Remember four months ago, when I had never ridden a plane? That’s definitely not the case anymore. I’m about to go on my 10th plane ride tomorrow! I’m both excited and wary because I have to wake up at 3 AM tomorrow to get ready and go to the airport. That’ll be fun.
So….where exactly are you going Triasha?
Here’s the background information. My childhood best friend and I hadn’t seen each other in ten years before December. Her name is Deya and she moved to Bangladesh when we were ten. We’ve kept in touch all these years and I was super excited to see her on my trip to Bangladesh.
But, alas, she had just finished her A-levels and her aunt had gifted her a trip to Canada…for the same month I was going to be in Bangladesh. After all these years, we were just going to pass each other by and switch continents.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that didn’t happen. Deya’s trip was postponed and she didn’t tell me, making it a very surprising reunion. I had arrived two days before she had to leave, so the timing was perfect.
My parents also didn’t know she had postponed her trip and were sad that I wasn’t going to see her. There was a week between the start of my winter break and my departure, so My dad half-joked/half-suggested that I go to Toronto for a few days to see her. I liked the idea, but I brushed it off because I had to prepare for my month in Bangladesh.
It all worked out in the end. She slept over my first night in Dhaka and I went to her house on the day of her flight to Canada, so we had a good amount of time together.
Fast forward two months later…
It was February 13th. I was walking to my Biopsychology class (in freezing weather) and remembered that Deya was going back to Dhaka that month, so I hit her up on What’s App to see how she was doing. She was supposed to come to Atlanta during MLK weekend, but her flight got canceled because of a snowstorm (She was trapped at the airport for 24 hours, but that’s another story) and I hadn’t spoken to her in a few weeks.
She responded in the middle of my class. When there was time in between assignments, I checked my phone. She said that she was having so much fun and decided to extend her trip to March 19th.
“Hmm,” I replied, “I think my spring break falls on the week before. Let me check.”
So that’s what I did. My Spring Break fell right before she had to leave. The perfect window for me to go to Canada.
“But flight prices that week may be high,” I thought, so I quickly checked Skyscanner and saw that the prices that week were reasonable.
I told her about what I found and that I’d call her after class because my professor had started his lecture again.
You can’t go to Canada! It’s a really fun idea, but it’s not the smart thing to do. – My thoughts during my Biopsych class
After class, I gave her a call and we talked for a few minutes before I had to go underground to get on the subway, so we made plans to talk again later that night.
That night, at around ten, we called each other and talked for three straight hours. That’s our personal record (We know this because when we were little, we would talk on the landline and try to beat our previous phone record.) We talked about anything and everything. We would’ve kept talking if I didn’t have school the next day.
Near the end of it, I said, “Talking to you like this REALLY makes me want to visit you in Toronto.” and she kept telling me that I should.
Here’s the other part of the story
My cousin and her family live in Toronto.
This is kind of the fact that made the trip tie together. The last time I saw her was the summer before I started college (shortly after I started this blog, in fact.)
Right before she left, she told my mom to send me to Toronto to stay with her and told me to just come anytime. She said that I would be in college and wouldn’t need to come with my family. I could just go alone.
The next morning, on Valentine’s day, my first thought was, “I’m gonna go.”
After that, I told my parents. They were okay with it because what else was I going to do on Spring Break. My brothers’ falls on a different week, so wer weren’t going to go on a family trip anyway.
I called my cousin and the timing for my trip couldn’t have been more perfect! She has work off this week and my nephew doesn’t have school this week either, so they can come sightseeing with me.
This many things coming together has to be a sign, right?
Within a week, I had bought the plane ticket and set everything up.
That’s pretty much the story. I went to a party on Valentines day and whenever someone asked me, “How’s life?” I would respond, “Yesterday, I thought, ‘Maybe I should go to Canada,’ and this morning I decided I’m going to do it.” I mean, how many years do I have left where I can just decide that on a whim. I may as well just do it.
Here’s the plan:
I get to Toronto early tomorrow morning. My cousin is picking me up from the airport and we’ll spend the first half of the day together. In the afternoon, I’m going to take the train to Deya’s aunt’s house and sleep over there. Her aunt lives an hour outside of Toronto, so I’m sleeping over on my first night. After hanging out with her family, we’re taking the train back to Toronto together. She’s staying with my cousin, who knows Deya already because she lived in Atlanta the first few years of my life, too. My cousin, nephew, Deya, and I are going to spend the next three days traveling around Toronto. (My cousin’s husband is on a business trip, so I unfortunately won’t be able to see him).
Deya is leaving on Friday, but I’m leaving Saturday night, so I’ll spend my last day with my family. This is going to be such a fun trip!
Tomorrow morning, I will be getting my second passport stamp. Do Americans get passport stamps for Canada? If not, I’ll still be traveling to a new country! The site I’m most excited to see is Niagra Falls.
I’m not fully packed yet and I still have to schedule this week’s blog posts so that I won’t have to worry about them while I’m gone. I’m not even done posting my Bangladesh trip content yet and now I’m adding another trip to write about. I’ve traveled more in the last four months than I had in the previous year. How did I get so lucky?
Anyway, I’ll post a full recap and my trip budget at some point in the next month or so, so stay tuned.
Where are you going for Spring Break? Have you ever gone to Toronto before? Do You have any recommendations?