Canadian Trains: The Don'ts of Canadian Train Travel

hey the fellow Travelers Mark here with Walter's world and today we're here in Toronto and today we're going to talk about are some of the zones of taking the train in Canada because well if you want to enjoy this country you can see a lot of it by Rail and it is a gorgeous ride almost everywhere you go and I just want to give you some heads up so you can have a better train trip when you are here and I think the first thing I want you to know is don't wait to buy your tickets if you're going to be traveling in the summer or on the weekends or during a holiday those tickets book out in advance like weeks or months in advance if you want to get one of the fancier train cars or a private train or a Prestige train the really expensive one on the Canadian that goes from Toronto Vancouver those things can sell out months in advance so make sure you're booking ahead okay I also if you book ahead you get a better price yes that's very helpful so do be aware of that hey one thing that's cool is if you're not sure what the right ticket to get for you is the right class the people at Via Rail Canada are actually super helpful so maybe you want to pick up the phone and call them and have them help you get the right ticket or the right right seed because there is a difference from sitting economy and just having a seat for those four days on the train going out to Vancouver versus have a sleeper where you have some place to sleep and lay down and sit up and enjoy the view as well so something to think about second don't I think is really important that people kind of forget especially our friends our European friends that come over here is don't think it's going to be a short train ride there are no short train rides in Canada Canada goes from one side of the continent to the other side of the continent and you take the train through there it's gonna take time I mean the commuter train between Montreal and Toronto is over five hours long okay if you don't get the fast one it can be eight hours long if there's delays God knows how long it could be so you have to realize it's going to take time like I said three to four days to go from Toronto to Vancouver it's a day for mozzarella Halifax so you do have to realize that it's gonna be some time so you're gonna spend a lot of time on the train so that's what my next stone is don't forget to bring snacks and and drinks with you when you do take the train in Canada even it is just the Montreal to Toronto line you're going to want something to eat like they Supply you food which is super cool and it's relatively decent but you're gonna want snacks especially if you have kids you're going to have some they're going to want to munch on okay and and don't trust a VIA Rail Canada had everything you'd ever want when it comes to eats and drinks okay so definitely pack up before you go what's cool is the train stations here a lot of them have kiosks inside so you can buy some food buy some snacks and do that I grab my ketchup chips and my chunky KitKat my Canada Dry Ginger Ale so I was good for my ride but it's one of those things I did see some of the kids going Mom I'm hungry so you want to be careful with that now one of the disappointing things I have to let you know when you take the train in Canada as much as you see the the panoramic train and the Beautiful views the Rocky Mountains of the Plains and all kinds of stuff it's yeah you see some of those beautiful things sometimes but don't expect to see those beautiful postcard views the entire trip because if you're going sometimes you get kind of in a tree tunnel where it's just tree cover and you don't actually see any of the sites just because it's trees on both sides other times you're traveling at night so you can't see in the dark you can that's totally cool I can't so that kind of takes away a bit and sometimes when you think you're going to get in you're going to be going through at a time we're gonna be able to see things when it's light a delay here and there might mean you miss it and so the timing and the lighting isn't right so don't expect to see those great news all the time now you'll see a lot of great views they'll get me wrong but it's not always there oh and one thing I want to add about the snacks uh don't bring smelly stacks on the train nobody likes that okay nobody so so no smelly snacks okay that's an international train rule no smelly stacks on the train because that's not going to make you any friends because that's another thing is don't be shy on the train in Canada because you're going to be on the train so long you're going to meet the people you're sitting by the people in front of you the people the side of you the people in the car the panoramic car all these things so maybe throw in a a pack of Uno cards to play some cards while you're traveling because you don't want to be rude and smelly food is rude okay so don't forget to meet the meet your fellow Travelers when you're on the way and especially if you're on one of those long ones the Canadian going from Toronto to Vancouver you kind of get this kind of camaraderie with everybody on there because you're sitting on the train for four days straight together now another thing I think is important when you're gonna take the train here is don't over pack because if you're taking certain trends like the train from Toronto to Montreal they had certain luggage restrictions oh you could have two carry-ons in a backpack or one big suitcase in a backpack or if you're gonna be taking one of those long distance ones the sleepers you know going they might have it that you don't have enough room in your room for your stuff so you want to be careful with that now sometimes you can check your baggage you can do it that way but if you want to keep it with you realize it's a train there's limited space on there okay now if you're gonna take the commuter train sometimes we'll have spaces at the end of the compartment for you to put your big luggage and there might be stuff above but just know you want to pack when you're on the train here another thing I want to tell you if you're taking some of these long trains don't forget to pack some layers because it can get a little cool in the winter and in the summer and the evening when you're on the train so having layers I mean I like my coat here that I can squish up and make into a pillow as well so I can take a nap on the train but do know it can be a little chilly sometimes on the train now sadly I have to give you some bad news for those of you that are super trained Fanatics who like to take these long super long trains I gotta tell you don't think there is one train that goes from one side of Canada to the other there's not there's a lot of different trains and you can go from Halifax to Vancouver but you're going to have to switch you'll take the ocean that's what it's called from Halifax to Montreal then in Montreal you got to switch to the commuter train Montreal to Toronto with it here in Toronto you take the the kids called the Canadian and you take that from here out to Vancouver and you'll pass through Winnipeg and Edmonton and Jasper and stuff so you do have that but don't think you're just gonna be on one train the whole time now when you're getting on the train I think another thing that's important is don't like put your ticket away because you're gonna need to show your ticket one to get on the train in the first place but also then the train people come by and check your ticket again and if they change Personnel they might check it again so just have a heads up keep it relatively close what I do recommend is just have it on the app so you have your little QR code and you can just show them that way actually what I did is I screen captured it so I had that sorted at like open the app because another thing I want to tell you is don't expect to have sell signal the entire ride okay if you're going for the long day one there's gonna be times where you have hours of No sell signal right and if you say oh I'll just use the Wi-Fi on there I'm gonna tell you this don't expect the Wi-Fi to work or don't expect to always have Wi-Fi when you're on the train I was on the Montreal to Toronto train and there was Wi-Fi on there but it didn't work like I was connected but they would take like four or five minutes for a sports site to load I'm not streaming videos I'm just looking at scores I don't know the Blue Jays Seattle game what's going on right so don't expect a lot of signal when you're here so uh be aware of that now I know I mentioned this before about calling to ask for help but just in general if you're at the train station or you're on the train don't be afraid to ask for help from the Via Real Canada people they are super friendly and super helpful they will get you on the right track if you've got your kids with you they're like oh you want to go on this side and board here because you get to go on earlier if you're like in Montreal or here in Toronto just just know that because they are super helpful like that's one thing I Gotta Give it to be around they got some really helpful people whether you're buying your tickets or you're on the train and the thing is they're very friendly but there's some times they might not be as friendly as you think they should be and that's usually when you forget your manners so don't forget your train manners keep your shoes on when you're walking around don't be super loud and listen to your music without the headphones and stuff just your usual you know kind of normal like manners kind of stuff also don't put your feet with your shoes on on the scene it's kind of rude okay they don't like that now remember when I told you that you shouldn't expect to have the great views all the time another thing I need to tell you is don't expect great pictures out the windows of the train because one you're moving so anything close by gets all blurry if you have a good camera oh if you have a good camera it should be okay but if you're taking user your phone and stuff so don't don't just sit there okay click click click click because a lot of people get quite blurry I actually just do mostly video just to make it so I have something that I can remember my trip by but yeah don't be surprised if you got a lot of blurry pictures that you've taken out those windows of that beautiful scenery you've seen so when you're not taking pictures you might want to be doing something and since the Wi-Fi isn't so good I do recommend don't forget to bring some stuff to do okay bring your Kindle bring some books download some movies onto your phone if you've got your kids with you make sure you download some stuff on their iPad so they have stuff to do without live 5 because otherwise those long train rides can get a bit annoying for the little ones and the big ones if they don't have something to do one of the cool things about riding the rails here is actually get to pick your meals and when they make the meals for you on the Canadian the food's a lot better the food on the Montreal throughout Community playing in it or played train I said playing because it's more like airplane food blah nothing exciting but what's cool is you actually can pick your meal and what's funny is that like they have vegan options vegetarian options my favorite was there was actually a bland option no joke Bland was one of the options that was on there so you can pick the food and they have it they know where you're gonna sit so you're fine with that um another thing I would say is when you are going to be taking the train especially those long distance ones like the Canadian that's coming from Vancouver Toronto or or the ocean which is going from Halifax to Montreal don't be surprised they're a little late okay because they do have delays [Music] okay since we're in Toronto I gotta show you the other famous thing here the CN Tower and let's continue on with our don't so the train travel here in Canada and I think another one I think is really important no matter what train you're taking in the country don't forget to hold on I mean you'll see signs that says always have three points of contact like two feet in one hand or two hands and one foot I I don't know how else you're gonna do that but honestly the tracks are very bumpy when you're going around you're going to want to hold on to a seed or the the a luggage overhang or whatever because it is really bumpy this is not a smooth ride when you take the train here and I think that leads into another down I mean don't think riding the train in Canada is like right on the train in France or Germany where they have the high-speed trains that are very smooth very fancy no this is more closer to Amtrak than a tgv okay I mean it's it's nice than Amtrak in a lot of ways but it's still close to Amtrak in the fancy European train so so don't expect to be overly wild with a smooth ride when you're here but one thing they don't have have as much in Europe that you will love on the trains here in Canada is if you're on one of the trains that has the panoramic wagon okay you know the one where like the windows all the way around those are gorgeous and if you go there you've got to take a ton of pictures that won't come out very well of course but maybe some will but get the video but oh my goodness I mean it's the views that gets you to sign up to take a train through Canada is what you see in those panoramic trains so don't miss out on the chance for that and the thing is is you might not always get the panoramic trainer you might always not always get that option and that's why I think it's really important to really um don't doubt the different levels of tickets here I know I talked about that before but honestly the different things you get whether you're an economy or business or Prestige or sleeper is really a thing okay so I'm saying this a second time because you really need to make sure you're getting the right train for you or the right you know compartment for you for the trip you're going to be on now sadly I also have some bad news for you um you know some places taking the train is the cheap way to get around places I gotta say this don't think the train in Canada is going to be cheap now it's not super expensive in some routes but honestly it can be quite expensive and if you start getting the the higher end stuff the business classes The Prestige things when you're talking hundreds of dollars thousands of dollars if you're doing that Canadian you know everyone from Toronto to Vancouver so do be aware of that so if you're thinking oh I'll take the cheap train ride from Montreal to Toronto well actually if you do the business class train I paid over 300 Canadian to take that train whereas the flight was like 150 bucks so sometimes it's not an economical choice you're really doing it for the experience and the ease of walking on and off a train so there's a lot more don'ts and dues about taking the train in Canada please if you have more advice for people to be trained in Canada please put in the comments section below so we can help out other Travelers enjoy riding the rails of this beautiful country anyway I'll say bye from here in Toronto

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 37,585

Keywords: travel, europe, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, Walters World

Id: IhYOaGRjeiI

Length: 12min 45sec (765 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 18 2023