Welcome to another money diary series! I recently took a trip to Southern Ontario to visit my boyfriend and some family. My journey started off in Vancouver where I first flew to Toronto. Throughout the week, we drove down to London and across to Niagara and Hamilton. Here I’m sharing exactly what I spent and where.
Here we go!
August 16 – Day 1
It was an early Sunday morning start to the trip and off to the airport I went for my 8am flight. I had breakfast at home before flying from Vancouver to Toronto and did not remove my mask from the time I walked into the airport in Vancouver to the moment I stepped back out of the airport in Toronto. Masks are now mandatory in the airport and on planes! Thankfully, the plane was not fully booked and most middle seats were empty.
After arriving in Toronto, Aidan (bf) picked me up from the airport. We were able to see some family and friends socially distanced outside before driving down to London, which was our home base for the trip. I ordered us some Greek food for dinner from the Souvlaki Hut and we enjoyed it at a local park with friends. Great start to the trip!
Flight from Vancouver-Toronto: $256.65
Dinner: $37.29
Day 1 Total: $293.94
August 17 – Day 2
Monday morning started out with breakfast bagels at home. We then pumped up our bike tires, filled up our water bottles and set out for a long bike ride around the city of London, Ontario. We started from Byron and headed down a beautiful bike path following the Tens River all the way downtown.
Aidan wanted to show me a few of his favourite places so we stopped for lunch at Cousin Vinny’s for some pizza, visited the Covent Garden Market and then opted for some flights at Toboggan Brewing Company. Guess what? He wouldn’t let me pay for anything! I was treated to a day out on the town and then we headed back home for dinner with the family. In the end, we biked a total of 37km. Another great day of adventures for the books.
Day 2 Total: $0
August 18 – Day 3
On the third day, we opted for a little visit to Grand Bend, a beach town just a 45 minute drive away from London. We set up on the beach and spent the afternoon reading in the sun. We packed a lunch and a bunch of snacks to bring with us so we wouldn’t need to leave the beach to buy food somewhere. We did make an attempt to swim in the lake but the waves were massive! Yes, I did get fully taken out by one of the waves, much to the enjoyment of Aidan and I’m sure everyone else on the beach. I went back to reading after that.
It was around 3 o’clock when we packed up our things and took a stroll up and down the strip of Grand Bend. There were lots of cute boutique shops and yummy looking restaurants. I got us both ice cream and we sat by the beach one final time before making the drive back home. That night we went to visit some of my family in London for dinner and brought a bottle of wine with us.
Ice cream: $13.55
Wine: $21.95
Day 3 Total: $35.50
August 19 – Day 4
Rise and shine! We woke up bright and early Wednesday morning and made our way out to Niagara-On-The-Lake, a 2 hour drive from London. Aidan had a whole day booked full of wine tastings. The tour started off at Konzelmann Estate Winery. We were a little disappointed that the tasting was inside rather than outside on a patio somewhere, but with that being said, the wines were to die for.
We left the car parked here, hopped on the bikes we brought with us and rode down to Trius Winery. Google Maps had us biking down dirt roads and sometimes straight through other wineries. It was beautiful! Arriving at Trius winery we had to check in at a stand and then were guided to our table for our tasting. This winery had more of a hip vibe to it versus the older, more historic vibes we got from Konzelmann. We did not get a view of the winery but we really enjoyed being outside nonetheless. The wines here were amazing!
Halfway through our wine tasting at Trius, we were starved as we had forgotten to plan for lunch. We started off our ride to McDonald’s, because we’re just super classy like that, but ended up riding past Silversmith Brewing Company. We took a peak at the patio and decided that might be a slightly better experience than a stop at McDonald’s… We each ordered a beer and shared a chicken burger, a piece of Louisiana style fried chicken and a supreme bowl of tater tots. The tater tots came with sour cream, tomatoes, ground beef, green onions and cheese. Everything was incredible!
Continuing our winery tour, we rode over to Reif Estate Winery. We enjoyed our time at Silversmith Brewing Company so much that we were late for our tasting and ended up having to simply pick two glasses of wine to drink out on the patio. Usually we’d each get three smaller glasses of our choice of wines but we really didn’t mind just having the one glass each. Aidan had also ordered us three different blocks of cheeses to pair with the wines and they were all amazing! For an extra $5-10, the cheese pairings definitely added to the entire experience.
Now onto the final stop: Peller Estates. This was by far the most beautiful winery we saw the entire day. We were seated outside on the patio overlooking the vineyard. It was absolutely gorgeous! The wines here were nothing special but the whole experience was definitely worth the visit.
All along we had planned to pick our favourite wines throughout the day and drive to pick them up after we finished the entire tour.
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The two winery tasting winners: a tie between Konzelmann (Riesling & Merlot) and Trius (Off-Dry Riesling & Syrah)
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The best winery vibe winner: Peller Estates Winery
We also tried an incredible Peach dessert wine from Konzelmann but I opted out of purchasing that one. I wasn’t sure we’d drink dessert wine without a special occasion to celebrate.
In all honesty, I don’t think we’d go back to Reif Estate Winery if we were to do it all over again. Wines? Meh. Patio? Meh. Nothing really stood out for us here.
By the time our 30km of biking was done and we had successfully purchased our 4 favourite wines, it was almost 6 o’clock. We drove down to Niagara to check-in to the hotel. Our room was on the 33rd floor of the Hilton and had a beautiful view of the falls. At night time, they were lit up in all different colours – a must-see. For dinner we ordered take-out from Carpaccio and ate it in our hotel room while watching a movie. It was perfect!
As for the cost, Aidan covered the drive to Niagara-On-The-Lake, the winery tour and dinner. I covered the hotel, parking and lunch. This was by far our favourite day out of the entire trip. 10/10 would recommend a tipsy winery tour in Niagara-On-The-Lake.
Lunch: $62.58
Wine: $56.81
Hotel & Parking: $231.81
Day 4 Total: $351.20
August 20 – Day 5
Today’s main activity was the Hornblower Niagara Cruise! I didn’t really give Aidan a choice on this one… I booked the tickets myself because it’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing. We checked out of the hotel then quickly grabbed breakfast at Tim Horton’s. It’s a Canadian classic and Aidan happened to have a gift card. We ate our breakfast sitting on the grass with a great view of the falls.
Walking over to the Hornblower Niagara Cruises, it was clear they were taking every precaution to keep their guests safe. Masks were mandatory at all times and there were social distancing protocols lining up for the boat as well as on the boat itself. The boats were down to 15% capacity and you could see the staff sanitizing the hand railings in between groups. We sailed past the American Maid of the Mist tours and they were packed on their boats like sardines. We definitely felt safe and thankful to be on our Canadian boat! Everyone was very respectful of space.
While it was definitely not how I pictured experiencing the Niagara Falls boat tour for the first time, it was still an amazing experience. When the boat approaches the horseshoe falls seen below, everything gets soaked, hence the ponchos. Our masks became drenched making it really hard to breathe but we made it through and had the best time. 10/10 would recommend, even during a pandemic. Just be prepared for some minor waterboarding with your mask on… Putting that aside, this was definitely a bucket list experience for me and my cheeks hurt after from smiling so much.
After our boat tour we walked all along the boardwalk and took some pictures before heading back to the car and driving back to London. What a great day!
Hornblower Niagara Cruise: $68.94
Day 5 Total: $68.94
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August 21 – Day 6
By day 6 we were honestly quite exhausted. We decided to have a more relaxed day and we took Aidan’s dog Baci for a 5km walk in Komoka Provincial Park. It was a scorcher of a day in the open fields but it was absolutely beautiful. Overall, we had breakfast, lunch and dinner at home and I only paid for parking at the park.
Parking: $5.25
Day 6 Total: $5.25
August 22 – Day 7
On Saturday, we drove out to Hamilton to see some of my family and friends. First, we stopped by my family’s place and had a socially distant hangout outside on the lawn. Then, we went to play mini golf with some friends, which was paid for by them. All in all, super fun no spend day!
Day 7 Total: $0
August 23 – Day 8
We opted for a lazy Sunday and simply took Baci for a walk again. This time we stayed a little closer to home and explored a local trail that went right along the Tens River.
That night, we went to the Mustang Drive-In Theatre in London. It was such a fun experience, this was my first time going to a drive in movie theatre! We brought our own popcorn and snacks, popped the back hatch and set up a cozy bed with lots of blankets and pillows in the back to watch the show.
Drive-In Movie: $26.00
Day 8 Total: $26.00
August 24 – Day 9
For my last day, we slept in then went and explored downtown a little more. Aidan wanted to take me to a local diner but unfortunately, it was closed. We decided to have lunch at Barney’s, another local restaurant just down the street with a lovely patio. The food was great and my sangria was yummy too.
We stopped by a local bakery and I bought a strawberry rhubarb pie for Aidan to take home to his family. Then it was time for us to head to the airport. Again, I did not remove my mask from the moment I stepped into the airport until the moment I got back into my car in Vancouver. No money spent on food at the airport.
My brother picked me up once I arrived back in Vancouver and the trip was over just like that.
Lunch: $66.10
Pie: $7.49
Flights from London-Toronto-Vancouver: $288.88
Day 9 Total: $362.47
Trip Total
So there you have it, my 9 day money diary travelling in Southern Ontario. I hope you enjoyed it!
Total Trip Cost: $1,143.30
Average Cost Per Day: $127.03
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Sounds awesome!