1. Driving
The speed limits are the first thing you notice. You will never go faster than 100km, or 60 miles per hour, anywhere...even on rural roads! Most of the signs are also listed in French. At each construction zone, you will find signs stating what exactly they are doing to the road and the company responsible for the construction. There are NO billboards anywhere, which is a pleasant change of pace from the propaganda spilled all around Chicago. The only other signs you will see will be nice reminders to "stay safe" on the road and "buckle up".
2. Food
They have the same food as Americans, hot dogs, burgers, etc, but everything tastes just a bit different. We figured it was the freshness of the Canadian food via American food. There is a Tim Hortons in every town, even the towns that don't have grocery store have a brand new Tim Hortons. We went to see what all the hype was about, and it turned out to be like a Dunkin' Donuts meets Arby's. There's breakfast food, coffee, donuts, wraps and sandwiches. Everyone at Niagara Falls had a Tim Hortons coffee! We only saw a handful of McDonald's, Taco Bell or Wendy's throughout Ontario. Tim Hortons is definitely the Canadian thing! Also, the soda situation is different here too. There are NO free refills, drinks in size small are actually small, and Tim Hortons doesn't have a soda dispenser! I asked for a fountain drink while ordering and the cashier looked at me like I was crazy.
3. Recycle
Everywhere you go, inside or outside, there is a receptacle for 'Waste' and a receptacle for 'Recycle'.
4. People think it's cool to live in Illinois
When we were at Bruce Peninsula National Park, the counter staff asked us where we were from in the States. We responded "Illinois". He looked at us wide eyed and said how cool it was that we were from there. M and I both looked at each other and said, "Well then, you've never been to Illinois."
5. Gas Pumps
First, you have to pre-pay for your gas every time, so you better know how much gas you need. There isn't an 'auto-fill' option that allows you walk away from the pump, so you stand there and hold the nozzle. Not only do you have to guess the amount of gas you need, but you need to figure out the hieroglyphics on the screen to even purchase gas. Everything is in liters in Canada, so the gas signs usually say "105.9" (or something like that). That means $1.05 CAD per liter. It's an easy conversion, but when you go to the pump to pay a screen pops up stating "80. 100. 150. 200." No other labels or anything. I don't know if that was dollars, liters or what! So I went inside to pay each time, haha.
6. Money
Each CAD (Canadian Dollar) is 0.77 USD (US Dollar), so everything is much cheaper for us, which was wonderful! We used our Signature cards the entire time, which gives us 0% foreign transaction fees, and we were so thrilled when we got home that we spent so much less money than what we were charged in Canada!
