Thursday August 20 2026 - Toronto to St. John's NL
Yes, we are in St. John's with an apostrophe.
Booking a flight to Saint John, New Brunswick (YSJ) instead of **St.John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador** (YYT) is a classic East Coast travel blunder. It turns your rugged iceberg-and-screech-in adventure into an industrial port surprise over 900 km away.
The Real-Life Horror Stories
This mistake happens so often that local airport staff in both provinces have a name for it: "Getting Saint John'd."
The German Tourists who missed Cape Spear: In a famous real-life incident, a couple from Germany booked tickets to Saint John, NB, intending to see the puffins and icebergs of St. John's, NL. They spent their entire vacation in a New Brunswick motel, too polite to complain until they realized there was no ocean ferry to Newfoundland nearby.
The Business Traveler Trap: A consultant once flew into Saint John, NB, for a massive morning presentation. They walked up to the rental car counter and asked for directions to "George Street" (the famous bar strip in St. John's, NL). The agent had to break the news that they were in the wrong province, a 14-hour drive and a ferry ride away.
Our day:
Uber to airport had us there around 9:30. We were checked in online and got our luggage tags at the airport. The n baggage drop, well it seems they had a problem with the baggage belts so we had to leave our luggage to be handled manually...bye bye bags.
Security was quick and easy, no alarm bells for us today, neither of us, that has to be a first!!
We remembered there was a coffee place that didn't rip us off, 2 coffees for $10, in an airport!!
We thought we wouldn't bother wasting a lounge pass, but in hindsight, after water, 2 small bags of chips and a sandwich along with coffee maybe we should have used one, $45 later...
I caught this magnificent beauty!
This is an Air Canada Airbus A220-300 (registration C-GNBN, Fin 119) painted in the vintage 1950s retro livery of Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA).
It sports the iconic grey-top and red-stripe color scheme used by TCA, Air Canada's predecessor, complete with historical branding on the tail and fuselage.
Trans-Canada Air Lines, often abbreviated to TCA, was the flag carrier of Canada until 1965, when it was renamed to Air Canada. Trans-Canada Air Lines was founded in 1937 and commenced its first transcontinental flights in 1938. The airline was based in the city of Montreal in Quebec. In 1964, the Canadian government approved changing the name to Air Canada by an Act of Parliament. A motivation for the change was that Canada is a bilingual country with both English and French spoken.
There is a 1.5 hour time difference.
Waiting for our luggage.
This is for you, Jinjer!!
We landed at 4:15 picked up our luggage and headed outside to a taxi, flat rate $35.
Easy check-on and breakfast is complimentary.
From our room.
We headed out for drinks, it was practically next door!
The Brenda Earle Stokes Jazz Trio featuring Brenda Earle Stokes on piano and vocals, Mark Micklethwaite on drums, and Aiden Fitzpatrick on bass were just getting set up when we were leaving. Mark had spoken to us about working on cruise ships and how he wouldn't take it. I heard Brenda talking about moving back to Ontario after living in NYC, and that her husband was applying for his Canadian residency and the amount of paperwork it took.
St. John’s Harbour is a historic, ice-free, and naturally sheltered deep-water port in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Connected to the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow channel called "The Narrows," it serves as a vital economic hub for container shipping, offshore energy support, fishing, and cruise tourism.
The Narrows is a dramatic, rocky 91-meter-wide channel guarded by Signal Hill National Historic Site and Fort Amherst.
When the fog blew over, you could see Signal Hill. We are on the waterfront, looking out toward the harbor and the general direction of the Narrows and Signal Hill National Historic Site.
Oliver's 🍽️
Jellybean Row isn’t actually a street. It’s more of a vibe.
The name refers to the rows of brightly painted Victorian row houses that tumble down the steep, narrow streets of downtown St. John’s. Think electric purples next to sunshine yellows next to fire-engine reds – all crammed cheerfully together like, well, a bag of jellybeans that someone shook up and spilled down a hillside.
✅✅for John! Cod tongues and scrunchions are a classic traditional seafood dish from Newfoundland and Labrador. Despite the name, cod tongues are actually the tender neck muscle of the fish, and scrunchions are small, crispy pieces of rendered salt pork fat.
I was less than impressed with my lobster roll, as it was served on a thick dense bun, normally it is on a lot dog bun. I only ate the meat, the fries were good. John loved his salmon.
Our server, Ash, was delightful and agreed that the bread didn't work. He was from Bangladesh and is estranged from his parents because he is gay. Such silliness on his parents' part, they are missing out on such a wonderful young man.
War Memorial, more on it later.
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