I am dedicated to showcasing the unique features and opportunities of Canadian cities on my channel. Additionally, I provide relevant and informative content centered around technology. Drawing from my personal experiences of living in three different Canadian cities and my extensive 10+ years within the IT industry, my aim is to provide assistance and insights to all of you. :)
When I was a kid there was usually a good amount of snow by mid-November and lasted until mid-March, 45-50 years later it doesn't start really looking like winter until late December and lasts until mid-April. You also came during an El Nino winter, next year it's gonna be a La Nina winter.
Fort Garry Hotel isn't haunted, ghosts aren't real. WHEN I win the lottery I'm going to get a suite there, you get maid and room service and you can travel around in a hotel limousine. But that's not why I'd live there, the real reason is the hotel's world class Vida Cucina Italia, I've only eaten there a couple times for family events but WHEN I win the lottery I'll eat there every single night, best authentic Italian food in the city.
Room 202 isn't on the 13th floor, it's on the 4th, guest rooms 100, 101, 102 etc. start on the 3rd floor. When the hotel was built in 1913 it had 13 levels, but the 1st & 9th floors are 2 levels high making the 11th floor the highest with suites which are also 2 levels taking up the 12th floor. The top floor above 12 was a split level attic, technically the 13th & 14th floors combined but they called it the 14th floor because 13th floors were superstitiously left out in those days. It was a storage attic from 1913 until 1923 when CNR radio (later CBC radio) set up their radio broadcast equipment and offices there. In short, there is no 13th floor in the Fort Garry Hotel.
First thing I would have told you before you left is "You're going to need a bigger parka". You gotta cover up every exposed area of skin, even your face or frostbite is a very real possibility, especially in January. Frostbite doesn't happen often due to people knowing the rules of self preservation in a sub-zero climate but when it does it's usually someone who's never experienced a real Canadian winter before or they got far too wasted and pass out in the snow.
Toronto is amazing, you just need to make over 6 figures, have a spouse that makes over 6 figures, have a good place outside of the downtown core, find your favourite neighbourhood, and work hard to make a community of friends. Haha! Great video and super accurate!
Commuting 1.5 hours just one way . . . hell no. That's like wasting the equivalent of nearly 20 weeks of vacation time that you are burning every single year. Literally wasting your life.
You nailed it. The commute is probably the biggest issue now with the city. Productivity drops, economic growth stalls. In simple terms, everyone just becomes very miserable.
Bro, you didn't even go out at night (Friday/Sat or both!). A couple drinks could easily run you $50-150 bucks depending on where you go! Groceries don't really count because those are a necessity.
I think the biggest thing is, while you are young don’t give in to the temptation of buying a nice place. I live in Toronto and I pay $1300 in rent including a parking spot. I live in a fairly old building in an apartment above a business, and I have a roommate (in a 2 bedroom apartment). (I’d be paying 1170 without parking). It was so tempting to look into places where I’d be paying $1500 a month to live with a roommate in a nice condo, or $2000+ to live on my own. And with every pay increase it’s tempting to move. Once I either can afford to buy something, or clear $200k, I will move. But for now, I’m spending about 30% of my POST TAX income on rent. Here’s the thing, when you don’t know any better, you can tolerate living in a less nice place. You can tolerate a roommate, no matter how much you want your privacy. Once you move up into something nicer, you’ll never spend less money on rent again. So start as low as you can and build up as slowly as you can make yourself.
One thing that can be added to Traffic and Commuting is a city designed for cars and not walking. You either relying on a card (very expensive) or ttc (very unreliable). I recently been to Koln, Germany and was amazed how walkable the city is. Not just distances but the experience itself.
Born and raised in Canada. I work full time and a house is 100% out of the question. It’s sad that entire generations are going to miss out on home ownership just so they can rent a tiny space for a ridiculous amount. So many factors here for this I just know whatever the government is currently doing is only making it worse. Importing so many people from one country also didn’t help our housing situation. I’m not blaming immigrants but the government that allowed so many to come in at once while we have non existent infrastructure and services.
The first mistake many people make is finishing university with massive debt. I'm sorry, but MANY people don't NEED to go to a school that means living on res. If you live in Toronto you have 3 excellent major universities to choose from, do a program there and live at home during. Ya, it 'sucks' that you aren't getting the 'university experience', but hey, if you want to afford a place to live later. By living at home your costs are tuition, which certainly isn't small, but that can be covered by getting a summer job. LOTS of people complaining they couldn't find summer jobs, I call BS. I think what's happened is people didn't get the summer jobs they wanted, so they just claim there are non and don't work. I worked by butt off every summer to ensure I covered tuition and other costs during the school year. On top of this, I saved by money from the first job I ever took, rarely spending on frivolous things. My downpayment contained dollars I received from my first pay cheque ever. The result is I left university without any school debt, and bought my first house at 25. Granted, the situation today is worse than when I bought a house, but it's still doable if you work really hard with that as a goal. No wasteful gap year crap for me. Many will state these sacrifices aren't ones they are willing to make, that one should 'live their life', and that's a choice you make. For me? I sacrificed during my earlier years alot, the result? My house has gone up 3X and I live a very comfortable life with 'frivolous' activities when I want them.
Awwws, the smallest violin... maybe the biggest corporate center isn't for you if you don't want to climb the corporate ladder. And canceling on your friends because they're "too far" is talking about you a lot more than it's talking about Toronto. Toronto is a great big city, and like all of them, they're not for everyone. Move to the burbs, or anywhere else if you think Toronto is not for you. Btw... your little disclaimer at the end of a 10 minute whine session doesn't count.
All true... The worst part is that I have made deep connections with some people in Toronto and I don't want to be physically separated from them. My family moved around so much since WWII, we just want some peace and stability. Unfortunately we have not found it here, despite living in Toronto for 25+ years (40 for my grandparents who passed away, with my Gran saying that coming here was the worst decision of her life). There is just no justification for sucking life out of people; this would be unheard of in many old European cities with far nicer houses and far better services. I am grateful for the opportuniites, but sadly none of them involved finding a permanent home.
yeah I could never live in a place like Toronto. I live in Winnipeg and its a much slower paced blue collar lifestyle around here. I work at the airport and my commute is 12 minutes. with the money I save living here (and working for an airline) I take trips often to visit (i just got back from Norway and Denmark last month). Its nice to visit, but for my actual day to day living I prefer the more relaxed slower pace of living here. I live in a house with my brother, the house is basically paid off and I live rent/mortgage free. Our house only cost $180,000 10 years ago (It’s worth around $350,000 now). 2000 square feet with garage, hvac, finished basement.
@@FrankHuynh Sorry if this sounds personal but your voice and mannerisms are EXACTLY like a guy I used to know at work here in Winnipeg. This guy named Andy D. It's amazing! :-)
Have twice been approached on a highway by someone who got out of their car ready for a fight. Best thing that ever happened from my selfish perspective is COVID which resulted in my being able to work remote permanently.
For me - the main issue with Toronto is the insane traffic and narrow roads with (street parking + TTC lanes + bike lane + two way car lanes + endless street diversions and traffic signs due to constructions). ITS INSANE. And worst part is that all of the constructions happen in the summer when ppl actually have the opportunity to walk outside and enjoy what little is left of our pitiful lives in Canada.
I usually set aside money to buy a new phone outright, so I don’t have to get a contract for a new phone with one of the carriers. I go for BYOP phones, I currently pay $29 with 20gb (I’m with Virgin). In my experience, the benefit of living in Ottawa is having access to Quebec plans. When I go to a store to switch providers, they offer Quebec plans, which are $5 to $10 cheaper for the same amount of data
This is all so true. I would not recommend anyone start a family in Toronto ! I've found it SO hard to make friends my age. Everyone is working all the time or trying to compete with you or just too exhausted to go out. I've given up and now i just hang out with my cats. Might as well work two jobs because this city can be so isolating!
Hey! Just watched your video. It’s a great one. I just turned 25, with a base salary of $55,000, and a side hustle of coaching that I get about $150 a week on. I’m living in a basement apartment with roomates, and I’m able to save about $1500 a month or so. I solo backpacked for about 3 months a year ago, so I started from scratch last July. I’m Debt-free, and about $20,000 in my tfsa. I’m not really sure what I want to do with the money, but I find the most challenging part is always feeling behind. (I know I’m ahead of lots of people, but some people have $50,000+ more saved). A video about how to destress from life, and stress less about money while also still being diligent with savings would be great!
Great video Frank! I’m GTA born and live downtown Toronto and it wouldn’t be possible to live here if I didn’t have a roommate. Rent is so high! The mentality in Toronto is very work focused and when you mentioned being tired/burnt out at the end of the day and rescheduling plans with friends that spoke to me. With the recent lane closures on the Gardiner the commute is so long to meet friends in the west end, nearly an hour. Sad to say we end up cancelling more often than not due to commute and being tired from our long work hours. I’m looking forward to more videos 🇨🇦
All my Toronto friends make 6 figures but can’t afford a vacation 😂 Imagine dual income 200k+ and it all goes into housing and cost of living and none for fun. 😂
Toronto people be broke and miserable af but look down at anyone that doesn’t live in 416 but have money and living happy lives. Every time I go on vacation and run into folks from Toronto, they always petty and miserable fucks that I avoid them now. Everything from Toronto is shit.
Living away from city center is exactly what causes longer commute. Because most businesses and offices are located closer to if not in the downtown. To make commutes least stressful, one uses public transit, biking, or walking which both gives you some amount of passive excercise and free time to reflect, read or connect via phone calls and takes you to and back from work. If a group of friends chose to stay in closer to downtown they would be physically closer to one another, which means better social life. Ofcourse all this comes at a higher land cost, but don't forget you may be able to eliminate or diminish cost of car ownership and benefit from the social life and entertainment offered by the city.
So 700k is too much for a condo downtown, you can commute. What many people do. But do tell what other city of this size offers more for less (even lowly Montreal is almost as much). Obviously many are willing to pay the price.
It's a great city, always in the top 10 best in the world. But it's not more expensive than any other top cities. But yeah, move to Peterborough if you enjoy that kind of rural life.
You left me when you said that it is a challenge to look good in Toronto. When I go downtown I see nothing but people dressed badly and do not care about their appearance.Style is totally absent.
If you can make a living doing remote work from home, unless you're already established here, don't even think of moving anywhere in the GTA. The rents here will shock you! Stay where you are.
Toronto was a thousand times better when it was mostly white. Enforced 3rd world and Asian diversity ruins any white city or country. Non-white Diversity SUCKS !! We never asked for this. it was forced on every white country..... ..its called murder
@@davidstone5094 i agree and I’m Caribbean living in Canada since I was 10 years old and now in my 40’s. For me it seems the recent insurgence of wild immigration has now skewed the numbers so much that it’s not even a balanced amount of diversity. Sometimes i notice it’s been months since I’ve seen other races than the current grouping we are all surrounded by…. It’s crazy!!!
