Toronto is a big and bold city and because of that there are plenty of ways to annoy its citizens. Generally a Torontonian just wants to live their life, have their friends, and feel pride in their city… if you step forward to impede these meager wants you will annoy them. Ways to annoy a Torontonians include.

Walking Slowly

There’s a time and a place to take your time on the sidewalk of the city and it isn’t before 9 AM anywhere near the financial district. Generally people in Toronto are bustling along at pace and the sidewalks are packed. A person walking slowly puts the entire fragile social world of the sidewalk in chaos slowing it to a stand still. Next people will start trying to pass the said person and annoying the people walking the other direction. We are not talking about Olympic speed walking here just keep pace to the person in front of you and don’t stop unannounced to look at things in shop windows in the middle of the sidewalk.

Claiming the city when you’re not from Toronto

Well the truth of the matter is that half the people in Toronto are from other places. With that said, when you meet someone in the city you wouldn’t say you’re from Toronto, rather you would say where you are from originally. Downtown Torontoite’s get annoyed when people from the fringes of the GTA (the greater Toronto area) claim they are from Toronto – which generally means living in the downtown core. Why you might ask would this annoy people? People from the suburbs – Brampton, Pickering and Mississauga – are often poorly behaved downtown in the entertainment district and the locals don’t want to be associated with that behavior.

Hating on the City, just cause…

All the Toronto locals have heard the New York comparison and how Toronto really is no NYC. Well duh…, but at the same time it’s kind of sweet it even got into a sentence of comparison with that city. People, especially around Canada, are often trying to knock Toronto down saying it really isn’t that great. Saying this to locals, who overwhelmingly feel positive about the place, will not like it. Sure, there are things that aren’t perfect – public transport could be better, rent is high, and Toronto sports teams are in a seemingly permanent funk – but there is plenty right here too and that is what locals like to hear.

One of the big experiences of traveling is to pull off a move to a country with next to no money. This is an experience that takes the most intense focus, a few good friends, and basically just a bit of luck. There was a time several years back when I had the experience of moving to Amsterdam – at first for a girl, then later for my self – with just around $500 dollars. I’m going to detail how I did it as a blue print of sorts of how high risk moves like this are done.

I concocted the plan and I stuck to it…

This may sounds sort of obvious, but the reality is that I very much needed to have a goal in my mind cemented that I was going to do this move and there would be no turning back. Even as certain set backs occurred, like it taking much longer in London then I had calculated to get my Dutch work visa, I didn’t give up on my plan. Keeping the goal alive kept my mind sharp for anything that would help me see the goal through. I was optimistic it would work, even when at times it did seem a little dire, and it did.

I tapped my travel contacts in Amsterdam…

Knowing that my money was so low I didn’t mess around before I was set to come to Amsterdam, I got in touch with all the people I knew there first. Rather than sugar coat the situation, I told them just how dire my circumstances were and they all leapt forward to help me. As I would come to find out Dutch people are very caring about one another and this was the first time I saw it. As I stayed with different friends I said to myself that latter on I would definitely re-pay that kindness.

No rest for the wicked, I found any job I could ASAP…

Literally from the day I arrived I didn’t bother learning the pubs and coffee shops instead I had my friend Julia show me the layout of the city and right away I was hitting the pavement looking for work. I sketched a loose outline of the city and wandered around resume in hand. I tried at some bars and a few youth hostels to no avail. The next day though, still focused from my plan, I looked hard again and found what would keep me a float in the city – a posting at a temp agency to for dishwashers. Without ego or pride I walked in there and took the job and my Amsterdam experience began. Later on, I would find much more exiting work, but I was there then and I was staying!