A drive from Toronto to Newfie - We decided in January to go home to Newfoundland this summer. After finding air travel unreliable in Canada as of late (with Canadian airlines scheduling and other sundry excuses and rental vehicles next to impossible to book) we decided to drive. I allowed 3 days to get to the ferry connection in North Sidney NS, but was surprised to find from my entry on to the 401 to Cape Breton was all 4 lane highway, including the A-30 Montreal bypass. My estimation of the travel time was too long and we arrived in NS in just 2 days. With construction on A-30 (~1 hour delay) and major construction on A-85 just north of the NB border) about 2 hours total was added to the trip; not bad really. Now...the high and low points of the trip The highs 1. Rose's Motel, Edmundston NB; one of the nicest places I have ever stayed. Clean, friendly staff, great value. We stayed there on our return trip as well! ***** 2. Irving station just east of Truro exit off Hwy 104. We were looking for somewhere to have breakfast and found they only had a coffee shop place. The lady told us of a place in New Glasgow (Eastside Family Restaurant, across street from Hospital). Highly recommended, good food and great service! ***** 3. Mariner's Galley, North Sidney NS, As we were early for the ferry, we looked for a place to have dinner. I googled restaurants and found Mariner's Galley (you can see it from the ferry dock; Blue building the top of the hill) Another lucky choice as the menu had a wide selection of apps, entrees all good value and the ones we chose (Shrimp Cocktail and Roast beef dinner) were as good as I've had anywhere! ***** Now, the lows... 1. Irving in NB and NS advertise clean washrooms on their signs. Wit the exception of the one we visited in NS (see 2 above) they were anything but clean, but all the hourly signoff sheets had been up to date. Seems like their management is not monitoring. their employees performance. 2. Stonehouse Motel in Truro. One of the dirtiest places I've ever encountered! I reserved a room on line, recommended by Booking.com and after seeing the condition of the exterior, dirty parking lot and sidewalks and some of the clientele, we decided not to stay there. It took some time talking to the receptionist to get the reservation canceled and my credit card refunded. Stay away!!! Overall it was a good trip and enjoy your visit should you decide to go. Early booking on the Ferry (a year in advance should be OK to get a cabin) and research and book your hotels prior to leaving.