Canadiana Backpackers Blog

It happens so often at our hostel in Toronto that we’ve actually lost count!

As closely as we can figure, there have been “More than ten and less than fifteen” “CONNECTIONS” made right here at our Toronto Hostel!

By connections, we don’t mean couples who merely meet here, hit it off and have strong and abiding frienships!

We are refering to the no fewer than ten and no more than fifteen couples have “gone the whole route” and eventually married!

Noriko (from Japan) and Albain (from France) met right here at our hostel in Toronto.  It must have been about four years ago (2006).

They have been an item ever since. Albain even moved to Japan for a year or two where he taught English – just to be close to Noriko.

Well, Noriko and Albain got married in France this past summer. And although we can’t quite remember how many marriages that began in our hostel than makes, we all wish them the very best!

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Monday’s, are usually made up with long, quiet evenings no matter where you are. People have just settled in to the beginning of a new work week.

But not with backpackers at our Toronto hostel.

Monday nights, we hold one of the hostel’s most popular events. It is Karaoke night at our local pub The Fox and Fiddle. Sometimes refered to affectionately as The Pox and Piddle. The pub only one block from our door.

The “event” is well attended with about 30 to 40 of the hostel’s guests attending.

There are all kinds of singers from the talented to the seriously delusional. (Most of the hostel guests fall into the former category!)

The pic below shows A.J. (from Ireland) at the Fox and the picture should give you a pretty good idea of why so many of our male guests find the event so appealing!

SEVEN BEAUTIES and ONE A.J. (Karaoke is fun!)

Christine, Sophie and Pauline.

Mia joined the staff of the Canadiana towards the end of 2009. Like most of our staff members, she is fluent in a second language. (She speaks French fluently.)

Mia is a graduate of Rosedale Heights School of the Arts and York University’s Theatre Program. Mia is a Thespian. To attend either of these institutions requires you to audition. In other words, you must have talent.

We have to get her picture up on our wall before the world of stage and screen discovers what we already know. After all, a lot of famous people once had jobs a waiters and sales clerks.

As mentioned, we know she has talent; however, her eclectic tastes in music and television causes us to pause and reconsider. She obsessively watches Barbara Walters et al on the daily “hen show” The View.

That’s the show that makes most of us want to smash our screens when the blond bimbo spouts the republican agenda or praises George W. Bush.

Like so many gifted people, Mia can be rather eccentric (to put it mildly). As a young girl, she was so obsessed with the pop group “The Hansons” she cut her hair to look like them!

She is also a huge Oscar Wilde Fan. Perhaps it is because like the famous playwright, author, poet, she “…has nothing to declare but her genius.”

Nonetheless, you would do well to remember the name Mia Travers-Hayward. When next you see it, it will be up in lights!

Recently (very recently) we made a blog entry on the literal flood of Irish visitors to our Toronto hostel.

In the entry of 27 november (“Another Iris Migration”) we expressed surprise that there were more than 20 Irish nationals staying with us.

Backpackers are a rather diverse group and it was unusual to have so many travelers from one plance at one time!

Well things have become even more surprising of late. At last count there are (at least) 54 guests from the Emerald Isles in residence at the moment!

That is fully 25% of our hostel’s capacity!

In fact, none of us can remember when so many of our backpacker guests were of a single ethnic group. The “Irish Migration” has become an “Irish Invasion”!

Ireland has been hit pretty hard by the current worldwide economic crisis. There is a huge number of Irish in residence at the moment and none of us will be surprised if we get a lot more in thre near furure.

A Meerkat is a small creature from South Africa that looks and acts like a Canadian Prairie Dog but is longer and thinner.

The real things they have in common are they are both very gentle, alert and move very quickly.

Wouter (Walter) is a South African born Canadian. It’s a bit of a long story but he has citizenship by dint of his mother being born in Canada.

Walter has worked at the hostel since moving here a year and a half ago.

He’s a pretty popular staff member because like his namesake (other staff members have taken to calling him “Meerkat”) he is gentle, friendly, very hard working and tall and thin, traits much like an actual Meerkat.

His easygoing nature has made it easy for him to fit into life in Canada and he is well liked by everyone he meets.

Wouter (a.k.a. ‘Meerkat) in the Boland, South Africa.

Aisling Riordan is a former television reporter for the Irish Network RTE.

She was part of the first-wave of Irish visitors to the hostel of late 2009 and early 2010. This massive influx of working/holiday travelers from Erie was occasioned by the World Wide Economic downturn.

Young professionals and tradesmen alike have decided to put careers on hold and see the world. There are currently 54 irish Nationals in residence at our hostel in Toronto. That’s about a quarter of our capacity!

Aisling has an identical twin sister who has just spent a year working and traveling Australia. She figured it was her turn to set off on an extended adventure and she chose to come here to Canada.

She had planned to put her journalism career on hold for at least a year. But Aisling is still involved with journalism and continues to file reports for RTE Radio. In Toronto.

She is Marketing/Program Coordinator with “Diaspora Dialogues” which is an organization that assists immigrants integrate. They also mentor writers, poets and playwrights.

She likes it here: “I love Toronto and Canada. I’ve met lots of great people and I love the cold! I’ve just returned from Thailand and it was too hot! I thought I would die! I was so happy to feel the cold.”

(Check out this veteran reporter’s showreel on youtube.com)

This Blog entry is actually about initiative.

As anyone who has been to our backpacker’s hostel in Toronto knows, the walls in our common areas are covered with framed photos of  “notable guests” accompanied by a brief biography.

It has become a pretty popular tradition  here at the hostel. But it often begs the question: “How does one get on our wall-of-fame?”

It’s a pretty good question because, if you think about it, virtually every traveler we host will have a rather exotic background and interesting story to tell.

The method Keith from Ireland employed was really quite creative! He organized a petition to have him put up on the hostel’s wall! And he got a lot if people to sign it!

The petition simply stated: “Keith Connolly should be on the wall!” Not very subtle but clear and to the point.

We knew that the “fix was in” because when Keith was looking foir guests to sign, there were no fewer than 50 of his countrymen staying at the hostel.  They were all inveigled into signing  as were a lot of other guests.

The bottom line is, we have decided (been coerced) to accede to his wish. We really didn’t want to incur the wrath of half of the hostel’s guests!

So, you win Keith. W’ell get right on it!

(Check out our Blog in a few weeks. You’ll find Keith’s Machiavellian face there in the “Notable Guests” section!)

Chuck Soul is a young English lad who is working here at the hostel.  He’s our Night Man here and the strange thing is that he only about four or five years old!

Let me explain.  When Chuck was still a teenager, he decided to re-invent himself.  Towards that end, he adopted the surname “SOUL”.

If that sounds a bit strange, it is perhaps because it is strange. I mean, fifteen is an age when most boys are thinking about sex, motorcycles and beer.

But Chuck Clarke was determined to be known as Chuck Soul. When he reached the age of majority(18), he attended Court (with 35 pounds cash) and applied for a legal name change.

And Chuck Soul was born at the age of eighteen!

Now it is understandable to want a name change if a family member were a registered sex offender; convicted mass murderer; or war criminal etc., but Chuck comes from an upstanding middle-class “salt-of-the-earth” family.

Well O.K.  Mr. Soul, we’ve had stranger stories here at the Canadiana Hostel. (But not in a while!)

Jeff is a young American soldier from Tennessee who was on his way back to join his Unit in Baumholder, Germany.

He was due to change aircraft in Toronto before heading to Europe. However, a United Airlines employee was unsure if his military I.D. was sufficient to allow him to travel. So she took his I.D. away to check with her superiors.

She didn’t come back! So young Jeff (he’s 20) was stuck in Canada and couldn’t even get into most bars around the hostel due to lack of I.D.

The resourseful young Iraq combat veteran, went to the Liquor Store to buy beer (a lot of beer!) And he was asked for his I.D.! Then he remembered that he did have I.D. of a sort.  He showed his army “Dog Tags” and they were accepted! (He’s an E5 rating – a Sergeant and NO mere 18 year-old would be a Sergeant.)

He is arranging for replacement I.D. through the U.S. Consulate which is only about four blocks from our hostel.  And he’s hoping that it doesn’t come through until after this weekend when he turns 21! He meeting a lot of people and looking forward to partying!

Then it will be back to the old grind. Jeff plans to make a career out of the army. He’ll do his 20 years and retire! But first he’ll have to replace his identification documents.

HOO AHH! Jeff.

At the end of June last year we met three young American students/tourists who had driven all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a visit to Toronto. (See June 20, 2009 entry:”But it’s only 19 in Toronto!”)

As you can guess from the title of the last entry, they made the trip here to take advantage of the lower drinking age in Canada! (They aver that they came here for the multicultural experience of Toronto!)  That is arrant B.S.!

On their last visit we dubbed these three fun-loving, young American students “The Yankee Miscreants”. (They loved the title!)

John, Ryan and Khongchee did Milwuakee proud with their consumption of the beverage that made their hometown famous!  They were actually a lot of fun and a pleasure to host!

Yesterday, in the dead of our Canadian winter we heard some loud (very loud) voices booming out of our common area! Our first thought was: “Another group of young American students!” Then I saw Ryan.

Apparently John and Ryan came back with two friends (but minus Khongchee). I didn’t see John until much later as it was only about 8PM and John was already “resting in bed from his beer break”!

They are only here for two days then they are leaving for Montreal to see how much havoc they can cause in Quebec!  The lads have brought two replacements for Khongchee; Dan and Big “D”.

Dan is a Milwaukee Police Officer;  Big “D” a Firefighter; Ryan is a Para Medic; and John is an academic – all responsible members of society. Yet we are busy obtaining their U.S. contact details in case they are in need of anything from home- like bail money!

But they have met some of our gorgeous Irish girls who are presently staying here so we haven’t managed to speak to them about their plans. (It is likely our responsibility to warn the young Irish Coleens!)  So, be careful ladies!