Canadiana Backpackers Blog

Pizza is likely the most common Backpacker food (along with intant noodles, fast food burgers and fries.)

Within two blocks of our hostel’s doors there are, at least, eight pizzarias.  This is true six days a week; but on Sunday’s there are, at least, nine places to buy pizza.

You can purchase pizza by the slice with assorted meats, cheeses or vegitarian options. The average price per slice is $3.50 to $4.50.

The extra Pizza Purveyor is right at our Hostel!

A local artist/chef Richard prepares pizza (meat and vegitarian options) and sells them for a $3.50 a slice.

In a word, they are superb! On Sunday morning he purchases fresh ingrediants from the market and prepares his pizza’s in our kitchens.

If you are hungry, check out his home-made pizza. They are quite a step up from the standard “fast food” pizzaria chain offerings.

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“VAGABOND” is a word that can mean a lot of different things depending on context.

Traditionally, it describes an indigent hobo. It can describe a unconventional bohemian lifestyle. Or the name once appropriated by a particularly nasty motor cycle gang.  But to Rolf Potts, it has meant a career.

Potts penned a book called “Vagabonding”  – a term which he  describes as simply ‘Long term travel”. But if you read his book or watch his speeches, you will see that it is much more than that.

It describes a lifestyle of those who never tire of learning and experiencing. A life reserved for the type of personality who hungers for knowlege and always wonders what is on the far side of the hill.

Working in a hostel, we see all types of travelers. We get travelers who miss “home” very badly and long for the safe haven of the familiar. In short, the kind of person who should never have left home.

We also see those who are true “VAGABONDS” choosing an unencumbered life free-on-the-earth!

There is a link provided to Rolf Pott’s blog on the home page of our blog. But you can start by looking at one of his recent speeches posted on  the Tim Ferriss blog appended below. Rolf Potts just might be one of the most truly free people you can possibly to meet.

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The Link

Can we still refer to our good neighbours to the south as “Yanks” even though they hail from south of the Mason-Dixon Line?

I mean, Washington D.C. itself is south of that 18th century boundary line.  We get a lot of Americans visiting at this time of year with schools on “March Break”.

Anyhow, the Mason-Dixon Line today merely represents a cultural demarcation between the Northern and Southern U.S.  But we think the cultural boundry is the Canada/U.S. border! So “Yanks” they are! And “Canucks” we be!

With the Olympics just finshed in Vancouver, this is a great time for Americans to visit. We can (and do) take the opportunity to remind them of how happy we are that both their Men’s and Women’s Hockey Teams are silver medalists!  (We needn’t remind them about who won the GOLD!)

We’ve got a group of young students from North Carolina who made the drive to Toronto via Philidelphia and Washington D.C. They remarked on how “clean” our city is.

Well sure, But it is faint praise if you are comparing Toronto to Philidelphia or D.C.!

We are pretty sure we will be getting more American students visiting during March break. After all, the age-of-majority (read: legal beer drinking age) in Ontario isonly  nineteen! It is twenty-one everywhere in the U.S.A.

So welcome! And cheers!

This is the time of year when we get a lot of University student groups visiting Toronto. It is “March Break” at a lot of colleges in the United States.

We had a group of Wheaton College Students arrive in their own mini-bus and we will have them here for a week.

Wheaton College is a four year, residential, non-denominational, Christian liberal arts college whose motto is, “Christo et Regno Ejus,” or “For Christ and His Kingdom.”

Wheaton also ranks consistently in the top 20% of Liberal Arts colleges in the United States (according to the Princton Review; U.S. News and World Report and The Fiske Guide to Colleges among other noted publications.)

The quality of school is reflected in the quality of the students who are visiting our Toronto Backpacker’s Inn. They are a well-mannered, well behaved, temperate and considerate group of young adults.

In short, there is no “March Break Madness” associated with this college. (And believe us when we tell you we have had experience with such things in the past).

The Wheaton Group has been a pleasure to host and they are proving to be excellent ambassadors for their college, their country and their faith.

Everybody who works at our Toronto Backpacker Inn is fluent in a second language. (The only exception are the Irish staff members who are still working on their English!)

Vinka is one of our newest staff members.  She is a University graduate with a degree in International Relations and Ibero-American Studies.

You don’t know what that is? Well, neither did we.

But it is simply Latin American Studies expanded to include the Iberian Penninsula (i.e. Spain and Portugal) and that inclusion makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

Vinka was born in Chile so Spanish is, in fact, her mother tongue. But she came to Canada with her family when she was very young. She was raised right here in the Great Frozen North.

So she’s 100% Canadian – almost!

The problem is Vinka prefers Soccer to Hockey in a country where the only thing more important than Hockey is…well, nothing.

To the majority of Canadians choosing soccer to Hockey is tantamount to treason. (Some people have been certified and institutionalized for less!)

Nonetheless, Vinka is a most valued member of the staff. Her presence now gives us three staff members who can communicate in Spanish.

Well, the Vancouver games of 2010 are finally over. It was the most successful Olympics for Canadian competitors ever! Canadians won more Gold Medals in these Olympic Games than any other country ever! Fourteen in all!

In spite of the lack of snow and unseasonable, spring-like  temperatures, the games have been quite a success. Even the American style paranoia of the Vancouver Olympic Committee didn’t destroy the Canadian spirit of the games.

But Pravda (the Russian News Service) has really slagged our efforts, our people and our country. They actually called us “murderers” and “cowards” among other unpleasant remarks!

Normally we Canadians would take strong exception to ridiculous and unfounded charges like that; but hey, it’s Russia!  So, whatever…

Have I pointed out than these have been the worst Winter Olympics as far as Russia is concerned? They placed a distant 11th with a measley three gold medals!

Talk about spoil sports! The Russians seem to put all of their National Pride into their athletic endeavors. (I mean, what the hell else have they done right lately?)

Anyhow as Canadians, we tend not to like the nationalism and false sense of  personal accomplishment associated with our athletes victories in Olympic sports. Let’s face it we actually didn’t win anything! Some very dedicated athletes won medals!

That said, they did win the hockey GOLD MEDALS! Both the men’s and women’s events were won by defeating the Americans!

As I said, Canadians try to rise above petty nationalism. Except when it comes to hockey. It is our game!

So, In your faces Yanks!

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Team Canada captain, Sidney “Sid the Kid” Crosby.

Women’s Hockey Team Canada captain, the legendary Hayley Wickenheiser.