Toronto [UPDATED]

24 hours in Toronto. Touched down at 10:30 pm, went to hotel, all-day meeting next day, headed to airport, wheels up at 9:15, touch down at midnight (there's a time-zone change), back at work the next morning. I didn't get to see a lot more than the view from my hotel room (here's mine of the TorStar building - but the view also included docks and a big chunk of Lake Ontario - I was on Queen's Quay) and the windows of the good ol' Airport Express.

I still take the good ol' Airport Express from the airport to downtown and back whenever I can on a trip to Toronto. It's a habit from back in the days when I was always traveling on my own nickel, and every nickel was squeezed until the beaver and the Queen were intimate acquaintances. $32.50 gets you a round-trip ticket to downtown and back (whenever you're leaving - tickets are good for up to a year), dropping you off in a big gaudy yellow tour bus at the lobby of most of the major downtown hotels and within walking distance of dozens of others. Now in the days when I travel for work and nobody would blink at reimbursing me $55 or more for cab fare each way from and to the airport, I still prefer to walk up the stairs to that high-up tour bus view, and settle into a comfy seat for the long, scenic, and meandering wander to, and (depending on where you're exiting) sometimes around, downtown Toronto.

It's certainly not an extravagance. Let's call it a nostalgic indulgence.

ronnie