1.0Ayush Tours Jaipurhttps://ayushtoursjaipur.comadminhttps://ayushtoursjaipur.com/index.php/author/gotravelblue/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="zTfHblJnnk"><a href="https://ayushtoursjaipur.com/index.php/2020/01/17/canada/">Canada</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://ayushtoursjaipur.com/index.php/2020/01/17/canada/embed/#?secret=zTfHblJnnk" width="600" height="338" title="“Canada” — Ayush Tours Jaipur" data-secret="zTfHblJnnk" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,d){"use strict";var e=!1,o=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),l=0;l<n.length;l++)n[l].style.display="none";for(l=0;l<i.length;l++)if(r=i[l],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=d.createElement("a"),a=d.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,!o.test(a.protocol));else if(a.host===s.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=d.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document); </script> https://ayushtoursjaipur.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Canada-3.jpg1500600Living in Toronto: Our Experiences If home is where the heart is, the decision to up and move to a new town, city, country or continent is not one to be taken lightly. After all, what we derive our sense of home from is hard to define, and a concept that perhaps becomes ever more elusive, the more we travel in search of it. When we speak about living in Canada with most of our friends living in other parts of the world, we normally get a favourable response: Wow, Canada’s so beautiful. The nature is incredible. Canadians are so friendly. The political situation is so much better there. Toronto was our first port of call in Canada – a decision born from practical concerns rather than anything else: It’s on Eastern Standard Time, within 7 hours flying time to Europe, speaking French isn’t mandatory to get a job, and it’s Canada’s most multicultural city. Before we arrived with our six suitcases in Toronto, Ravi had never set foot in Canada, and I’d spent a grand total of two days for business meetings – with no exploration time built in. It’s fair to say that moving to Toronto was hardly the most considered decision we’ve ever made. What brought us here was Ravi’s Permanent Residency of Canada which he’d been in the application process for a number of months before we had even met. By the time Ravi’s PR came through I knew I wanted to join him, and I applied for a two year working holiday visa which was miraculously approved within days (some applications sit in the ‘pool’ for months, or never get approved – it’s luck of the draw). Toronto’s skyline on a summer’s evening… not too bad! And we’re not the only ones. Back in India (and many other countries, we’re sure), Canada is hailed as pretty much the holy land. You can’t drive more than one kilometre in Punjab without seeing a “Study English, move to Canada” advert by some school or another. And more importantly, it’s a country which still allows immigration in some form, where many others (including my home one) are sadly doing all they can to keep migrants out. This post is written from our own learnings about the experience of moving to and living in Toronto – and perhaps some of what we wish we would have known before hand. It’s written from our perspective: We’re a British and Indian couple in our mid 30’s. We like peace and quiet. We like travelling. We love nature. We love good food even more. And, we love warm weather (you can see where this is going). We’re not trying to be grumpy middle-aged people complaining about Toronto. Rather we’re trying to bring across what moving to a place like Toronto is really like – especially for those coming from wildly varying cultures and countries. The Good Toronto is perhaps the perfect introduction to Canada. It’s Canada’s biggest city as well as its most diverse, and its possible to find a token of most cultures from around the world here. For us that was a bonus point. For obvious reasons we love our Indian food, and Toronto is not short of Indian grocers, supplies and restaurants (although the better ones are in Brampton and Mississauga). Getting around Toronto is a breeze and although many locals bemoan the public transit system (the TTC) it’s never really hard to get somewhere within the downtown core or city by public transit. The main method of getting around is by trams (streetcar as they are called in Toronto), or for journeys that happen to coincide with the central north-south or west east lines there is a limited subway. Ride hailing with Uber and Lyft is affordable, and Go Trains link downtown Toronto with suburbia within the greater Toronto area (GTA). It’s relatively easy to move around Toronto on the streetcars (trams) If you’re looking for Entertainment, Bars, and Clubs, Toronto is the city for you: It has some great Entertainment. Just don’t come to us when you find you’ve spent all your paycheck on drinks! Torontonians themselves are welcoming and are generally willing to help those who look lost or are in need of assistance. Within our first few months in Toronto we were invited to Thanksgiving dinners by new friends; the streetcar drivers actually wait for you when you’re running, and people have always been happy to explain how things work in the city. The Summers! As a consolation prize for the extended months of ice, Toronto gets a hot and humid summer: Which invariably means spending summers out of town alongside lakes (better start saving for that summer cottage now), trips to the Toronto Islands on the Ferry and plenty of  from browsing Farmers Markets and Food Festivals to enjoying the green spaces outside of the city. Torontonians seem to have their own schedule for summer: We’ve noticed that many seem to don their shorts come May 1st – regardless of whether the outside temperature is above freezing or not… The Bad The Cost of Living has been creeping steadily up in Toronto over recent years, particularly as more people move to the city and demand for everything increases. Among the most expensive things about living here are housing (see below for budgets in our FAQ), transportation is expensive with a monthly Toronto Transit pass costing $160.  Alcohol will cost you (as is the case across Canada), and if you’re thinking about owning a car, you might just want to look up the insurance prices first. For clothes, all self-respecting Torontonians head across the border to Buffalo, NY every once in a while where there is a choice of clothing brands at about 30% less of the cost. The Construction. As Toronto has soared in popularity as a place to live, it has quickly run out of places for its new- and old- comers to live, especially affordable ones. Clearly, more accommodation needs to be built. The skyline of Toronto, like many other “world cities” […]