On VanRamblings’ first full day in Halifax, we awoke to a Maritimes torrential downpour. We took one look outside, and decided to head to the dining hall for breakfast, first fortifying ourselves with a glass of fresh-
squeezed orange juice and a warming cup of Dalhousie Fair Trade organic hot java (don’t you just love universities for being socially progressive?).
Upon entering the dining hall, we were greeted by a sea of young faces, mostly young women whose native language is French, and who are residing at Dalhousie as part of a cross Canada cultural exchange programme. Otherwise, there are families, visiting professors, and people such as ourselves who appreciate a ‘good deal’. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, baked ham, French toast and all the fixings, fresh fruit, croissants and bagels, various coffees and a variety of fresh juices. We had a bit of everything (all for $7.50!), this being our main meal of the day.
Over the years, VanRamblings has found, when traveling, that the best accommodation (and food) deals may be found at universities across the globe. For our stay in Halifax, at Howe Hall, we are paying the august sum of $43 a night, tax included. For this we get a relatively spacious dorm room (with en suite sink and vanity, and the requisite room ‘storage’), Internet access, an on site dining hall, fresh bedding and towels daily, coin-operated laundry facilities, and a central location with ready access to downtown Halifax, involving a pleasant 15-minute stroll from the university campus to Spring Garden Road, the main street of downtown Halifax.
For a future vacation, VanRamblings is looking to travel to Montreal, where we’ll stay at McGill university. A dorm room at Royal Victoria College goes for as little as $25 a night. An RVC dorm room looks pretty deluxe.
VanRamblings will spend this Wednesday decompressing from life in the big city, reading, exploring Halifax (even if it is raining), and may even catch a movie or two, at either the Empire Park Lane or Oxford theatre, or both.
