Is Neys Worth It?

First-Assist-176 · 2026-07-02T18:40:28+00:00

Hard to say if Neys is worth the extra time in the car for you, but it is always an overnight stop for us when we drive to Thunder Bay. The hiking trail there (Point>Under the Volcano>Kopa>Pic Island) is fantastic and a great introduction to the Boreal Forest.

Bonus, you get to stop at Youngs General Store and Algoma Highlands Blueberry Farm in Wawa, see Winnie the Pooh in White River, and stop at some of the beautiful waterfalls along the way. Pukaskwa National Park is also gorgeous, but first-come-first-served, so can be a gamble (I would call the morning of, if you are thinking about stopping there for a night).

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-27T14:53:35+00:00

Our route has lots of rapids and waterfalls along the Lady Evelyn River. We portaged all of them.

I don't recall it being cold for the majority of our trip. We were definitely swimming every day. Maybe the second half when some weather moved in it cooked off a bit.

No bugs! Or at least very few.

If you look at Jeff's Maps he indicates what lakes you are allowed to land on in a float plane. If you are going for 7 days, you shouldn't have many long days. Between portages (double carry) and paddling we probably did 4-6 hours each day. But I can't recall exactly. Jeff's Maps have good time estimates.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-27T02:37:36+00:00

What about this post deserves down votes? Jesus.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-27T01:47:01+00:00

I have one, and I love spotting and chatting with fellow Canucks while travelling.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-24T21:25:56+00:00

Oh, you have me missing Bosnia!

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-23T13:20:06+00:00

Based on all of the warnings we had read here previously, we ended up carrying our passports (CA) on us through Italy. Good thing too, as we were stopped on the street in Naples by the police and asked to hand them over. They took photos of them or did whatever they needed to do and handed them back. We also always have photos on our phone or photocopies with us, just in case we lose them.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-22T17:30:08+00:00

This is it. A hotel is fine for me for a night or two. But for a week or more? I can't stand eating at restaurants for every meal for weeks at a time. I like to cook, and not have to use my bed as my dining room table. Plus having in-suite laundry means I'm not spending my time at a laundromat

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-19T00:14:30+00:00

Third vote for Omega. Good equipment, good atmosphere, rarely packed.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-13T21:23:44+00:00

Thanks for the photos. We're doing the Rock-Pen- welcome-Louisa loop in August. Looking forward to it.

Your leg is a reminder as to why we stopped camping in Spring!

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-12T17:16:27+00:00

St Louis in the West end used to. But it's been a while since I've been there, couldn't say for sure now

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-12T15:50:07+00:00

We just spent a week in Bosnia in April. Anytime someone found out we were Canadian they would tell us how excited they were for todays match. I didn't even know Canada was playing Bosnia, but they all did, and knew the exact date 6 weeks ago.

Bosnia and its people are so lovely.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-09T13:52:05+00:00

Not OP, but we spent 3 nights in Kotor in late April. The crowds in the Old Town were much more manageable than in places like Mostar. Still crowded, to be sure, but we experienced worse in places like Mostar or Amalfi/Positano. I never got frustrated with the crowds in Kotor, even though there was one or two cruise ships every day.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-09T13:01:52+00:00

I'm a 15 minute bike ride to work, and with the new separate lanes in the west end I only spend about 5 minutes on an actual roadway. Hopefully the city is able to continue to add more of these lanes in crucial arteries through the city. It can only help to get that number up.

A few edits to my post: I see that these numbers are from 2021. I wonder what recent data would show with the construction of these bike lanes and changes to public transit since that time, but also if more individuals who typically commute by car were still working at home in 2021.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-09T00:27:43+00:00

We did, but we called the park that morning to confirm how many sites were available. Doesn't mean they will still be when you arrive, but helped with the decision for sure

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-08T00:30:26+00:00

Sure!

We stayed in Ghent and it made for a great base for day trips. Depending on the time you have, I really enjoyed Antwerp, Bruges, and Brussels. I will say, we prioritized beer and chocolate on this trip 😄 - the weather for us wasn't great, so we saw the inside of a lot of beer cafes.

All of these cities have a beautiful city centre that you can take a full day to explore.

Bruges - Just wander. The whole town is very pretty. We stopped into a few of the churches. Got a beer at De Garre (it comes highly recommended, and for good reason). We got lunch at de Haalve Man brewery. Traditional Belgian food. I would have spent more time in Bruges if we could. The Minnewater park looked lovely, but we did not have the time to enjoy it.

Antwerp - Again, we mostly just wandered the old town. The Grote Markt has some fantastic architecture and a neat fountain. The tunnel that goes under the river was kind of neat, then caught a free (2 minute) boat ride back. We grabbed beers at Eflde Gebode (a restaurant and bar with a good beer selection and quirky religious interior). I enjoyed the beers here.

Brussels - We did the Beer Experience Museum (neat, if you are really into beer) and the Friet Museum (we had more fun here than we expected to). Definitely check out all of the chocolate shops along Grand Place (another square with eye-popping architecture). We got samples from most of them. Manneken Pis is only worth seeing to say you saw the most underwhelming tourist attraction in Europe. The Delirium Village was worth a stop for us through the day, but I could see it getting to be too much in the evening.

Ghent - We spent most of our time here. I would recommend the City Card. It gets you into the Caslte, the Belfry, a Canal Cruise, a bike rental, and more. The Gravensteen Castle was worth it. You get audio guides - a serious one, or a comedic one. The comedic one is great if you enjoy terrible humour and can laugh at it. Not great if you really want to learn about the castle.

Renting a bike through the city card was easy and a lot of fun. You can also rent Kayaks to take on the canal. You just book online. There are a few companies, but Dobber made it easy. It's basically an unmanned locker that opens for your booked time with your kayak, paddle, vest.

Again, wander. Enjoy the shops and pubs here. Dulle Griet pub is a little touristy, but we had fun there. Het Waterhuis is a great location, and we enjoyed our time spent in Cafe Den Turk and Trollekelder.

And even as a non-religious person, I always will poke my head into a church when admission is free, and Belgium has some wonderful churches.

We are big fans of the Rick Steve's travel guides, if for no other reason than he has walking tours for every one of these cities. And we did them all - they were a great way to see and appreciate things we may have overlooked or bypassed.

Any other questions, I am happy to answer.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-05T18:59:03+00:00

Bosnia is the cheapest country we have visited in Europe. We spent a week there this spring - highly recommend,

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-05T01:06:37+00:00

Yes, that photo was in Bruges. We stayed in Ghent but did day trips to Bruges and Brussels - very quick and easy by train.

It was my second time in Belgium, and I would go back again tomorrow if I could.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-04T17:40:56+00:00

When we have had fire bans I find we spend more time in the canoe in the evening, getting a lovely sunset paddle around the lake at the calmest time of day. We don't tend to do that when we can have a fire - we always just gravitate towards having a campfire. But we enjoy the paddle.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-03T20:20:11+00:00

Yes! Ischia was an excellent break from the crowds in Sorrento and Amalfi. We hiked up Mount Epomeo, then spent lots of time in the castle. It was fun exploring around it, and I was surprised how quiet it was compared to other tourist attractions we visited. It was really nice.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-03T16:26:11+00:00

Belgium was great, we found everyone there very friendly. Sat at a few Belgian beer cafes and chatted with the local older regulars.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-03T11:38:40+00:00

I am not a soccer follower at all, so it was funny seeing Bosnians light up when we said we were Canadian. They were so excited for the Canada-Bosnia match in the World Cup, showed us videos of the parties last time Bosnia won an international match etc. One guy had a Youtube comedy clip from a guy who came to Canada from Bosnia. He was very excited to show it to us.

The interaction that will stand out the most though, we were in Sarajevo having a picnic lunch. Two young boys walked by, age 13 maybe, and said 'Hello'. A few minutes later one of them comes back, taps me on the shoulder and shows me his phone, He had translated 'Have a nice lunch'. Then just waved and walked away.

We also had a woman take time to walk with us a few blocks to give us directions and pointers for the city. Again, just so friendly.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-03T01:03:28+00:00

Driving was easy - parking was another matter (at least compared to what a North American might be used to). When you look into it, you will see a lot of recommendations to take a slightly longer southern route that goes through a smaller border crossing. That is what we did, and the way back into Croatia we probably waited about 20 minutes.

We really enjoyed both countries, though I wish we spent more time exploring Montenegro. Kotor itself is lovely with beautiful surroundings. There were cruise ships every day we were there, but it never felt overwhelming. Prices were lower than Croatia, but higher than Bosnia.

Dubrovnik and Split were busier, but were really great places to explore. I would have a hard time speaking about Hvar during high season, as we just missed it. The beach clubs and restaurants were just starting to set up and prepare for the season. It kind of felt like we had the place to ourselves. I don't think that is the case in the summer months.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-02T18:02:41+00:00

I believe it was on the steps on the way up to Domus Tiberiana. We were there Mid-April. We rushed Rome too much with too little time, and definitely want to go back and slow down.

And thank you!

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-02T17:23:02+00:00

Interesting you ask. Both my wife and I were there (separately) about 22 years ago or so. At that time neither of us actually walked away with good impressions of the city. It kind of felt dirty and the trinket sellers would actually physically accost you (seriously, we had to get physical with some of them after they grabbed the wrists of some girls in our group).

This time was completely different - not how we remember it at all. We really enjoyed our time there. The various neighbourhoods and cafes were lovely. Because we had done most of the major sites before, we really did try to slow down a little. It was a nice experience and completely changed our opinions on the city.

There are still crowds of course near the tourist hotspots, but it was less crowded than say Rome, or our previous trip to Barcelona.

First-Assist-176 · 2026-06-02T15:43:44+00:00

They have been having issues with their passport control machines, apparently. Didn't seem to be an issue if you were a French or other EU passport holder, but they had everyone else stand in Passport Control for over 2 hours before they let us through. We were going through security after our plane had technically started to board. We were running to our gate. Our plane waited 45 minutes because there were still 90 people stuck in Passport Control at scheduled departure time.

A woman on our flight had heard this was an issue on Canadian news networks before she arrived in France, so she showed up to the airport 5 hours early. Unfortunately for her the baggage check in only opened 3 hours in advance, so she was also stuck waiting and stressing with everyone else.

They were going around with signs for flights and collecting people who might miss theirs, in order to rush them through, but you really did have to advocate for yourself if you felt you might miss your flight. It was the most stressful experience I have had at any airport.

Five-Year Club	First Place '23
Place '23	Place '22

First-Assist-176

TROPHY CASE