Arriving in Toronto

Vancouver Airport and Lounges

For the flight back to Toronto from Vancouver, our return flight was with Air Canada again.

Vancouver airport domestic terminal was a dream compared to our experience at Toronto Airport. We were through bag drop and security within about 10 minutes!

We went through the security gates, which bring you out at the start of the C gates. Here there is a Plaza Premium Lounge. It was a little odd due to the fact it is open and is only separated from rest of departure lounge with waist height wooden partitions.

We managed to locate another Plaza Premium one at gate B15, which is private. There was quite a limited offering in terms of seating space plus the food and drink choices.

Here’s the cooked breakfast goods:

I chose:

a. Scrambled egg, a little on the dry side.

b. A pork sausage, a little on the very salty side.

c. A hash brown which was very much on the soggy side.

Air Canada Flight Vancouver to Toronto

Boarding went smoothly and pretty much on time. After being sat for about 45 minutes and 20 minutes after departure, the 1st Officer announced that there was a technical issue. Worst case it would be another 20 minutes before departure. The Air Canada app was showing an hours delay with the departure at 10:00am rather than 9:00am. In the end it was approximately 10:15am before we in the air.

The food order was taken before take off and wired headphones offered.

I opted for the pancakes on the flight. The portion was massive with way too much maple butter. Once again thought it wasn’t bad for plane food.

Hertz Hire Car in Toronto

Once we had collected our bags, we headed for Hertz to pick up our rental car.

There was little (or a lot of) deliberation as the choice for the Hertz President’s Circle cars was very limited at Toronto. Finally, we were offered this meaty Dodge Charger. I think the staff at Hertz had enough of us and in the end were prepared to offer us anything. The bonus was that we didn’t have to pay any additional charges.

After we picked up the car, we then headed to our AirBnB in the centre of Toronto. This will be covered by a later journal post.

Pizza Libretto – University

By the time we arrived at the accommodation it was getting fairly late. We went out to get some provisions. By that read beer and wine from LCBO! LCBO was located rather handily five minutes from our apartment and have a great selection of beers and wines. The prices were reasonable too.

Then we ordered a take out pizza from Pizzeria Libretto at University.

Between the two of us we shared two pizzas. Both of which were Neapolitan with a 12 inch 72-hour-fermented sourdough base. They are cooked at 850° to achieve a charred, blistered crust.

First up was the Bufula Margherita.

On top of the sourdough base was the following:

• san marzano tomato,
• bufula mozzarella
• fresh basil,
• parmigiano.

Next up was the Diavola (my personal favourite)

This had the following toppings:

• spicy salami,
• san marzano tomato,
• olives,
• onion,
• fior di latte mozzarella,
• crema di peperoncino,
• fresh basil

These pizzas were very good and ended a long travelling day very nicely! On to our first full day in Toronto…