When we travel to a place that we've never been before, it's like opening a door to an unknown world. A world that must be explored. We walk around and take pictures and point. We do so many things and explore the area like it is hiding a secret that we must find. Our number one priority is to make the most of every moment that we are in that place. Walking long distances, climbing lots of stairs, sitting on a sunny bench, being a total tourist, having a drink in an unknown pub, riding in a taxi or visiting a museum... it's all so much fun. And when the day comes to an end and you've had one last drink, you feel yourself so drained of energy, yet so alive. You feel the warmth of the sun that was shining on your face all day. You feel the wonderful feeling that is friends and new and doing something out of the ordinary. You never want to go home, but know that when you do, you can look back on all of it as a great experience. This is what being a tourist is all about.
Lately I've been hearing people saying stuff like: Be a Tourist in Your Own City. I'm not sure where this phrase came from originally, but googling for it quickly proves that it is well-known. And you know, I've been thinking about it as I have been going about my normal routine lately. When I go places I make sure to take my camera. When I walk around downtown I make sure to take different streets than the usual. And since it's such nice weather this spring, I find myself wanting to be outside walking longer distances and taking the subway less. It's fast, but underground is dark and not very scenic. I've been actively trying to be a tourist in my own city.
My friends are feeling the same way about things lately. We went to a ball game, we went for a walk on a Discovery Walk, I bought a book of photographs of Toronto. It even had a picture of my favourite library. I pointed out all the tables that I have sat at with my laptop. Today my friends and I went on a boat tour around the Toronto harbour. It felt weird at first hearing all sorts of facts about the CN Tower, the Skydome and the waterfront, since I live here. But you know, I didn't really know much of that trivia at all. I did know that Yonge St. was the longest street in the world, but didn't know that it is 1900km long and ends in Rainy River Ontario, near the Manitoba and Minnesota border. It's time to plan a kick-ass road trip from Captain John's Seafood at 1 Yonge St., all the way up past Thunder Bay. We figure it would take 2-3 days to get to the other end. Want to chip in for some gas and join us?!
And to think that I haven't been to Casa Loma since I was about six years old, and that I haven't visited the ROM in ages, and that the last time I went up the CN Tower or visited the AGO was about three or four years ago. And damn, I've never even been inside Maple Leaf Gardens or the Hockey Hall of Fame, even though I've walked by both of them lots of times. When people visit Canada from other countries they come to Toronto and see all this cool stuff, but somehow I seem to walk right by. Active Surplus is one of the fixtures of Toronto that I do visit on a regular basis, but even so I sort of take it for granted. I need to re-spark the I can't wait to go there!, peeing my pants with excitement that was how I felt when my dad would take me to that store when I was a kid. Everything is just as exciting and inspiring as it ever was, but it's easy to get into a mindless routine. But every day is so much more exciting if you take a few extra moments to go out of your normal way, and do something a bit different and actively appreciate life a bit more. When you're lying in bed at night, you don't have to think: "What did I do today?" Instead you can marvel and think about all the amazing things that you saw. Stimulating our minds with new places and new sights and sounds can only serve to make us more capable and more creative in everything we do. You can't create in a vacuum, but a city is anything but that!
So, I have decided to be a tourist in my own city all the time. I'm not too proud or used to this place to get out my camera and take a picture of a neat building or a cool street scene. I don't have to take a plane or rent a hotel room. My rent has been paid and transit costs less than $2 for anywhere I want to go.
I am a tourist in my own city and as wide-eyed and excited as if I had just stepped off the plane from a distant place. It's all smiles when it all seems new!