Small Town Living
Did I mention where exactly we are moving yet? I don’t think so. Canada is a decent-sized country (aka the second largest in the world in terms of area), so “Canada” isn’t exactly a great indicator. Neither is “Ontario”, considering it is the second largest province (I learned there are 10 provinces and 3 territories, and those are different somehow).
It is also the country’s most populous province, and, as a European, I was shocked to find out that driving from A to B even within one province can take you a day and that you can only reach parts of it by plane. Wild.
What counts as close?
When I first met my partner, I asked him where in Canada he’s from. At the time, I knew the names of like three cities, but wouldn’t have been able to point to most of them on a map with certainty. His answer was “close to Toronto”. At least I knew of its existence, but the word “close” gave me a pause. As someone who has interacted with a lot of US Americans, I know my European definition of “close” and the North American one don’t quite match up.
But, as it turns out, he is actually from a small town about one and a half hours away from Toronto. Close enough. So, today, I want to talk about our future (or, in my partner’s case, past and future) home: Elora.
But let’s rewind: When I was younger, I thought I’d want to live in a big city one day. I’d visit Paris and see a houseboat and think “that’s where I want to be” (I did not consider rent prices at the age of 13) or walk through the streets of Berlin and declare “I want to move here”.
I didn’t always enjoy growing up in a smaller city, how everything cool always seemed to be elsewhere. I wanted everything right in front of my door or only one short subway ride away.
So naturally, I am now moving to a town of roughly 8,000 people with no access to any public transit.
Going off-grid
And although I can fully understand the more-than-surprised faces of some of my friends, I’m really excited about it. Firstly, the town is surrounded by bigger towns and cities. I had to explain multiple times to people (who know about as much about Canada as I did before I met my partner) that yes, the country is big and there’s areas where you could drive for hours without seeing anyone, but that there are also very populated areas.
We won’t live in a remote town and we won’t be off-grid. Far from.
Which brings me to my second point: Elora is a bit of a hipster village. There’s cute houses and a river, which you can tubing in during the summer. There’s parks. There’s a brewery, distillery, several pubs and bars, cafes, and restaurants, all within a 10-minute radius (walking).
And if none of those are to your liking, we have hundreds more a short drive away. And if we want to play tourists, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Toronto - and a lot of other towns and cities - are also reachable within 1 to 2 ½ hours or less. Not bad, eh?
To read more of my Canadian adventure, click here.
