Our Canadian Road Trip: Niagara Falls

January 04, 2018

We had been planning this road trip for several months. We had a few setbacks but ultimately, we were able to make our plans come to fruition in October. We didn't rent a car, we took our own car to complete this trip. We began from Louisville, KY, to Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The drive took us approximately nine hours to complete, but the scenery was nice for this time of year. We made it to the Canadian Border where we handed over our respective identification cards. The border patrol agent told us our passports weren't necessary. She went about questioning us with apparent suspicion as to why "we suddenly decided to drive to Canada". We told her there was nothing sudden about it, that we had been saving and planning it for months. She was satisfied with that answer and asked me to declare any items that may be prohibited. It was then we realized we forgot to leave our pepper spray at home and it was in the car with us. Joe advised the agent of this and we had to pull over and sign it over for confiscation. Oh well..

We made it through the border and into Niagara Falls where we were to sleep at the Arkona Motel. What we're about to tell you may save you the grief we had to deal with. Always check the reviews on places you're going to stay. Yes, that should go without saying, but we were on a tight budget as it was for this trip (costly car maintenance and repairs to prepare for this trip contributed to that). The room we booked at this motel was cheap. We figured it was just a place to sleep and we're moving on. We entered the room to find stains and messiness all over. The microwave had what appeared to be dried up ketchup on top of it. If they didn't care much for cleaning this room, it was only smart to check for bedbugs.

We scanned the sides of the bed and almost immediately, there were tracings of bedbug droppings. Further along near the middle of the mattress, there it was. The nest of bedbugs eagerly awaiting their next meal. We quickly got out bags and reloaded it in the car and went to the office to ask for our money back. The clerk apologized and asked to see the bedbugs. We directed him to the location and he just kind of nodded and said, "Ohhh. I'm sorry." He offered to switch us rooms, but we insisted on a refund which he complied and processed.

We checked a few other motels that were either out of our budget range or were nasty. We finally came up on A1 Motel. We spoke to the owner about our concern of bedbugs. He was gracious enough to allow us to check the room for bedbugs before paying. The room was very clean and pest free, so we happily paid for the room for the night.

We got up early the following morning to see the famed Niagara Falls. We were fortunate enough to find free parking about a fifteen minute walk from the falls incline railway which we took down to the Horseshoe Falls which cost CAD 2.75 one way. We couldn't find another way to go down to the Visitor Center and we didn't really bother spending more time to find the way especially because we couldn't really use our phone (we still thought we had to pay roaming for International service).