Vacation travels

Our Downtown Kid came home from school one day expressing how all her friends have been to Niagara Falls but she hadn’t. Oddly, this was a few weeks after she got back from Portugal. So, on a Monday morning in late July we made the trek to Niagara Falls from downtown Toronto.

We opted for the train instead of renting a car. There’s a VIA Rail train to Niagara Falls from Toronto. It’s actually the same train that continues on to New York City. The train runs once a day heading south from Toronto’s Union Station, and once a day heading back north to Toronto. The train is actually an Amtrak train, but operated by VIA Rail on the Canadian side of the border.

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As part of our 9 day vacation in Portugal, we visited the much-talked-about city of Porto. As mentioned at the top of our post on what we did in Lisbon, this post is simply what we did in Porto with an 8 year old child (and a guy who likes to try beers he hasn’t had before). Considering an 8 year old in tow, anything a kid would find super boring is out – as well, any long line ups (as this writer doesn’t do that). The itinerary isn’t kid-focused but is kid-friendly.

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We hadn’t been on vacation in a looooooong time. So, we took our Downtown Kid with us to Portugal. We visited both Lisbon and Porto over a span of 9 days. Here’s a rundown on what we did in Lisbon. This isn’t written from the perspective of “the most kid-friendly things to do in Lisbon,”or even “the best things to do in Lisbon,” but more so what our time in Lisbon looked like, with an 8 year old on board for the ride. What that means is you won’t see many museums or galleries – as they’re not exactly where a child wants to spend an hour or two typically. Of note, this writer despises line ups, so don’t expect us to partake in much that requires a crazy wait, which makes even more sense when you have your child in tow. This writer also likes to try craft beers in his travels, so you’ll see beer venues in the mix. We visited Lisbon in mid-late May.

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