Canadiana Backpackers Blog

Michael is a backpacker from Germany. As we have mentioned before most young Germans, by and large, speak excellent English. Of all Europeans, there English is arguably the best on average, with the possible exception of ther Dutch.

The Dutch seem to have a facility with the English language because  they hear it all of their lives. I think it might be a function a function of NOT dubbing English movies  or television shows.

Michael is a graphic example of that hypothesis. He speaks English like a native speaker and is often mistakenly identiffied as British.

Why? In just two words “Monty Python”.

Michael was a big fan of the British sketch comedy show “Monty Python”. He had seen all of the only 45 episodes likely several times. It is quite common as the 1969 program has achieved a cult following.

The net result of watching Monty Python over and over again has been, in Michael’s case, the developing a very British accent.

When he speaks, he sounds like an amalgam of John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin. It is actually rather funny.

It’s not surprising. I mean ther “Monty Python Show” is hilarious!

“Belfast Mike” Campbell first came to the hostel in 2006. At the time he was into long-distance cycling and thought nothing of loading up his bicycle in Vancouver and head east to New York City via Toronto.

He came back in 2007 when he began his most ambitious project Endurance 2007. (See previous posts: Endurance 2007 and Endurance 2007 Part II)

His ambitious project is still ongoing and is aimed at raising money for cancer research.

Mike spent time in Australia (Perth, Western Oz) after cycling across North America. He crossed the barren Nullabor Plain by bicycle from Sydney to Perth as part of his Endurance ’07 project.

Mike has spent the summer on B.C.’s Bowen Island, which he avers is a paradise. He’s taken a lot of photos that tend to back up his claim. He is actually quite an accomplished photographer.

He took up photography a few years ago as a hobby and discovered he had a “natural eye” when it came to composing photographs.

Some of the pictures tasken on Bowen Island (and elsewhere in his travels) have caught the attention of some Gallery owners. He has a photographic exhibition of his work scheduled for Munich next year,

Right now, the hostel is going through an “Irish Invasion”. Which is to say there are a lot of Irish backpackers gracing our Toronto hostels doors – a lot more than usual!

Even “Belfast Mike” has reserved a bed on Friday for his third or fourth visit to the hostel. He’s the long distance bike rider who once pedaled to the hostel’s door all the way from Vancouver. (But more about him later in a seperate entry!)

As I was saying, the hostel is full of young backpackers with strong Irish brogue accents!  A possible explanation for the large number of Irish might be attributed to the current economic climate in Eire. (Actually in Europe too and the world in general!)

Dominic and Martin are two young Irish Tradesmen (both qualified plumbers) and both left solid jobs in search of adventure. In their case, their leaving home is merely a function of being young, single, footloose and free.

They plan to head west after sitting mandatory examinations to obtain licences to ply their trade commercially in Canada. Meanwhile, we have engaged their skills to effect minor repairs and servicing to our washrooms, toilets and showers.

The two young backpackers plan to travel across Canada in the New Year and find work in the oilfields of Northern Alberta or the mines of the Northwest Territories. With their skills and willingness to work in the north country under severe winter conditions should make finding high paying positions pretty easy.

They plan to save enough money after their year working in Canada’s harsh north country to travel to South America for six months and perhaps head for Australia or New Zealand for another year!

We can attest to the fact that their skills have come in handy for us!

Dominic on the far left and Martin on the far right dressed as Irish Pikies at Halloween

Dominic, AJ, and Martin

Canada has a reputation for being a multi-cultural and tolerant place. That might be because literally everybody is an immigrant!

Even “indiginous Native Canadians” came from Asia on a land bridge that used to join Asia with the western hemisphere, albeit about 40 thousand years ago.

So we are a collection of people from everywhere. We have become a pretty desireable place to live in spite of our extremes in weather.

Dalbir (from Leicester in the U.K.) has visited our hostel about eight or nine times. He has flown “across the pond” from England so many times that we have lost track of exactly how many times he has stayed with us!

Dalbir is now one of our newest immigrants. He was born in the United Kingdom of Sikh heritage and holds degrees in Pharmacy and Medicine.

Our young, huge and underpopulated nation needs skilled immigrants. If you are a qualified Physician from a developed nation, your status as a “landed immigrant” is virtually assured.

Although he has a large extended family in the U.K. moving here will not really isolate him. As he has already shown by his many visits to our Toronto hostel, it is an easy trip.

We were very happy to be the first to welcome “Doc Dalbir”  to his newly adopted home.

This is easily the craziest time of year for hostels in Toronto.

Halloween is an ancient pagan festival of Celtic origin that celebrates such pleasant things like death, ghosts and demons and such.

It is held on the 31st of October and usually coincides with a full harvest moon; hence, the LUNACY!

It has become a largely innocuous occasion here in Canada (and elsewhere) where the tradition sees children dress in costumes and go door-to-door ‘trick or treating”. At each household they visit, they are given candies.

But it is also the time of year in hostels where the “adults” become uncontrollable. Especially backpackers. More often than not. backpackers are far from home and in “party mode” as it is and Halloween has become an excuse for a massive “dress-up” party.

As we are right in the middle of Toronto’s Entertainment District, the evening is noisy and wild. It is the one time of year that we have extra staff members on duty at night.

We even have a doorman to make sure that the costumed revellers belong at the hostel. We take the security of our guests seriously.

The following pics show some of the guests in costumes. Bear in mind that this is a normally rational bunch of travelers!