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Hello everybody!
Although this is my first post on TL.net, I want to let you know that I’m keeping an eye on this site and it’s forum for long time. I only have made some posts over at gg.net (some may know).
Ok, here’s what this thread is about:
From April till the end of September Im gonna visit Canada to participate in a “work and travel” program (and hoping to find some outdoor-jobs, that would be great). My plan is to start my trip in Vancouver and ending it in Toronto. Stops will/could be Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal and Ottawa (just ideas, nothing concrete yet).
Cause here are many Canadians, I thought it could be useful to ask for advice 
So, please let me know if you can recommend any cool places (“must-sees”) or if you are aware of interesting job opportunities in your city =)
Thx in advance !
P.S.: Would be awesome to meet some of you at an OSL/MSL-Party/Beer/whatever =)
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Calgary25980 Posts
Calgary/Edmonton is terrible! I recommend you don't come here unless it's in the summer, in which case I recommend you grab a $20 raft and float down the Elbow river with a beer or six. Glorious times!
Nightlife in Calgary is pretty good. The bars/pubs are pretty relaxed and the clubs are typically really fun. People are friendlier here than any other "major" city in Canada, which is nice. Calgary people are typically more blue collar than the rest of Canadians. Not sure what else you want to know...
Let me know when you're in Calgary.
I think Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are the big three cities you need to visit. I think Ottawa is better in winter because of the Ridea Canal you can skate on, but that's probably going to end... basically now >_<
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Theres the West Edmonton Mall that you might want to hit up. It is (or used to be) the largest mall in North America.
Try to get up into the mountains while you are out west, for something or other. Mountain skiiing or hot spring swimming would be good ideas.
Ottawa and Quebec City have a lot of cool historical tourist attraction stuff that you can take pictures of, but there's more activity and action in Montreal and Toronto, so pick what cities you visit depending on what you want to experience.
And you can visit me here at Niagara Falls!
I don't know if you want to go all the way out east, but the Maritimes have some nice attractions, too.
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Canada7170 Posts
Apart from WEM, there's nothing to do in Edmonton. But you can meet a few of us crazies if you decide to come to Edmonton. Gimme a shout if you drop by!
And go meet Chill if you get the opportunity 
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Kennigit
Canada19447 Posts
Here is my experience with Canadian Cities,especially for tourists.
Toronto - fucking trash. Avoid it. Maybe go to CN Tower but thats about it.
Edmonton - Go for like 1 day to see West Edmonton Mall. Then see the gang tags sprayed on all the walls and gtfo.
Montreal - Best Canadian City - Especially in the summer. Seriously it's such a great place...it's like the ethnic diversity of Toronto without everyone being a douche. There are festivals constantly, and franco girls are way hotter than average canadian girl.
Ottawa - Decent, not as good as Montreal, but way nicer than Toronto. Parliament is pretty cool but if you've seen big old buildings in Europe, it's nothing to write home about. People are much nicer than Toronto lol...if i haven't pushed the point enough, avoid Toronto .
Halifax - Pretty sweet. Go eat lobster.
Don't know about Victoria/Vancouver except that EVERYONE from those cities thinks that BC is superior to every other province. It probably is - pretty expensive though.
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There's absolutely nothing to do in ottawa.
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Spring-Summer eh
British Colombia
Vancouver
- could visit anytime during your stay as weather is really nice all summer/spring
- stanley park has some huge trees and nice flowers
- chinatown: second largest or second most populous (or something like that) after SanFran
- Weather is pretty mild there due to proximity to the ocean
- richmond is filled with asians
- downtown is fairly interesting during the summer
North of Vancouver
- some nice beaches, heard there was a nude one somewhere, obviously go during summer
Victoria
- take the ferry from Vancouver to here
- i hear the ice cream is pretty nice here; summer is a good time to visit
South-central/Eastern BC
- Salmon Arm lake and other beautiful lakes, as well as some awesome mountain scenery
- you could go houseboating or camping or hiking in several locations in this area; houseboating is especially recommended if you find enough people to go with you
- waterton national park is located in southeastern BC; it's basically the canadian-owned part of the US Glacier national park; don't confuse this with the tiny canadian glacier national park which is a bit further up north and kinda sucks
Alberta
-it'd be better if you're visiting in June-July
Banff-ish Area
- banff itself has alot of good tourism-based shops, awesome ice cream and candy stores are here
- hot springs obvious, you could go to the upper hot springs (i think thats what it's called) or radium hot springs (which imo is way better, but is further from banff in the westward direction)
- banff national park, jasper national park, awesome scenery in this area
- Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel - cool castle/hotel with some history; not a place for poor people to stay
-again alot alot alot of camping/hiking/sightseeing opportunities; beautiful scenery, and every breath of air you take will be like drinking sweet nectar
Calgary
- if you get there in jearly/mid july you could go to the calgary stampede; the amusement park type rides all kind of suck, but the shows/events/some food are pretty decent, plus there are plenty of hot babes walking around in cowgirl attire and they will be getting drunk for all 10 days
- walk around downtown for a bit, not much to see, they have an interesting +15 walkway system going on but it's really novel
- clubs and bars are pretty nice here as somebody said above; during stampede things can get a little crazy
Edmonton
-west edmonton mall, really big with an amusement park and water park and shit, might be able to spend a day or two there depending on your interests
-not that much scenery to see
Northern Alberta
-oilfields, if you were looking for an outdoor job or something along those lines, working in the oilfields will get you lots of cash, but you also might get cancer or you might die or something
wow i typed alot more than i thought o.o
i should've been working as well =p
maybe i'll talk about eastern canada later
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Every Canadian/Tourist has their own opinion about the cities. You won't be able to tell what you like until you get there yourself.
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+1 for Alberta sucking. I really have very little experience with Eastern Canada, but personally I would have to say that Victoria Island is your best bet. Go to Vancouver for a bit, then ferry over to Victoria Island, it's a really nice place. Really the only attraction in Calgary is the Stampede, if you like amusment rides, horses, beer and mini-donuts. In all honesty Calgary and Edmonton are pretty damn ugly. As someone said Banff, a long with a whole bunch of other mountains, is really nice, go for a hike or something. Deffinetly go for the "true Albertan experience" and work on the rigs, get hooked on drugs, and live in a shitty work camp if you are looking for a job. GL HF!
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Calgary25980 Posts
Please give more details of what you like and people can give you better advice. I know (from experience) when you go to a new place you just want to be like "I want to do what's fun" but do you want to mostly:
- Meet people
- Experience "real" Canadian culture
- See Canadian sights and history
- Experience night life and drink
- Eat food
- Shop
- Door outdoor activities
Which one of those is your priority?
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On February 10 2010 05:42 Kennigit wrote:Here is my experience with Canadian Cities,especially for tourists. Toronto - fucking trash. Avoid it. Maybe go to CN Tower but thats about it. Edmonton - Go for like 1 day to see West Edmonton Mall. Then see the gang tags sprayed on all the walls and gtfo. Montreal - Best Canadian City - Especially in the summer. Seriously it's such a great place...it's like the ethnic diversity of Toronto without everyone being a douche. There are festivals constantly, and franco girls are way hotter than average canadian girl. Ottawa - Decent, not as good as Montreal, but way nicer than Toronto. Parliament is pretty cool but if you've seen big old buildings in Europe, it's nothing to write home about. People are much nicer than Toronto lol...if i haven't pushed the point enough, avoid Toronto . Halifax - Pretty sweet. Go eat lobster. Don't know about Victoria/Vancouver except that EVERYONE from those cities thinks that BC is superior to every other province. It probably is - pretty expensive though.
I think it's misleading to characterize all Torontonians as douches. Relative to other countries, no one in Canada is a douche. I think other Canadians get that impression of Toronto because we're just not as nice as they'd like us to be.
OP: If you haven't figured it out already, most everyone in Canada outside of Toronto hates Toronto. They even make a movie about it. It's called, Let's All Hate Toronto.
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On February 10 2010 05:42 Kennigit wrote:Here is my experience with Canadian Cities,especially for tourists. Toronto - fucking trash. Avoid it. Maybe go to CN Tower but thats about it. Edmonton - Go for like 1 day to see West Edmonton Mall. Then see the gang tags sprayed on all the walls and gtfo. Montreal - Best Canadian City - Especially in the summer. Seriously it's such a great place...it's like the ethnic diversity of Toronto without everyone being a douche. There are festivals constantly, and franco girls are way hotter than average canadian girl. Ottawa - Decent, not as good as Montreal, but way nicer than Toronto. Parliament is pretty cool but if you've seen big old buildings in Europe, it's nothing to write home about. People are much nicer than Toronto lol...if i haven't pushed the point enough, avoid Toronto . Halifax - Pretty sweet. Go eat lobster. Don't know about Victoria/Vancouver except that EVERYONE from those cities thinks that BC is superior to every other province. It probably is - pretty expensive though.
Ontario > BC hands down. Living here for close to 2 years and I love/hate BC. Ontario was pure love baby
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Montreal - love
Kingston - blech
Ottawa - better than blech
Vancouver - love
Anywhere else - pretty blech with some exceptions
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Yeah as some people were saying, Victoria is good for a day trip from Vancouver but apart from that its pretty meh, there isn't a whole lot to do. I guess you could do some whale watching or something.. But really all we have here is a bunch of old people.
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Wow, thanks for all your posts. Very kind of you =)
Meeting some of you... - I’ll take you up on that sometime! :D
Sure, people will always post their personal opinions and experiences. But that’s what I want to hear; getting inspired. It could always happen that I will experience the best time of my life at a place you consider the worst. You never can tell.
It’s just interesting to hear your opinion about your own country. None the less, I have to draw my own conclusion...
For what I like and what I want to do mostly:
Personally, I do not need all the tourist-stuff like shopping and the typical sight-seeing tours. My intention is to visit beautiful places (nature, cities) and meeting nice people. Doesnt really matter how many tourists are there (although less would be nicer; some “insider-places” maybe).
Moreover, it would be awesome if I could get a little bit of an insight into the canadian culture. That means that I’d like to see the big cities and also some little towns.
But yes Chill, you are right, it’s hard to tell what I really want to do 8/.
Haha, the toronto-hatred is pretty fun....:D Scapegoats!
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My cousin lives in vancouver and it's soooooo nice. It's like Twilight only greener and more full of life.
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Well, you'll enjoy Kitchener. From what I've heard (since I can't compare), it has the best Oktoberfest celebration outside of Germany. Of course, you're not going to be there at that point in time.....
Other than that, I've got nothing new to add. But I will add that Toronto is somewhere you should stay the hell away from. There's nothing there that is any better than you can find somewhere else, it's a dumb place to spend any time, and it's over-congested.
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On February 10 2010 08:48 lMPERVlOUS wrote:
Well, you'll enjoy Kitchener. From what I've heard (since I can't compare), it has the best Oktoberfest celebration outside of Germany. Of course, you're not going to be there at that point in time.....
Other than that, I've got nothing new to add. But I will add that Toronto is somewhere you should stay the hell away from. There's nothing there that is any better than you can find somewhere else, it's a dumb place to spend any time, and it's over-congested.
OP: If you haven't figured it out already, most everyone in Canada outside of Toronto hates Toronto. They even make a movie about it. It's called, Let's All Hate Toronto
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EPT
