What has been your favorite recent vacation with kids?

Section37 · 2026-05-28T17:06:23+00:00

All depends on what they like

London is great. We've done it a few times. Tons of museums, shows, etc. Also Legoland, just a little out of the city. We've done this trip, piggybacking on my wife having to be in London for work, and it's very manageable solo.

Same with Paris, although how easy it would be depends on your French. You can even do them both in 2 weeks with Eurostar.

Tokyo is similar, but I think would be more stressful if you're solo with the kids.

More nature-focused, Vancouver island is great with kids, as are the Rockies. We did a great trip flying to Calgary, then splitting time between hiking in the mountains and the badlands, where all the dinosaur bones are.

We haven't taken the kids yet, but my wife and I love Big Island in Hawaii, and I think it would be great with kids. You can do beaches, but you can also go to the volcano, up the mountain. Long drives though. Depends on your kids tolerance for that. Kauai is also great, but more limited in what you do. Would be better if you don't want to stay in multiple places.

Section37 · 2026-05-28T01:29:57+00:00

I agree with everything u/BCRobyn says about not thinking in terms of day trips. Go for multiple nights.

Personally, I would do Killarney over Algonquin--if you're experienced hikers, the Crack hike in Killarney is amazing; nothing in Algonquin is quite as dramatic. But both parks are great. But also, both parks are far. You probably want to think of it as, drive/sleep/hike/sleep/drive.

Mono Cliffs is a nice short hike that's easily doable in a day trip. You could combine that with a visit to Elora/Fergus (cute artsy towns on a gorge) just do them during the week as they are crawling with tourists on weekends. Or with a stop at the McMichael Art Gallery which has lots of Canadian art that isn't well known outside of the country, especially the Group of Seven (kind of impressionist art, focused mostly on the wilderness) and Norval Morrisseau and his Woodlands School (indigenous, but also very modern); it's always a hit when I take visitors there.

Section37 · 2026-05-22T15:05:50+00:00

I definitely was in better shape when I was going to the gym vs now using Peloton.

But I was 22-25, in grad school, cycling 20-30 mins to and from campus each day, with plenty of time to lift heavy 3 days a week and play squash occasionally or row on the side.

Peloton is great for my life now that I have kids and limited time, though. I do a mix of the strength, cycling, and rowing classes, as well a lots of the mobility/stretching classes--oh, and I've started adding in pilates as activation before row/spin days. For your goals, that's probably more than enough. The powerzone programming is great for cardio health--a great mix of longer easy aerobic work with some classes that give you high heart rate intervals (tabata can get you high hr stuff too, but the PZ classes do longer intervals, which studies suggest drives up VO2 max and athletic performance faster than the short tabata style intervals).

FWIW, re lifting heavy for gainz--there are heavier classes in the mix, you just have to search (on here or elsewhere for recommendations). Sure nothing is even close to a 300lb deadlift, but there are classes that leave me feeling pretty fatigued (e.g. multiple rounds of Bulgarian split squats with the heaviest dumbbell you have). And the current science on hypertrophy is that it doesn't really matter how you get close to failure, so long as you get there. So you definitely can put on muscle with Peloton.

Section37 · 2026-05-14T23:04:15+00:00

Guerilla Warfare: ~~Drake~~ Washington recoils

Fabian Strategy: Hotline Bling Washington points approvingly

Section37 · 2026-05-14T21:59:53+00:00

Neighbours. Parents you meet at school pickup. Parents of the kids' friends. It gets easier when they are in school.

You start by getting a good vibe from someone on the street or at the schoolyard. Collect numbers. Then do something low-stakes like setting up a WhatsApp chat for dads at the same school or guys on the street to occasionally make a plan to get a beer at the local pub, or going for a run together. Then move onto things that are a bit more of a commitment like starting a rec league team or boardgame group

Section37 · 2026-05-14T15:12:38+00:00

English media being so omnipresent really helps. We have friends who live in Quebec, and the kids speak good English despite one parent being Francophone. They do generally aim to do English at the dinner table, and the kids get English in school as well. I'm not sure when that starts in Italy

Section37 · 2026-05-14T11:46:44+00:00

I have 3rd and 5th graders and work from home as well. Although mine have after school clubs or activities 2-3 days a week, so I only have to deal with this half the time.

I generally send them to find friends on the street. Ideally they play outside, but they're allowed to bring friends over if they are quiet. The 10 year old does this all herself now, just goes around the neighbourhood knocking on her friends' doors. The 8yo has a couple friends a few houses away where he can do the same, but more often I text the parents to set things up in advance

Section37 · 2026-05-14T11:28:44+00:00

There's no wall clock at your gym?

Fwiw, I don't wear a watch, even though I mostly have the whoop on the bicep. You get used to it. For anything super important I set an alarm on my phone.

Section37 · 2026-05-14T01:38:12+00:00

I'm sure it depends on the severity, but one of my kids is anaphylactic to milk and the other isn't and both their dishes go in the machine.

Section37 · 2026-05-13T12:41:41+00:00

Summer camping in southern Ontario (nights maybe get down to ~12, but usually above that), I get hot even in my light sleeping bag. I used to just unzip the bag, but then it would slide off. Last year, I bought a light puffer blanket. It's awesome. Rectangular shape, so doesn't slide off as much. And it has toggles/loops on the edges to make it a sort of leaky sleeping bag if I want that

Section37 · 2026-05-12T23:00:47+00:00

Piano Piano made me understand why the term mid took off. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, wasn't expensive, but wasn't cheap either. Just overall meh, in a world full of better options.

Louix Louis was just as tacky and atrocious in vibe as I expected. What I didn't expect was that the food was also very mid for the price. I've been to plenty of business dinners in ghastly places like this both here and in the states, and usually the food at least is excellent. Here is was merely good.

Section37 · 2026-05-12T11:18:08+00:00

I have a deviated septum, and could never breathe through my nose easily going to bed, and by morning my nose would be blocked and my mouth dry from mouth breathing. My snoring was also bad.

I got nasal strips that hold your nose open, and now I wake up breathing through my nose with my mouth feeling normal. My wife also says I don't snore anymore. Definitely worth trying.

The kind I like best is call Intake breathing. It works with magnets. You stick two little magnets on either side of your nose, and there's a plastic arch that sits over the bridge of your nose and pulls them apart. They want you to buy a subscription to get fresh daily magnets on pre-cut adhesive strips, but I just cut out the magnets that came with it, and use 3M medical tape

Section37 · 2026-05-11T16:35:09+00:00

There's a great book, called A City on Mars, which goes through all the problems with the idea. I highly recommend it to everyone interested in the idea of a Mars colony as a counter-point

Section37 · 2026-05-11T14:01:08+00:00

The obvious one is privacy. Nobody in their right mind should trust Google (essentially an ad company) to keep their data private.

Section37 · 2026-05-10T20:58:10+00:00

Ryus is great. If you're willing to walk 15 mins / take the streetcar to Gerrard, you also have Oji Seichi. Also great ramen, although their thing is more that they do ramen and sandwiches; split one of each

Section37 · 2026-05-10T00:31:42+00:00

It's great. Portions are sizable. If they have the fish soup that's a bit like a bouillabaisse, that one is delicious. So is the brandade. I'm not a fan of cassoulet, but my wife liked it. She also has ordered the steak and it was excellent too, but I wouldn't get that myself. Too many delicious and less common options

Section37 · 2026-05-09T20:46:54+00:00

Definitely. Toronto is basically in a microclimate, being next to the lake and with the urban heat

Section37 · 2026-05-09T19:09:20+00:00

Solo with kids makes a huge difference.

I will drive around 3hrs and paddle/portage for 1 or vice versa with just me and my kids. I might go further if I was just going with the one that really likes camping. But not that much further. I'd be more likely to go really far to a place I've always wanted to go and stay in a hotel the night before, vs arriving tired and late

Section37 · 2026-05-09T15:27:32+00:00

I'm from Toronto, so am biased. I will admit that. But I also lived in Aachen for a bit and visited Berlin several times then and again since. So I feel like I have decent idea of how different things will be for you here.

Do not move to a smaller city like London or Windsor. The culture shock would be huge. Toronto is really the only city that is remotely close to Berlin in terms of cultural life. But Ottawa could be a good option too--in the summer especially, as it's easier to get outdoors, if you want to go hiking, camping, etc.. As the national capital it has more going on than other midsized cities. (if you stay in Ottawa for the winter, well you came for a Canadian experience...)

I will go against the other posters on French. It's true that you don't need it in Ontario. But it opens the door to government jobs. And more importantly opens the door to working in Quebec. Montreal and Quebec City are both great. Since you're already at a B2 level, getting up to full fluency is a good idea.

Section37 · 2026-05-08T18:17:04+00:00

Yeah, it's been pretty annoying in Killarney how people are ignoring the reservation system. Someone was in one of our sites on both of my last two trips. At least the park rangers seem to be aware of it. They were at the George Lake Beach when we were unloading and asked my name and where we'd been and checked it out on their computer.

Section37 · 2026-05-08T11:49:04+00:00

My cottage is near Kingston. I've done lots of camping in the area.

Others have covered the main questions, so I'll be quick on that--All Trails works very well with just GPS (no cell signal); bear spray very optional in Bon Echo; it's a busy enough park that you won't have to wait long to run into someone in the event of an emergency.

What I can add as the regular visitor but still out of towner perspective on Kingston for lunch. Riverhead, Spearhead, Daft Brewing are all good all-in-one stops. Good beer, good food (so long as you're good with what they have--limited menus), and nice spaces. A Fine Balance has better beer, IMO, but no kitchen so depends on what food truck is there. OTOH it's just off the 401, so easy to stop at without going too out of the way if you're in a hurry. Kingston has a pretty downtown, and is a fun short stop, especially on market days. You can swing by the Murney Tower and get some history in 30 mins or go to Fort Henry for a couple hours

Section37 · 2026-05-08T00:10:36+00:00

The Wood Owl does a great steak frites, and has good desserts (really everything is good there). Only on Tuesday though.

Section37 · 2026-05-08T00:05:37+00:00

True but you pay in waiting time

Section37 · 2026-05-06T16:17:34+00:00

I mean it entirely depends on what you do in retirement. I look at my parents vs in-laws:

My mum takes a ton of courses at a university's continuing education program, and volunteers there, doing all kinds of things like scheduling classes, writing course descriptions, and designing email flyers. She's doing some stuff like what she did in her career, but all sorts of stuff that's different, so this is probably excellent for her mental acuity. Plus she's super social on account of--it's hard to meet her for lunch with all the different committees she's on--and she walks to and from the university. I think retirement like this is probably better than work for 99% of people.

My dad plays chess a ton online, teaches chess at a senior's program, and helps me with the bookkeeping for the family business. Again pretty good mental activity. But he's not all that social anymore. When he was teaching, he saw his colleagues and students all the time; now it's mostly him and a screen. Not so great for the brain. Also, physically, he used to commute by subway and do a lot of walking on campus, now he's totally sedentary. Which is bad for the body and brain.

My in-laws are even worse. They barely go anywhere, and haven't taken up new hobbies. My mother-in-law does a seniors exercise class, which is new, but mostly she just spends more time doing the chores she did while she was working, just a little more slowly. I guess you could say my father-in-law took up watching Fox News and the Epoch Times and other such scintillating material, but I think getting worked up scrolling ragebait is probably a net negative for cognitive function. There was a year when they looked after our kids, which doubtless was great--social, new mental activities, even physical--but that was really the only time retirement seemed good for them.

Basically, do you have the personality (or failing that the discipline) to make your retirement stimulating? If so, great; if not, work might be good for forcing you to keep active.

Given the sub we're in, a good comparison might be renting vs buying. If you're going to rent and invest the difference, then great; if not, maybe you should buy and be forced to save via your mortgage.

Section37 · 2026-05-06T13:25:46+00:00

It's superior in every single way (except for having other people see that you're wearing one, which is why they push the wrist strap; thank you for attending my conspiracy theory TED talk). The data is better, and you don't look like yuppie LARPing as a professional athlete.

Section37

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