Hello everyone!
Happy Wednesday! We are in the middle of the first full week of August. At the moment, I’m on vacation with my family, it’s a well-deserved break for all of us and we are making some quality memories together. I’ll be sharing more of my trip in the coming weeks, but until then, I have another travel post to tide you over. One that I couldn’t wait to share with you all!
Several weeks ago, my boyfriend and I took another one of our crazy day trips. My boyfriend is a great trip planner, especially ones that are affordable and unique too. We also like to do our trips in a day, even if it means being up for more than 24 hours.
Last summer, we did NYC in 13 hours, you can read about it here. We also did Toronto in a day, which you can read about here.
This summer, we did Montreal in a day! It was one of our furthest destinations, but we packed a lot in, and I fell in love with the city and the culture.
Here’s a recap of our trip.
We left in the evening and drove to Burlington, Canada where we caught a train into Toronto. The car ride was about 2.5 hours and then the train was about an hour. After making our way to Toronto, we hopped on an overnight bus into Montreal.
We arrived bright and early before 6:00 in the downtown area, since most of the city was still asleep, we freshened up and dropped off our bags. My boyfriend discovered a gym that you can store your bags for the day, this was a huge help to us. We could still pack what we needed for our travels without having to worry about carrying them during the day.
After getting ready, we started exploring the downtown, metropolitan area and then ventured into the Old Port and historic Montreal.
This was one of my favorite parts of the day. The sun was rising, the city was quiet, and we could just take in the city.
We got breakfast at a little bakery and ate in the town square.
Between the French signs, old architecture and French being the most common language spoken there, I truly felt like I was in a different world, and I loved it.
We walked down by the pier and then made our way back to the old part of the town to tour the Notre Dame Basilica.
It was a gorgeous church filled with vibrant colors and details. We went when they first opened so there were no lines.
After our tour, we made our way towards the downtown area where we climbed up Mount Royal.
We walked everywhere through the day, so we definitely got our steps in. The hill was daunting and climbing up flights of steps was challenging at points, but the view was worth it.
We could see the entire city from the top. It was breathtaking, especially in the sunshine.
After enjoying the view, we made our way to a park in Mount Royal where we rented a rowboat and enjoyed some time on the water. It was picturesque and VERY dreamy. I felt like I had my own “Notebook” worthy moment.
We spent some more time in the park and then made our way down the steps and hill, the walk down was much easier.
We stopped for lunch at a little shop and enjoyed our food in a nearby park.
We walked back down to the water and enjoyed some more time in the city.
We also popped into a few shops, bought some souvenirs, and enjoyed some music in a town square too.
We grabbed our bags and then made our way back to the bus station where we began our journey home.
Here’s a look at our final stats of the day when it comes to the mileage.
There were some delays for the return trip, but that was all a part of the adventure. We got back very early in the morning and took the day to catch up on sleep and get our lives back in order.
Although there was a lot of travel involved and many different modes of transportation, it was so worth it. My boyfriend and I love exploring new places and traveling, especially on a budget. He does an incredible job at planning and truly thinks of everything. I’m not sure where our next adventure will be, but I’m sure it will be a whirlwind.
Tell me: where are some of your favorite places to travel to? Bonus points if they can be done in a day! Although, I will be still away, I will have a Friday Favorites post for you! I hope you are having a great week! See you back here on Friday! Happy August!