fly or drive to Toronto

[Larry Siegel]

Hong Kong is one of the world's great airports. After flying 15 hours I'm not delighted to be standing in a long immigration line, but I kind of expect it. The drive to HK through the mountain and ocean scenery is refreshing, not exhausting.

Toronto seems like it should be easier - it's no farther away than Kansas City or Pittsburgh - but getting through it, including the various customs and immigration bottlenecks, is just awful. That's if you don't get diverted by immigration officials when you say you're there to attend a business meeting. Finally, when you get to curbside, you're an hour from the city in rush hour traffic. No wonder Americans rarely go to Toronto.

Next time, I'm going to fly to Toronto City Airport even though to do so, I have to go from Midway, which is out of the way (I live in Wilmette) and, as you say, not all that uncrowded. I just might get to my meeting on time, or somewhere close to it.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by C. Maurio

I would not drive in Canada simply because they are European and I am not comfortable driving on the opposite side of the road in a country where I have to know French if I get lost.

What???? Canada drives on the right-hand side of the road just like the U.S. does. As does most of Europe BTW.

And there are no predominantly French-speaking areas in Canada on your route to Toronto.

[JBVirtuoso]

Originally Posted by Acajack

What???? Canada drives on the right-hand side of the road just like the U.S. does. As does most of Europe BTW.

And there are no predominantly French-speaking areas in Canada on your route to Toronto.

I think that was a joke. I hope.

[mayhem_223]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Hong Kong is one of the world's great airports. After flying 15 hours I'm not delighted to be standing in a long immigration line, but I kind of expect it. The drive to HK through the mountain and ocean scenery is refreshing, not exhausting.

When I arrived it was long too, but it moved quickly since they had many windows open and that was after 8 pm. The only thing that delayed was filling arrival white card and waiting again for my window since the airline crew for some reason did not give it to me before landing.

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Toronto seems like it should be easier - it's no farther away than Kansas City or Pittsburgh - but getting through it, including the various customs and immigration bottlenecks, is just awful. That's if you don't get diverted by immigration officials when you say you're there to attend a business meeting. Finally, when you get to curbside, you're an hour from the city in rush hour traffic. No wonder Americans rarely go to Toronto.

Next time, I'm going to fly to Toronto City Airport even though to do so, I have to go from Midway, which is out of the way (I live in Wilmette) and, as you say, not all that uncrowded. I just might get to my meeting on time, or somewhere close to it.

They're getting express train that will run from Pearson's to downtown but it opens not till 2015. But such large, big city should have gotten some sort of direct rail connection long time ago. In addition price tor taxis is little insane, why it costs $55-$70 for one way to the city? We are lucky we can take from Ohare or Midway $2.50 subway to the city or $30-40 taxi. It seems to me the only cheapest and most simple option at YYZ is airport bus/shuttle that charges $26 one way or $40 both ways.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by Acajack

What???? Canada drives on the right-hand side of the road just like the U.S. does. As does most of Europe BTW.

And there are no predominantly French-speaking areas in Canada on your route to Toronto.

Learn something new everyday!

[steeltreehat]

Originally Posted by C. Maurio

I would not drive in Canada simply because they are European and I am not comfortable driving on the opposite side of the road in a country where I have to know French if I get lost.

What in the Sam hill are you talking about Willis?

[MannheimMadman]

My wife and I drove from Chicago-Toronto and back last summer. Aside from it being an extremely boring drive, it wasn't bad at all. I would say it was definitely easier than Chicago to Denver, which was tear-inducing boring. We're also planning a drive to Montana next year, which we're definitely not going to enjoy.

[mayhem_223]

Originally Posted by MannheimMadman

My wife and I drove from Chicago-Toronto and back last summer. Aside from it being an extremely boring drive, it wasn't bad at all. I would say it was definitely easier than Chicago to Denver, which was tear-inducing boring. We're also planning a drive to Montana next year, which we're definitely not going to enjoy.

As I posted earlier, I went with flight choice partially due to working night shift and less tolerance for non-stop long drives. I am little nicely surprised that the embraer jet I will be flying, has single window-aisle seats on one side.