Canadiana Backpackers Blog

? Canadiana Backpackers Inn, Toronto.

Sunday 28th of January—? ? ? ? Her name is Bliss (yes, it’s her real name) and? she is? a pretty Australian girl. She? looks like a bit of a “Wild Child” with her naturally blonde hair streaked red and black. This she says her Mother does not mind (the? piercings are another story).

Bliss came through Toronto on her way to visit a friend in the United Kingdom. When she first came here she? seemed a little bit lost and alone especially because she couldn’t get the roaming feature on her mobile phone to work (life is tough)? and was therefore out of contact with friends and family. And not being an experienced traveller, she was rather homesick.? She had hardly spoken to a soul for two days and craved? the company of others………..?

As luck would have it, she hit the jackpot.? Australia Day was coming up and what better time to meet people than on? the day to celebrate her home country! As I said she was pretty homesick; but, after meeting some fellow backpackers? (many of whom hail from Oz) she has come right out of her shell.? This place tends to have that effect on people, it’s amazing what laughter, silliness, and beer can do.

Bliss leaves tomorrow and will most likely take with her a bit of a hangover. You see, tonight she has just returned from the local pub where she? went for a farewell drink (or three or four) with some of the many people she has met here. We all wish her a wonderful trip and hope that she takes with her a good impression of Canada in general and the Canadiana Backpackers? Hostel, Toronto? in particular. Bon Voyage Bliss!?

Lesley (Canadiana Staff)

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? Bliss, ? at the? Australia Day Party (she is the first girl on the right hand side of the table with a beer in her right hand).?

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Kat Hall? (organiser of our Australia Day Party) says:

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Canadiana Backpackers Hostel, Toronto.?

The reason why this post is subtitled “Our side of the story” is that the comment has beaten our posting! I guess I’ll be honest and say that it’s a reasonably accurate account of what went on at the hostel on the night of Friday the 26th of January 2007! The evening was organized by a real go-getter from Perth named Kat. As I said, she even beat us to the punch by posting her side of the story before we did! (I told you she was a go-getter!). ? Australians are ubiquitous in virtually every hostel, anywhere in the world. I’d be hard pressed to find a time when there weren’t at least a dozen in residence at Canadiana Backpackers - even right now in the dead of a Canadian winter! The core group of Aussies (and a couple of Kiwis thrown in for good measure) managed to inveigle virtually everyone at the hostel to join in on the celebrations. A couple of large kegs of beer has that kind of effect on young travellers.

The thrust of Kat’s posting is “a good time was had by all!” Wanna bet! In addition to the hundred liters of draft beer, there were, at least, six extra-large clear garbage bags full of empty beer cans, wine and liquor bottles. I have no idea of just how much booze was spilled on our new pine floors, except to say it was lots! The following morning Teresa, the Canadiana’s normally cheerful, super-pleasant, happy-go-lucky, world-class? cleaning lady was threatening pain and suffering upon anyone within range of her broom! Our blue couch is broken; or rather, broke by itself, because no one did it.

All in all, it was a pretty good evening. And Kat, you did a superb job of organizing such a successful bachannal on such short notice. Even though Aussies don’t require a reason to abuse their livers it was nice of you to arrange one anyhow.

As I mentioned earlier, the “response” to this posting (above) was entered before this one. Sneaky, but nicely done Kat!

Beginning of Aussie Day at? Canadiana Backpackers? Hostel, Toronto.

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Last summer, we had a “Tattoo/Body Art Convention” here in Toronto. Practitioners and aficianados came to the city and quite a fair number stayed at our hostel. A man from England by the name of “Twist” has just booked a return visit. It will be good to see him again. His email message asked if “we remembered him.” Remember him? Hell! He’s unforgettable!

Twist is a professional “Piercer”. He puts metal inserts (jewelry, I suppose you’d call it) in various parts of the human anatomy. Some of them are what they term “exotic” piercings. These are the one’s that are in parts of the body I wouldn’t let anyone near with a sharp intrument - or with anything else for that matter!

Twist himself has piercings; lots of them! He once told me how many and I was absolutely astounded at just how many he had! I don’t remember the exact figure but they would be sufficient to set off airport alarms. When I first laid eyes on Twist, the first impression I had was “serial killer”! But once you get to know him, you realize that it’s merely your own prejudice at work. He’s gentle, intelligent, articulate - and, oh yes,? quite outrageous!

I hate to mention this (so don’t let children read it) but there seems to be an upside to adorning your body with metal studs! Twist has ladies around him like flies on honey! He practically has to beat them away with sticks! I was almost tempted to get a few myself for that reason.? But what if it has nothing to do with his piercings? What if it’s just Twist himself? I’m not going through all that pain just to find out!

This week I met a wonderful couple from the UK. Emma and Phil were on their honeymoon. Actually, they were here for more than a week of their five month holiday.? They had? spent a? long time travelling Europe, Eastern Australia and the length of New Zealand. ? As they were nearing the end of of their honeymoon, they were running a bit short on funds and? therefore needed help cutting costs wherever possible.? They had been to my home country of New Zealand and? raved about it - maybe that’s why I took to them so easily.

They enjoyed Toronto, but were not used to the cold weather after spending? over a month? travelling the southern hemishere.? They took more photo’s of the icicles hanging off the tree’s and lamp posts than they did of the stunning? Niagara Falls.

Phil and Emma? are the kind of couple that, I’m sure, have made travellers from all over the world laugh because? the stories they told were wonderful.? ? Friends of theirs had told them that the honeymoon was over when one of you was brushing your teeth? while the other was sitting on the toilet.? So now they have headed to New York for the last leg of their world tour, then home to Manchester. We wish them the best of everything for the future - remember, the honeymoon never ends!

Lesley (Canadiana Staff)

Phil and Emma, the honeymoon never ends!!!!

Room? #26 at the Canadiana Backpackers Inn, Toronto?

We had a very special guest this week. The rooms in our hostel are all named after “Famous Canadians”. There is a photograph and a thumbnail biography of each celebrity framed on the door of every room. We had a young woman check in for a night and given Room Number 26. As fate would have it, the room is named for her father.

Her father is not a singer, hockey player or Hollywood celebrity. In so many ways, he is so much more. He is, in fact, a soldier - a retired General - and a? true Canadian hero.? Unlike ordinary pop culture luminaries, Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire is? the kind of? man who makes so many of us proud to be Canadians. And for that reason alone,? the mere presence of his daughter in our hostel did us honour.

General (now Senator) Dallaire,? was the Commander of the United Nations’ Forces in Rwanda during the most hideous period? of one of the continent’s poorest regions.? During that time, Hutu extremists, the Interahamwe, as they called themselves, perpetrated the wanton slaughter of more than 800,000 Tutsi’s in a savage orgy of inter-tribal genocide.? The General’s understrength force struggled valiantly and vainly against overwhelming odds to stop the slaughter while the United Nations and, indeed the world, stood by and dithered.

General Dallaire has given a graphic account of that terrible time in his remarkable book “Shake Hands with the Devil”.? It is a book that should be required reading by all United Nations personel to remind them of the terrible cost of their inactivity. But even more importantly, it should be read by all Canadian students in their? final year of high school if only to give them an understanding of the true meaning of the word “hero”.

Of all of our rooms named? for Canadian celebrities, Room 26 is, without a doubt, the “most special” to many of us here at the Canadiana. It occupies a prominent spot at the top of our stairs. It is our humble salute to a truly great Canadian.

Catherine Dallaire (on right) with Sharon (member of staff) outside the Romeo Dallaire Room, in the hall of Canadian Hero’s.

Our Third Married Couple! (at least)

Week Three has also brought with it a pleasant surprise! An attractive young lady from Poland named Barbara is visiting with us. She is now living in the UK and she met her husband right here at the Canadiana! This is the third couple (to my knowledge) that met here and later married! It must be something in the air!

She is back here on a solo visit to meet with some friends from near Detroit where she worked as an au pair a few years ago. Her visa to Canada will soon expire and she wanted to save the trouble of applying for a new one; this accounts for her visit in the dead of winter!

Her husband called at 6AM this morning to see if she arrived safely. She was supposed to text message him when she arrived; however, her cell phone doesn’t seem to work here. We couldn’t locate her at first because we mistakenly checked her in under her maiden name. The photo ID she provided us had both her married and maiden name and it was a Polish document. We wrote down the wrong one! Our mistake Phillip - nothing untoward going on here!

Lost CD’s!

As we begin the third week of the new year winter has finally decided to make a real appearance! It snowed here for the first time this winter and we normally expect snow (a lot of it) by mid November! It was a chilly -20C + last night; quite a change for the hostellers who were wearing light spring jackets a few days ago in temperatures around +13C! As a result, most of the hostel activities have moved indoors. Some of the bolder guests have gone out to a local pub, The Fox and Fiddle (a.k.a. the Pox and Piddle) a mere 50 meters or so from our front door. The city has issued an extreme cold weather alert but it’s not expected to last more than a couple of days. The temperature should rise above the freezing point by the weekend.

I’ve got an idea for a new “event”. Over the months and years a lot of people have either lost or abandoned CD’s in the hostel. I’m going to play them on a cold winter’s evening. I think most of the CD’s weren’t lost but abandoned; they aren’t very good to say the least! I want to see if they will drive people out into the cold. My particular favorite is a disc from a Vietnamese Rock Star named “Johnny Dung”. Call me culturally insensitive but I find that irresitably funny! I can’t wait to hear it myself!

Messages in Water?

It’s the beginning of the third week of what everyone avers is going to be a “great year”. There is so much optimism there is no doubt that ‘07 is going to be something special. Michael is leaving for his home in Ottawa. He’s been here for the past five days. He’s mid thirties, tall and according to some of the ladies not bad looking (although he does little for me). He’s changed careers and it’s not due to a mid life crisis. It’s more of a mid life discovery.

Michael was a successful “consultant” for a major international? business firm. (You know, a highly paid man who borrows your watch; then tells you the time.) He suffered chronic back pain and sought out an Osteopath when modern traditional medicine could not provide relief. The results of this alternative treatment were, in his words; “unbelieveable”. So much so that he decided to study Osteopathy.

According to him, his chosen? field contains a strong “spiritual” component that challenged his very belief system. It may sound far-fetched; but, it’s hard to argue with the results he’s experienced. Still not convinced?

Check this out: Google search “Messages from Water”. Read Masaru Emoto’s research on the Molecular Structure of Water. There are some fascinating “experiments you can do. I haven’t yet tried them; however, I intend to. If I get the anticipated results, it just may shake my beliefs. I’m starting the experiments this weekend. I’ll keep you posted on my results.