It’s Amazing What We Get Used To ! (08-30-13)

But first- you know when you’re on vacation, and on your second to last day being away from home, you start packing up some of your stuff, preparing to leave, and all of a sudden, you just want to be home?  Well, that’s what happened to Paul and I.  Once we knew we were leaving Canada, we were suddenly in a rush to get back to the states.  So, off we ran, putting lots of miles behind us every day, and we ended up arriving  in the states 3 days ahead of schedule. Crossing the border was no issue, we were asked a few questions, and then he told us to have a nice day.  Gee, and I had made sure we had eaten all the meat and produce we had, just in case! 

Anyway, this post is more about the differences I noticed being in Canada. My thought started when I was surprised at how happy I was when we arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland a few weeks ago, and it got me thinking. As we’ve toured each province of Atlantic Canada, our destinations have gotten more and more remote. In Labrador, the most remote, we ran out of paved road after just an hour of driving (I am sure other areas have paved roads?).  New Brunswick, our first province, didn’t seem too different than being in the states, with Costco, Kohls, and Tim Horton’s (think Dunkin  Donuts) available, and restaurants on every corner.  There were a few things that did change right away though.

We had no data plan for our cell phones and ipad in Canada.  We pretty much got used to that fact, although I will admit that we did pick restaurants based on whether they have Wi-Fi, and we forgave each other for sitting at the table with phone in hand.  On the flip side, its strange, I think, that we are so used to having the internet at our finger tips that we missed not being instantly connected, whenever and wherever we want.   2 years ago, neither of us even had a smart phone, never mind an ipad! Now I would have to admit that if my ipad broke, it would be replaced within days, not weeks.  I, personally, had to get used to the fact that my phone was not the one receiving phone calls.  We only added Canada to Paul’s phone plan, so all of our calls went to him.

One of the things I loved about our time in Canada, is that the cream they use for their coffee is real cream, not “fat free” non dairy creamer, like I am used to.  Every morning, my coffee tasted like it was from a first class coffee shop.



Instead of google, we used paper maps and tour books to do our research and planning.(this made planning much less fun for me).  We definitely got used to making sure the tour books and maps  went with us in the truck every day! When writing my blog, my memory is so bad that if I can’t remember a fact correctly, I usually just “google” it to make sure I have it right. In Canada, I had to cheat- I typed notes on my iphone- so I’d have the details for later.




There is one exception to the map thing.  I spent $1 and bought a map app for the ipad.  It’s the best dollar I have spent in a long time. Once the maps are downloaded, they are accessible offline, so I can use it as a second GPS as we travel. It’s been invaluable.

We adjusted fairly well to the metric thing.  We learned to  do the mental math fast enough and accurate enough to wing it when dealing with kilometers, meters and kilograms.  Well, maybe not kilograms. The stores list certain items by the pound, and certain items by the kilogram or gram, so we were always confused.   Mostly if we were buying something its because we needed it, so we just closed our eyes and put it in the basket.  We completely looked the other way when buying diesel.  It was $5 a gallon when we got here and it only went up.


There are certain numbers we made a special point to learn in metric. 

The height, and width of our vehicles are some of those numbers. Nothing like scrambling at the last second when a sign on the highway states “all vehicles over 2.6 meters wide MUST exit”.

After New Brunswick we moved to PEI, where the restaurants and grocery stores are few and far between, and large chain stores are non-existent. No Wal-Marts here!  We were in vacation mode on PEI so we really enjoyed not being inundated with the usual suspects for stores and restaurants.

In Nova Scotia, Halifax is sort of an oasis of urbanism.  The city has the only two Costcos in Nova Scotia, and although there isn’t a bunch of chain restaurants, there is no shortage of great places to eat.  

The rest of our stay in Nova Scotia was far more like PEI- very few restaurants and the grocery stores are mostly Co-ops-grocery stores that are owned by the townspeople.

We also had to get used to seeing street signs in Gaelic, as well as English, although, it really didn’t take much getting used to.

Before we left for Newfoundland we took advantage of the semi large town of Sydney, Nova Scotia to stock the refrigerator and freezer.  Having experienced shopping on the mainland, we had no idea what to expect on the island, and we arrived with literally enough food to last the entire 3 weeks, if need be.  The produce on Newfoundland is not what we are used to at all and we bought very little of it.  We are used to freshness and variety and I think the stores on the island struggle to provide that. 
I am not saying one way of being is better than another, many of the things we got used to had nothing to do with the fact that we are in another country.    It just dawned on me when we arrived in St. John’s and I was smiling, that I had missed some of the things I am used to having.

I was happy to see Best Buy, even though I didn’t need to buy anything.  I was thrilled to see Costco, although the lines were so long we left without buying anything.  The second time we tried to go, on Wednesday, it was closed!! Apparently there’s a local holiday that we knew nothing about!

Television is something else we’ve gotten used to.  Well, Paul is used to having at least a few channels to surf, so he has gotten use to reading more books for the last month or so, and I really don’t care much about TV, so I have been enjoying the quiet.  Most places in Canada, we had NO television channels at all.







As Paul and I travel, we go through urban as well as rural, and downright remote, places.  We shy away from the urban pretty regularly.  Neither one of us is a city dweller, and a little goes a long way with us (especially driving a dually!)  I, for one though, have discovered I would feel too cut off, living too far from a metropolitan area.  As much as I bemoan the fact that we can predict what restaurants and stores we’ll see when we arrive in a new city (Best Buy, TJ Maxx/Ross, Applebees,  Target, Kohls, Olive Garden etc) I guess I’ve gotten used to those places being there when I want them!


So, now we are back in Michigan, visiting with friends, shopping in our storage unit, and going to doctor appointments, for the next week.