I went for a brief exploratory vacation to New Scotland; more formally known as Nova Scotia. I did not go to Nova Scotia with anyone; in fact, I went on a solo vacation. I know, this may sound scandalous to some, but I have some reasons as to why I went to Nova Scotia by myself.
The first, and most shallow reason is that I had vacation days from work that I had to use, and that would be my excuse to book a vacation to go somewhere. The second reason is that I wanted to explore more of Canada. I have been all around Ontario and a few cities in Quebec, but Canada is more than just Ontario and Quebec. I want to start going to places on the west and the east of Canada. I thought going to Nova Scotia and staying in Halifax would be a great start to this ongoing series. I did so much in my four days in Nova Scotia, and there will be quite a few blog posts showing off what I was up to, so watch out for that.
The final reason I wanted to go on this trip is because I want to show myself that I can live my life happily on my own. I want to feel like I can finally have control of my life, and with this trip, I finally have the means to do so. It is extremely unlikely that I will ever have a partner for the rest of my life, and honestly, I do not need one. I am free to pursue the things that I want to do. I have always gone on trips with my extended family, and because of this, I never quite got to go my own way and experience things on my own due to the influence of other family members. I want to have the control to experience what I want, and when I want. I know there will be many of my extended family members who will take issue with this new direction in my life, but I honestly do not care what they think. I hope this will be the new normal.
With that out of the way, let me tell you about my first few hours in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I flew from Toronto Pearson to Halifax with Porter Airlines on their jet aircraft, and I was pleasantly satisfied with my flight. Seats were in a 2 + 2 configuration, and they felt slightly wider and had a little bit more legroom than the usual garbage seats on Air Canada or WestJet. You were also able to drink alcohol free on a Porter flight. I tried their on-board lager and it was disgusting, so I would probably stick with the wine.
I landed in Halifax Stanfield airport, and I want to know whose bright idea it was to put this airport in the middle of nowhere. As I was walking to the bus stop, I passed by the airline counters and noticed one counter for an airline I have not heard about, called Air Saint-Pierre. Air Saint-Pierre is airline for the French overseas territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, just off the coast of Newfoundland. Maybe I should travel there for a couple of days to see what it is like.
The bus took me to downtown Halifax, and one thing became apparent for me. Downtown Halifax is on a big hill. If you want to walk to the Halifax waterfront, you had to walk down the steep hill to get to it. Unfortunately for me, my hotel was at the top of the hill. Even though my hotel was only a 15-minute walk from the bus stop, I had to walk up the big hill to get to my hotel. This was my “Welcome to Halifax” moment.
I stayed at the Lord Nelson Hotel and Suites. Just by the name of this hotel, I thought this hotel was expensive, but I swear that I got a discounted rate to stay there. When I walked into the hotel for the first time, I thought I walked into the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, but just a smaller version of it. The Lord Nelson Hotel had an old-British/Victorian look with classic touches and finishes. There were these striking chandeliers in the main lobby and in the hotel halls, which almost gave the hotel an old gothic look.
My room was decent, with free water and use of the Nespresso machine, but the bathroom was a bit of a low point with its size.
I was also checking out the event spaces in this hotel as well, and it looked like a nice enough place to host an event such as a wedding or a birthday party.
There was also a restaurant attached to the hotel, but I never ate anything from the restaurant. I did order a beer float from the bar one night, which was nice.
There will be so much more from my time in Halifax and Nova Scotia, so watch this space.
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