurry to go to the hotel.
Return to Hotel
The return traffic was even worse. We were stopping on QEW more often than we would have liked to. ON-403 was no better. We calculated that at this rate we will only get about half hour in hotel if we want to meet our reserved dinner time of 9:00 PM. Leaving ON-403, one more highway, and it saw the worst congestion.
On getting a little bit of empty space, we tried to drive a little bit faster and heard a funny noise coming from the car. Then with the suddenness that noise appeared, it disappeared with a thud sound. We were not able to see anything around, so we assumed it must have been something stuck under the car.
However, not far off, TPMS came on the dashboard. We pulled the car to the curb, and inspected if there is a damage. Driver side tire was flat. Second mistake, on long drives, always carry one of those portable tire inflators and a jump starter. Friends’ car, I found none of them available. In our case I am not sure if a portable tire inflator would have helped, but for slow leaks, you can inflate the tires and travel some distance to a car repair shop or dealership.
Rescue Efforts
So anyway, had to get google to the rescue. Tried to find the nearest towing companies, so that we can have the car towed and take a cab. It was late, so the first two I called never picked up. The third one did pick up and on hearing we are on the highway, asked us to dial 511.
So, I called 511, and got a canned reply that 511 service is being upgraded and will not be available I believe till August. Of course, if we rely on 511 services, it will mean about a month wait on the curb. Anyway, tried calling few more towing companies that I found on google, and nothing helped.
By this time, we were already stranded for about half hour on there, and not a sign of any traffic police or other. So, we decided to call 911 and see if they are any good. I figured that day that 8 people including 4 kids stranded on a highway is not a life-threatening emergency but a hazard to other people, so 911 will be of no help – and only towing will be of any help.
Self-Attempt
Time to take things in our own hands. Started pulling out the jack to lift car, and other tools so that we can change tires on the highway. Kept on searching for the special lug nut that is needed to take the tire off and did not find it. Apparently, the last time this car was taken to dealership for tire replacement, it was not returned.
Forty minutes on, and we are still stranded and no way to reach CN Tower anymore. So, we cancelled our reservation and lost $20 per head as cancellation fee. It is better than losing the entire amount.
The Good Samaritan
At this time a gentleman stopped and told that he had everything to fix our car, and will have us going in 15 minutes. The only thing we have to tell him is how to access the spare tire. Youtube came to the help, and we were able to get the spare down from under the car. Truth be told, and this is what we did tell the cop who showed up later, there was no financial dealings with this gentleman, and he was working without expecting any rewards. Under ideal situations, we may have given him some money for his help, but that is a story to follow.
While he started his work, a cop came and informed us that towing was on the way and it is hazardous to change tires on the highway. The gentleman, I will call him Malcolm from now on, talked to the cop and explained that he would be done by the time towing arrives. The cop asked us if there was a monetary settlement decided, and we declined since there was none. He also let us know that if he sees any cash changing hands, he would have to take legal actions.
Malcolm has by this time already taken the tire off and was ready to put the spare on. By this time towing company also came and was not very happy to see that the car tire was already off – because that means he cannot tow the car till the tire is put back on. He of course expressed his unhappiness to the cop. But Malcolm fixed the car and was able to put the spare tire on. Meanwhile we took the old tire, and all our suitcases we had taken out back to the trunk as advised by him. An hour or more later, we were all set and ready to drive.
The tow truck and the cop were still present on scene, so the only thing we could do was to thank this gentleman and could not offer any money for the big help that he had rendered to us.
If you ever read this blog, thank you Malcolm! We really appreciated your assistance that day.
Way back to the hotel
You must be thinking that is the end of this story. No way, that was just the beginning. So, with spare tires on the car, we started our drive back to the hotel. We had just checked the address and went to the first one we found on google. It was a slow but uneventful journey to the hotel. Tired and ready to crash, we went into the hotel, and figured we did not have reservation in that property. Would you expect that in a small town in Ontario, there would be two Courtyard by Marriot? Well, here it was! There were two in a distance of 10 minutes from each other in the same town.
There was a fifty percent chance that we would go to the wrong one, and we took it. Fortunately, we were able to figure that out and started to the correct hotel again. This time we made no mistake and reached the hotel and got our rooms.
Search for John Barleycorn
Tired from the misadventure, we decided to at least get something to drink. Thinking there would be no bars open now, we started looking for open supermarkets. Unfortunately, nothing was open at that time. We found one open till 12:00 AM and rushed there to see if we can find any. But it was a Korean supermarket, and no hard drinks.
So, we came back to the hotel and saw that hotel carried beer. In our excitement, we started checking what was available and one fell to the ground and fizzed out. We paid for the beer that dropped. At that point we also figured that hotel does not sell beer after 11:00 PM. It was now 11:05 PM. So, gist of the story, we paid for a beer, but never got to drink any.
The Bar and the Finale
At this moment, the receptionist at the hotel understood our pain and told us about a bar within 5 minutes’ walk from the hotel. This bar was open till 2:00 AM. This information came late but brought immense pleasure to us. We spent no time in going there and it was open.
Finally, we were able to see the color of sunset at around 11:30 PM at night. It brought us relief from what the day had brought us.
However, I would also treasure this as a memory from one of my trips to Canada.
And as they say, all is well that ends well!
Ciao for now!