Tag: Toronto

This is the third (and last) in my three part Toronto series. You can read about the Distillery Segway/food tour here, and a Toronto photo essay here.

I went to Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference, and flew Porter Airlines for the first time. While most flights go into the Pearson airport, my Porter flight arrived at the downtown Billy Bishop Airport, which is  two minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto. You can actually see the CN Tower (which looks like Seattle’s Space Needle) and downtown from the airline exit ramp. And if your staying downtown, even better. They run a free shuttle every 20 minutes dropping you off very close to the MTCC, Toronto’s convention center. My hotel was 1.5 blocks from there, making it a cheap way to get to/from the airport.

On board, the flight attendants are dressed in really cute designer outfits with retro pill box hats. I couldn’t find a royalty-free photo to use, but you can see the Porter uniforms here. Even on short flights, they serve complementary mini meals, including free wine and beer in actual glass.

If flying out of Billy Bishop Airport, get there early to enjoy the nicest waiting areas I’ve seen Continue reading “Review: Flying Porter Airlines”

As you saw from my Toronto photo tour yesterday, I was recently in Toronto for the TBEX travel blogger conference. I visited Toronto’s Distillery District with a tasting tour and Segway ride. Next time the Segway people might want to have us ride the Segway BEFORE the beer tasting, but there were no accidents so we’re all good. Thank you to See Toronto Now and the Segway Ontario’s Distillery shop for hosting the great tour.

The Distillery used to produce 250 million gallons of whiskey a year, and has a colorful history starting in 1831, including the company’s co-founder (James Worts) throwing himself into a well after his wife dies in childbirth. His milling partner William Gooderham recruits Worts’ 13 year old son to help him convert the mill into a whiskey distillery. A distillery that produced lots of whiskey for the Americans during the prohibition.

Though the area is now paved as far as the eye can see, it used to be on the water. Garbage thrown into the water was eventually paved over into landfill (kind of like in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, though they didn’t use garbage), and the coastline is now much further away. Continue reading “Toronto: Distellery District Segway Food Tour”