“flight attendants prepare for landing in 30minutes” the pilot announced. I look out the window to see city lights beyond the eye can see. Before leaving for our trip, I had a little cold starting, so on our descent my ears painfully plugged. We arrived around 10pm, and for me, the whole city was muted. How nice. It made for an easy welcoming to a big city. We left our +7 rainforest and was about to step out into the -10 concrete jungle. It wasn’t bad. The cool air hit our face but it didn’t cut to the bone like the coast. I followed through the crowd until we saw a familiar face smiling ear-to-ear. What a wonderful surprise, his mum stayed up to welcome us. We were only expected his dad to pick us up from the airport . She sat in the back with me and held my heavy carry on suitcase on her lap. I kept searching for words to try and put it on my lap instead because I felt so bad but everyone’s excitement kept conversations flowing without pause.
We arrive and drive down into the underground parking lot, twisting and weaving through layers of cement, once again endless. I mentioned I would definitely get lost or even just disoriented trying to find my way out. Lucky to be staying in his parents guest suite, we open the room to all my favourite things. Pink roses on my side of the bed, Tropicana no pulp orange juice and yogurt shots in the mini fridge. We had our favourite chips, chocolates and nuts on the dresser table and a blow dryer with all the bathroom amenities. His mum went above and beyond to make this room extremely comfortable for us. I could have cried on the spot but I held my emotions together. We dropped our things off and headed upstairs to say goodnight.
Almost 30 floors into the sky I walk through a beautiful arched doorway to see floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city. As cold as winter could be in Toronto I only felt the warmth of happiness and joy.
As if this welcoming couldn’t get any better my boyfriend suggested burgers for dinner. It was dinner time for us and bed time for them so after we settled in and said our good nights we venture into town for a place called Happy Burger.
I always felt like I grew up coincidentally privileged. Let me explain. My dads days off were Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s and once a month he would pull me from school to have father-daughter days. I felt special and very lucky. Since it was a weekday afternoon everything was dead, everyone was busy working and kids were in school, so when we went to the movies we had the theatre to ourselves and when we went to any amusement arcades same thing, only us. It’s like the world suddenly stopped and let me and my dad have a day to ourselves. How special, how lucky. Anyways let’s get back to the trip….
We ordered their specialty burger with loaded fries. The cheese sauce and jalapeños were amazing. I love food like this and I don’t want to hear any garbage talk about fast food, so please take it somewhere else. Did I mention we had the place to ourselves? Because we did. On our way there the highways were clear and the city was dead but all the lights stayed on for us. Tuesday night Toronto and the world stopped for us. Taking a private tour down every downtown city street we our destination was dessert. A pistachio skillet cookie with ice cream and milk. By this time it was past 12am and my boyfriends birthday. It was the best few hours in Toronto I could ask for. I probably could have went home that night and been perfectly happy with the trip but we had 5 more days to go. How lucky, how special.