us tourist toronto

U.S. tourist shares account of 'amazing' trip to Toronto

Toronto has its fair share of issues, but the city can really be a surprising breath of fresh air for travellers visiting from outside of the country.

One recent tourist from a major U.S. city was taken aback by Toronto's cleanliness, vibes and food scene, among other factors.

They took to Reddit to share their experience in a post titled "Toronto was amazing!," writing a detailed account of the things many locals may take for granted that make this city so surprising to visitors.

Toronto was amazing!
byu/confusedwithlife20 intoronto

Reddit user confusedwithlife20 explains in their post that, after three days visiting Toronto, they "don't have anything negative to say" about the city.

The user explained that it was their first time in Canada period and noted some key observations about Toronto that seemed to stick out through the lens of an American traveller.

"People are quiet!," they wrote.

And while many locals may be rushing to the comments section to note how loud and in-your-face Toronto residents can be, the user continued: "Hear me out, I am walking around the city, see groups of people and it's still quiet. I notice you all speak low."

"I know some of you may laugh at this but it's cool," joked the user, who argued that locals are "peaceful, calm and relaxed."

The visitor told an anecdote of how even "an angry drunk lady attempting to cuss out a group of woman walking… was so passive about it. How can you cuss out someone and sound so calm and soft-spoken?"

Locals go on and on about Toronto's brutal gridlock — which is consistently ranked among the worst in the world — but this U.S. visitor claimed that "the traffic and road rage was calm."

"Yeah I hear horns honking, but I never [saw] someone open their window [to] stick up the middle finger. Nor did I hear the horns constantly like I would in major U.S. cities. It was really odd… in a good way. There was traffic but it moved steadily. The buses weren't loud either."

While Canadian out-of-towners might consider Toronto a dirty place, U.S. visitors are often shocked at the city's cleanliness. Such was the case of this visitor, who felt compelled to mention that "the city didn't reek of a piss smell and trash," as if these were normal conditions one should expect of a city.

Other complaints you're bound to hear locals rattle off include the almost omnipresent smell of cannabis smoke, though this visitor claims Toronto streets are much less smoky than those of cities in U.S. states with legal weed sales.

"I'm aware weed is legal but I barely smelled it," wrote the user. "I'm so used to weed legal cities having that strong smell or people smoking it right in your face. I don't have an issue with weed but that observation caught me off guard."

Like many visitors to Toronto, it was the food scene that truly stood out to this visitor, who wrote, "There is so much food! I wish I had more time to explore but the food was great."

The user says that they've "always been fascinated with Canada for some reason. It did not disappoint." After a first trip north of the border, they plan to return to the country next summer to check out Banff, Alberta.

Lead photo by

sockagphoto / Shutterstock.com


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