2024-2025 Student Resource Handbook

39 HOME SECURITY TIPS FOR WHEN YOU ARE GOING AWAY Here are some helpful things you can do to your home before you leave and go away for an out of town vacation or trip. You want to make sure you review the security of your home to decrease your chances of becoming a victim of a break in. • • • • • • • • 18 GREAT THINGS TO DO IN AND AROUND TORONTO 1. Get Sprayed At Niagara Falls Niagara falls is a must on any visit to Toronto. It may be a 90-minute drive from Toronto, and an unashamed major tourist attraction, but watching 750,000 gallons of water a second slide off a cliff Check your porch lights and motion detectors are working. If possible, have any newspaper subscriptions put on hold until you are back. If you live in a house, ask someone if they can park in your driveway. Before you leave for your vacation, check all of the doors and windows in your home that lead to the outside and make sure they are securely locked. Consider using timers to turn selected lights on and off automatically. Timers are also available for outdoor water sprinklers. This appears more like someone is home. Ask a family member or a friend if they can bring your mail in while you are gone. Give them any keys they’d require to keep at their home; do not leave any keys in a hiding place. Don’t leave a message on your home voice mail or answering machine that indicates you are out of town. Do not indicate on any social media sites that you are going to be away. www.cntower.ca www.GetInvited.ca www.niagarafallstourism.com right in front of you is pretty impressive by any standards. Visitors can experience the falls from the top of Table Rock Centre that allows you to stand just one metre away from the very edge of Horseshoe Falls. Or try “Journey Behind the Falls” that will have you donning a yellow raincoat to descend 38 metres (125 feet) through the solid rock in an elevator, to end up standing next to the curtain of water. For a real thrill, book a flight over the falls with Niagara Helicopter. 2. Survey The Wide Blue Yonder It may no longer be the highest tower in the world, Burj Dubai that scraps the desert skies in Dubai, United Arab Emirates holds that claim to fame, but still Toronto’s CN Tower is the classic way to hit the heights. Or for stunning views from another less lofty perch, but with drinks and atmosphere worth savoring, try the Panorama Restaurant and Lounge or the Roof Lounge at the Park Hyatt. 3. Avoid Injury With Shinny Seems that just about everyone can ice skate in Canada, but don’t let that put yourself off having a few embarrassing tumbles at Toronto’s 50 or more outdoorrinks.Thetwomostpopularonesaredown at the Harbourfront Centre and at Nathan Phillips Square. Ice hockey, particularly that played by the beloved “Leafs” (Toronto Maple Leafs), is the city’s obsession and the tickets for their bruising games are almost always sold out. Mug up on your knowledge of the national game to impress your bud’s with a visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and if you want to give the sport a go, try joining in with a game of ‘shinny’ (the informal ‘be nice’ version of the game) at any public rink. All you need is a stick and some skates. 4. Climb Some Wondrous Stairs Celebrity architects have been busy in Toronto. First Daniel Libeskind designs the Michael Lee Chin Crystal for the Royal Ontario Museum, that incorporates a stunning Stair of Wonders, with its cabinet of curiosities, linking the historic wings. Then Frank Gehry gets quite creative with the Art Gallery of Ontario, where his dramatically curving sculptural staircase that rises up through a glass ceiling from the second to fifth floors is the toast of the town. 5. Get Undressed On The Islands Toronto Islands are fantastic walking and cycling territory, where getting back to real nature could mean training your binoculars at the feathered residents of a local seabird sanctuary, or disrobing on the ‘Clothing Optional’ beach. But however you choose to enjoy these breezy beauty spots, leave plenty of time to enjoy all their treasures. 39 Colborne Street, Toronto, ON M5E 1E3 416-815-7562 www.pjobrien.com A taste of Ireland