My Canada Road Trip: Toronto, Niagara Falls and Three Days That Surprised Me
TL;DR: For The Impatient Travelers.
Canada was never one of my dream destinations. Unlike many countries that had lived somewhere in my imagination since childhood, I could barely connect Canada with any strong school-day memory. My first Canadian visa actually came in 2018 for a planned business visit while I was with Avigilon, but that journey kept getting postponed and eventually disappeared with COVID.
Seven years later, Canada finally happened almost accidentally. I was travelling from Dubai to Las Vegas in August 2025 and deliberately chose to route myself through Toronto. What followed was a short but memorable three-day Canada road trip through Ontario in a silver Ford Mustang convertible. Prince Edward County, Toronto nightlife, the Bruce Peninsula and finally Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.
Canada still didn’t make my personal list of top 25 countries, but three days is hardly enough to judge the second-largest country in the world. What stayed with me instead were the beautiful roads, the extraordinary multicultural character of Toronto and, above everything else, the Canadians themselves. In my experience, they were among the warmest and most naturally polite people, I had encountered anywhere.
And somewhere in a house in Scarborough, while listening to young immigrants talk about building their futures in Canada, another thought quietly entered my head.
Maybe one day Julius could study here.
That was something I had never expected from this journey.
The Lost Mumbaikar Says:
“I went to Canada because it was on the way. I left with a reason to return.”
Canada Was Never a Dream
Whenever I travel to a new country, I somehow find myself going backwards before I move forward.
I try to remember what that country meant to me when I was a child growing up in India. Sometimes there is a sportsman. Sometimes a war from a history textbook, a capital city memorised for an examination, a company name, a movie or simply a photograph that stayed somewhere in my head for decades.
Canada gave me almost nothing.
If somebody had asked the schoolboy version of me what I knew about Canada, my answer would probably have been embarrassingly short: a massive country above the United States, extremely cold, with a maple leaf on its flag.
Canada was never a dream destination for me. There was no childhood promise that one day I had to stand in Toronto or drive through Ontario. Perhaps that is also why, even after visiting, Canada did not immediately enter my personal top 25 countries.
But that statement can easily be misunderstood.
Canada is anything but ordinary. I simply spent far too little time there to develop the emotional connection I have with some other countries. Three days in Ontario cannot possibly represent a nation stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific and deep into the Arctic.
What those three days did achieve was something different.
They made me want to return.
The Canadian Visa That Waited Seven Years
My Canadian story actually began in 2018.
At that time, I was working with Avigilon, and there was a plan involving some key end users from Oman to visit Avigilon headquarters in Vancouver. The programme included a visit to Canada, and I completed the visa process expecting that Canada would soon become another stamp in my passport.
Then the programme changed.
The visit moved towards 2019. Other plans intervened. And before long, COVID arrived and travel itself came to a standstill.
Canada never happened.
For years, that visa became one of those strange travel memories, a permission to enter a country I never actually entered.
Then, in 2025, Las Vegas unexpectedly brought Canada back into the picture.
Sometimes the Best Route Is Not the Shortest Route
I had an opportunity to visit Las Vegas in August 2025.
For most people travelling from Dubai, the obvious question would be: what is the easiest or fastest way to reach Vegas?
My brain normally works differently.
I looked at the map and thought about what else I could add to the journey.
That was when Toronto appeared.
Instead of treating North America as one long flight followed by another connection, I could fly Dubai to Toronto, spend a few days exploring Ontario, and then continue from Toronto to Las Vegas.
Now that sounded like a journey, Canada finally had its chance.
There was, however, one minor issue at home.
August 20, August 21, August 22
We returned to Dubai on August 20, 2025, after spending around ten days travelling through Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
The following day, August 21, was my wedding anniversary with Sunitha.
And on August 22, I was flying to Canada.
The funniest part was that the complete Canada-and-Vegas plan was properly revealed only after I returned to Dubai.
I can imagine how it must have sounded from Sunitha’s side. Her husband had just returned from ten days travelling through the Balkans, the next day was their wedding anniversary, and somewhere in between all this he casually announced that another suitcase would soon be heading towards the airport.
Fortunately, after all these years, Sunitha understands that travel occupies a slightly irrational corner of my brain.
We celebrated our anniversary with the kids on August 21. There was family time, conversation and the usual feeling that I had only just returned home.
A few hours later, I was packing again.
There is something almost ridiculous about coming home from one journey and leaving for another before the suitcase has emotionally settled.
But there was also excitement, Canada had waited seven years.
On the morning of August 22, 2025, it was finally happening.
My First Canadian Experience Happened Somewhere Over the Atlantic
I boarded Air Canada from Dubai to Toronto, expecting nothing more than a long transatlantic flight.
Instead, my first impression of Canada began before I reached Canadian soil.
It was the people.
There was something unusually pleasant about the way the cabin crew communicated. It wasn’t exaggerated hospitality or the polished language you sometimes experience on premium airlines. They simply seemed naturally polite.
Requests were answered gently. Conversations didn’t feel rushed. There was warmth in the way people spoke.
I noticed it, appreciated it and forgot about it.
Then I landed in Canada and encountered the same behaviour again.
At the airport, at the rental counter, in restaurants, pubs and ordinary conversations, there seemed to be an almost effortless politeness.
Of course, three days cannot define an entire nation, and I am sure Canada has its share of impatient and unpleasant people like everywhere else.
I simply didn’t meet many of them.
By the end of the trip, Canadians had become one of my strongest memories of Canada.
Toronto Pearson at 6 AM and My Silver Beast Was Waiting
I landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport at around 6 AM.
After a long overnight flight, the sensible plan would have been to find my accommodation, take a shower and sleep for a few hours.
But I hadn’t come to Canada to sleep.
I walked towards the rental-car office where something considerably more interesting was waiting for me: a silver Ford Mustang convertible.
This was going to be my companion for my Canada road trip.
There are cars that take you from Point A to Point B, and there are cars that make you deliberately forget where Point B is. A Mustang convertible belongs to the second category.
I threw my luggage inside, started the engine and immediately felt that familiar excitement I always get at the beginning of a road trip in a new country. There was no tour guide waiting, no bus schedule and no fixed group itinerary.
Just a car, a road and three days. Toronto could wait and my first destination was Prince Edward County.
Prince Edward County: My First Canadian Road
My Canada road trip really began the moment I left Toronto Pearson and pointed the silver Ford Mustang convertible towards Prince Edward County. After the long flight from Dubai, the last thing I wanted was a hotel room. I wanted a road, and Ontario gave me exactly that. Toronto slowly disappeared in the mirrors, the landscape became greener and quieter, small towns came and went, farms stretched towards the horizon, and Lake Ontario occasionally appeared beside me. With the roof down, music playing and the summer wind coming into the car, what could have been a simple drive from Toronto to Prince Edward County became my real introduction to Canada.
After driving more than 100,000 kilometres across different parts of the world, I have learned that the road between two attractions can sometimes stay with you longer than the attractions themselves. This was one of those drives. There was no urgency, no tour guide and no timetable telling me when to stop or move. Just the Mustang, the open road and that wonderful freedom of discovering a new country through the windscreen rather than through a hotel window. Canada was slowly beginning to make sense to me.
And then Canada sent me a bill.
Somewhere during all this enthusiasm, I discovered Highway 407 ETR, Toronto’s famous toll road. Coming from Dubai, toll roads are hardly something that frighten me, so I drove through without giving it much thought. Later, once the toll and rental-related charges appeared, I remember the amount being somewhere around CAD 80. For a few seconds, I genuinely wondered whether I had paid to use Highway 407 or accidentally purchased a small share of it.
It was my first expensive lesson on an Ontario road trip, but I had two choices: spend the rest of the day calculating how much money I had unnecessarily lost, or lower the Mustang roof and keep driving towards Prince Edward County.
I chose the Mustang.
Toronto at Night Felt Strangely Familiar
By evening I was back in Toronto and met Tejas, the son of my friend Tom Joseph, who was living there. With only two nights to explore, we kept it simple. Toronto at night is best experienced around downtown. The illuminated CN Tower, Harbourfront, Nathan Phillips Square, Yonge-Dundas Square and the Entertainment District are among the must-do places in Toronto at night, before ending the evening at a local pub.
But what stayed with me wasn’t an attraction. It was the people. Toronto seemed to belong to everyone. South Asians, Chinese, Filipinos, Africans, Europeans, Caribbean and Middle Eastern communities all seemed naturally woven into the city. Coming from Dubai, that multicultural energy felt strangely familiar.
As an Indian traveller, it was particularly interesting to see how deeply the Indian and Chinese communities had become part of everyday Toronto, from restaurants and businesses to neighbourhoods and universities. Different languages, familiar food and faces from almost everywhere made the city feel truly international.
I expected to remember the CN Tower and Toronto nightlife. Instead, I remembered how comfortable the city made a foreigner feel.
Toronto felt foreign and familiar at the same time.
The Next Morning, Canada Became Beautiful
The following morning, Bruce Peninsula was our destination, and it was a long drive from where I was staying. Tejas arrived in his car, but there was one problem. My silver Mustang was sitting there, and naturally he wanted to drive it. I couldn’t blame him. He was almost Julius’s age, and somewhere along that long Ontario road trip, with Tejas taking his turn behind the wheel, the journey unexpectedly became nostalgic.
He started talking about Morak, where I had grown up, and telling me stories and connections that I had almost forgotten myself. Tejas was probably born around the time I was in college, so listening to someone from his generation bring back pieces of my own childhood was strange and beautiful. One moment we were talking about people and memories from a small town in Rajasthan; the next we were driving through forests thousands of kilometres away in Canada. Travel has a funny way of connecting completely unrelated chapters of your life.
And then the landscape took over. As we drove towards the Bruce Peninsula and Georgian Bay, urban Ontario disappeared into forests, small communities and rocky shorelines. Around Tobermory, The Grotto and Indian Head Cove, this part of Ontario is famous for limestone cliffs and remarkably clear blue water. Georgian Bay was so intensely blue in places that it looked almost tropical under the summer sun not the Canada of snow and frozen landscapes I had always imagined.
Soon even our old stories became quieter. We were simply submerged in the nature around us. The forests, cliffs, open water and those beautiful roads connecting everything.
That day, somewhere between old stories from Morak, Tejas enjoying the Mustang and the blue waters of Georgian Bay, I wasn’t particularly interested in reaching anywhere quickly.
The road itself had become Canada, while Tejas, almost Julius’s age, brought back stories of my Morak years that even I had forgotten. Two generations and decades of memories somehow meeting on the same Canadian road.
One Evening in Scarborough Changed the Story
After returning, we stopped at a local pub before I stayed at Tejas’s home in Scarborough. That evening I met some of his friends, young immigrants studying, working and preparing to make Canada their permanent home. Their conversations were about careers, residency and building a future here.
Somewhere between those conversations, I stopped thinking like a traveller and started thinking like a father.
Could Julius study in Canada one day?
As you grow older, travel changes. You no longer look at a country only through your own eyes; sometimes you quietly wonder whether your children could build a life there.
Years later, when we seriously began exploring universities for Julius, Prince Edward Island and UPEI entered our plans. Sitting in that Scarborough home, I couldn’t have known where that thought would lead.
Perhaps the seed had already been planted that night in Canada.
I Had Seen Niagara Before. Apparently, I Had Seen the Wrong Niagara.
My final day in Canada had one obvious destination: Niagara Falls. I had already visited a couple of times from the American side, but everyone kept telling me the same thing; the Canadian side of Niagara Falls was better. So I lowered the Mustang roof and began my final Toronto to Niagara Falls road trip, determined to settle the argument myself.
There was also a little sadness in that drive. After three days, the Mustang no longer felt like a rental car. The water bottles and receipts had taken over the passenger seat, I knew every control, and in a few hours I would have to return the keys. So there was no hurry. I enjoyed the road and let Niagara wait.
When I finally reached Niagara Falls Canada, I understood the argument. The view towards Horseshoe Falls was magnificent. The mist rising, the water endlessly disappearing over the edge and, above everything, that extraordinary roar.
I could have taken a boat or rushed through the usual Niagara Falls attractions. Instead, I got myself a beer, found a place to sit and did absolutely nothing. Seven years earlier, I had received a Canadian visa for a business trip that never happened. Canada had never been a childhood dream, and even this journey existed only because I wanted an interesting route to Las Vegas. Yet there I was, beer in hand, sitting beside one of the world’s great waterfalls.
For a while, emails, targets, flights and itineraries disappeared. I didn’t need another activity or photograph; I simply watched and listened. Sometimes travel gives you adventure, and sometimes it gives you perspective. Niagara somehow gave me both; silence in my mind surrounded by the thunder of water.
And after seeing Niagara from both countries, I finally had to admit it: for me, the Canadian side won.
The Lost Mumbaikar Reflections
By evening, I was back at Toronto Pearson Airport, returning the silver Mustang that had carried me through my three-day Ontario road trip. What began in Toronto had taken me through Prince Edward County, the Bruce Peninsula and finally Niagara Falls. Hundreds of kilometres that had turned a simple stopover into one of those unexpected travel memories.
Canada didn’t enter my top 25 countries, but three days exploring Ontario is hardly enough to judge a country this vast. I hadn’t seen the Canadian Rockies, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec or Atlantic Canada. What my short Canada road trip gave me was enough to want more: beautiful driving roads, the multicultural energy of Toronto, the turquoise waters of the Bruce Peninsula, the power of Niagara Falls and, above all, some of the kindest people I had encountered while travelling.
More unexpectedly, Canada made me think beyond travel. Sitting in Scarborough and listening to young people talk about studying, working and building their futures here, I found myself thinking about Julius and whether Canada might one day become part of his journey too. I had arrived as a traveller on my way to Las Vegas; for a moment, I was looking at Canada as a father.
Maybe that is why those three days stayed with me. Canada had never been a childhood dream, so there were no expectations. Just an Air Canada flight from Dubai, a Mustang, Ontario’s open roads, Toronto at night, Bruce Peninsula blues, old Morak memories with Tejas and a cold beer beside Niagara Falls.
Frequently Asked Questions About Canada Travel
1 Is Canada good for a road trip?
Yes. Canada offers excellent highways, vast landscapes, lakes, mountains and some of the world’s most scenic driving routes.
2 What are the best road trips from Toronto?
Niagara Falls, Prince Edward County and Bruce Peninsula are excellent road-trip destinations from Toronto.
3 How far is Niagara Falls from Toronto?
Niagara Falls is about 130 km from Toronto, usually around 1.5–2 hours by car depending on traffic.
4 Which side of Niagara Falls is better?
Both are worth visiting, but the Canadian side offers spectacular panoramic views of Horseshoe Falls.
5 What are the best things to do at Niagara Falls?
See Horseshoe Falls, walk the Niagara Parkway, take a boat trip or simply find a viewpoint and enjoy the roar of the falls.
6 Is Bruce Peninsula worth visiting?
Absolutely. Bruce Peninsula is famous for turquoise Georgian Bay water, limestone cliffs, forests, The Grotto and Tobermory.
7 How many days do you need for Bruce Peninsula?
Ideally two days, although it can be visited on a long day trip from Toronto.
8 Is Prince Edward County worth visiting?
Yes. It is a relaxing escape known for countryside, wineries, small towns, beaches and Lake Ontario scenery.
9 What can you do in Toronto at night?
Visit the CN Tower, Harbourfront, downtown Toronto and the Entertainment District, then enjoy the city’s restaurants, bars and pubs.
10 Is Toronto good for Indian tourists?
Yes. Toronto is highly multicultural with a large South Asian community, Indian restaurants and familiar food and cultural connections.
11 Is driving in Canada easy for tourists?
Generally, yes. Roads are excellent, but check parking rules, speed limits and toll roads such as Highway 407 ETR.
12 When is the best time to visit Ontario?
May to October is excellent for road trips, while autumn is particularly beautiful for fall colours.
13 Is three days enough for Toronto and Niagara Falls?
Yes for a short trip. For Toronto, Niagara Falls, Prince Edward County and Bruce Peninsula, allow at least five to seven days.
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