Well I’ve found a very good pizza place here in Guelph called Toppers Pizza. If you are a local you have probably well aware of this place but for me it took 2 months before I was introduced to its wonderful pizza. Toppers Pizza does pickup and of course home delivery and it cost less then $18 for a large 5 toping pizza delivered.
They have an official website http://www.toppers.ca/ but it’s a pain to use, ok not as bad as Mc Donald’s site in Singapore but bad enough that the only thing worth mentioning is the online booking option http://toppers.orderingonline.ca/. While the online ordering system is a little daunting it does mean if you really are a nerd and do nothing but use the Internet for dating, chatting with friends, playing games, you can now even order you food without any really human interaction.
As for the pizza, it is far better then their website. Nice fresh toppings with nothing overcooked and they give choice of crust. This is something that’s really cool as I love garlic bread and with the garlic crust option I no longer need to order the bread on the side. The pizza is good size and they have a wide range of toppings, even had shrimp added to my pizza.
Other then Toppers I have been eating a lot downstairs at the penny whistle and will give a review of them also in the time to come.
Sunday, June 17
Toppers Pizza GuelphExpand this Post: Toppers Pizza Guelph |
Saturday, June 2
Back from China & Off to SeattleExpand this Post: Back from China & Off to Seattle |
Well I got back into Guelph yesterday morning and spent the day learning more about the “restructuring” that happened at my work. While I currently have my job I lost 95% of my team due to “cutbacks” and am left wondering what the future will hold for me and the rest of the team.
Anyways on a positive note China was eventful and fun, met up with the Jianfei Zhu, who is the Yao Ming of the search world. Also had some really good meetings with Alibaba/Yahoo! China and maybe will end up sending some of my ex-team members into China to help Alibaba/Yahoo! China succeed on their SEO goals. The trip was a little long and I am glad to be back but sadly I have only 2 days here in Guelph and I have to fly off to Search Marketing Expo in Seattle.
Seattle is a city I haven’t spent much time in but will be good to go up for this event as it’s the first SMX and it should be very educational and full of interesting people. Will have a chance to meet up with Matt Cutts again at the event, it’s been a awhile since we met face to face as being in Asia all I could do was email with him.
As for Guelph it is getting warmer and prettier all the time, I am looking forward to this summer being able to walk around and enjoy some of the outdoor activities. I haven’t fully moved into my home yet, also my stuff from Singapore hasn’t arrived so won’t post any photos of my place just yet. Hopefully this month my stuff will arrive and my home will be ready to have a nice housewarming party as well as take some photos.
To all my ex-staff and to the editors and writers, I will do my best to help you find work within the industry as your knowledge is very valuable and if I had my own company setup in Canada I would be happy to take some of you in myself. The next 2 months you all will have many offers but take your time and don’t rush into the first job your offered. As while change is always difficult this might just be a really great chance to focus and find that dream job. If anyone has interest to work in China, either for copy writing, editing or SEO please drop me an email, but note that while it’s a job it is not going to pay a lot of money but will be a great personal and working experience.
Saturday, May 12
Thomas DVD Movie RentalExpand this Post: Thomas DVD Movie Rental |
This weekend is my first one in my new home and thanks for Thomas Movie Rental it has become a movie weekend. The location of my new home, 2 Quebec Street, not only has a lot of great restaurants it also is less then 5 minutes walk to the video store.
So today I got a membership at Thomas Entertainment CD & Movie Rentals and picked up 6 great movies to get me through the weekend.
While the video store is not easy to find things in yourself, it does have a couple great employee's that know where things are. So ask if you can't find something as movies are not organized alphabetically and there are a couple sections for each type of movie, yes it is as confusing as it sounds.
They also have a websites, while not fully working it does have some tools and information. the website is http://www.thomasvideo.ca/ and the Thomas Video Rentals phone number is (519) 822-1451 and their address is: 60 Baker St. Guelph. Open 10am to 10pm daily.
Sunday, April 29
First Month in GuelphExpand this Post: First Month in Guelph |
Very happy to say that life in Guelph has been great and my gut feelings on Guelph where very correct. Sadly on the working in Guelph side of things a combination of confusion, uncertainty and the general stress of the move has made it a little rough. Not all that bad just try and think about doing the following:
- Get less then 30 days to: move to a new city/country, hire movers/pack, say goodbye to friends, manage 5 other unassociated trips, deal with office rentals, apartment rentals and related services.
- Arrive at a new job where you have 13 people reporting to you all of whom are eager to learn everything possible and are in need of that knowledge ASAP, but you also have dozens of other people asking for help. (If anyone wants a genie pig for a cloning experiment I am game.)
- Attend meeting after meeting with different people/departments all asking for the same thing but not being in a logistical position to give it to anyone of them.
- Come home night after night to a hotel room and have random eating habits.
That’s my life over the last couple months and its catching up to me but I do know that in the coming couple months I will have a better time both in Guelph and at work.
May will be an interesting month as I have to be in Florida and China for meetings and more interestingly I will be moving into my new home on the 8th of May. No house warming party planned for May as I won’t be around long enough but in June I hope that I have the place ready for guests.
Going to Florida for 3 days for a quick meeting with the corresponding SEO department within a company we just acquired. Will see what tools and knowledge they can bring back to the Guelph SEO team. I know that some of them SEO team in Guelph like the possibility of having a remote office in Florida to make use of during the winter months, but don’t know if that’s possible.
My trip to China in May will be for the Search Engine Strategies conference and I will be speaking on the Advanced SEO track. This year I will expand out my presentation on the top things a webmaster/SEO can do to rank better in Google. I will post a link within the blog to allow you to download a version for those who are interested. Post more on that later in May.
Wednesday, April 25
Atmosphere CafeExpand this Post: Atmosphere Cafe |
While I have not gotten a chance to get out for many dinners I have made it to the Atmosphere Cafe in Guelph and have to say the food was really wonderful. For an entree I ordered the Pear Salad which was my first time having a pear salad and I was presently surprised, while it is not a garden salad the pears really add a nice flavor.
For a main course I had the Pacific Salmon and I have to say that this is worth coming to eat at the Atmosphere Cafe. The piece of salmon was large and was atop of a nice array of fresh vegetables and everything was cooked just right, the vegetables where still crisps and the salmon nice and flakey.
If these items don’t interest you the Atmosphere Cafe has a great website ( http://www.atmospherecafe.ca ) that have there menus online so you can get a great idea of the other items they serve and I can say that your are going to enjoy which ever item you select. My friends who joined me for dinner had the pizza and they really enjoyed that but for me I prefer to have a meal over pizza when I am in nice restaurant like this. But the pizza still is very gourmet and just as enjoyable.
If you want some more opinions of the Atmosphere Cafe there is a great website that offers up Guelph restaurant reviews at http://www.restaurantica.com/restaurants/1094/
Swiss Chalet in GuelphExpand this Post: Swiss Chalet in Guelph |
Many of you are asking me what I am eating since I have been back in Canada and while I not getting out for dinners at restaurants I am staying away from Mc Donald’s and opting for Swiss Chalet delivery.
Swiss Chalet has some great chicken and even has porgies. I order the porgies, chicken sandwich and an apple pie for dessert. While kind of costly it is at least a really nice dinner and it defiantly is better then some fast food option.
Amazingly ordering Swiss Chalet is really easy and they have an interesting system. You can visit their website at http://www.swisschalet.com/ and order online or call their 800 number either way they guarantee that you order will arrive in less then 1 hour or its free. I don’t know if even the pizza companies offer this guarantee anymore, so it is nice to see that you can get a great meal and get it rather quickly. For me I try to call while I driving home from work which times everything nicely.
But I am really looking forward to when I am living downtown and have access to a lot of nice restaurants and can further stay away from the fast food diet.
Monday, April 23
First PaydayExpand this Post: First Payday |
I have been working in Guelph now for 3 weeks, even had my first payday and so far it has been really eventful and fun. But a lot of changes are happening considering I was hired to be an "advisor" to the team and now I have 13 people reporting into me you can get the general idea of the restructuring within the company. But for you over at GS in Singapore the grass isn’t all that greener as even here I don't get an office, guess that gives me something to work towards.
My new team is not as experienced as some but they are all really eager to learn, plus there are a couple people within the team that do have some experience and hoping they can help in my mentoring of the rest. Also in the coming months, maybe even weeks I hope that I can further grow the team even more. So if anyone reading this blog is interested in doing SEO in Guelph send an email to me and I will put you in touch with HR.
Other then work, life in Guelph is getting better along with the weather. Last weekend I went out to a Stag and Doe (my first) and it was a lot of fun to see a bunch of laid back Canadians having fun. Really looking forward to moving into my place in May and I have found myself a Sofa, dinning room table and some kitchen items just wish I could move in sooner.
As for my plans for heading to SES China I haven’t gotten clearance on things yet, but have my first meeting with the CEO on Thursday so will bring that up then to see what his thoughts are as its getting close and I really like to know when I would be back in Asia. Wish me luck with the meeting with the CEO, don’t think I will need it as he sounds like a good guy, but still thanks for the good thoughts.
Thursday, April 19
Thanks to My Guelph ReadersExpand this Post: Thanks to My Guelph Readers |
Want say "thank you" to all my Guelph readers who took the time to email me or leave me a comment on my question on where to live as it really helped me out. Without your feedback I could have easily taken the apartment on Willow Road and while it would have been a home by the sounds of things it wouldn't have been the most suitable place to call home.
Sunday, April 15
I Need Your Help: Downtown or Silvercreek Area?Expand this Post: I Need Your Help: Downtown or Silvercreek Area? |
These are the two locations that I have narrowed down my home search to but I need your help. Since I do not know much about either areas I could use your feedback on downtown and/or Silvercreek (across from Willow West Mall).
UPDATE: I decided on the downtown location, BIG THANKS to all those who gave me their feedback it was really helpful.
Both have pluses and minus on the side of the apartment itself but if someone can give me some feedback on the area maybe that will help me decide. I will make my choice by Wednesday so please take the time to leave me your comments.
Its good news that I have found a couple choices as I gave up on getting a house and living in some acreage, so it is going to be apartment life for me at least until I decide to buy something for myself.
Tuesday, April 10
Stressing Out on Tax in CanadaExpand this Post: Stressing Out on Tax in Canada |
The other day I was in with HR and we were just going over things like getting OHIP, life insurance and taxes. She pulled up a program that showed the tax deductions from my salary and wow it was shocking.
POST UPDATED: I had to update this post as I have had a few negative comments and some not so nice emails about my comments on tax. So I will explain my logic on my issues, but please note Canada is a great country and I am happy to be back. But in a country that we strive for equality I don't see equality in the tax system, a basic idea of a equal tax system would be: take the average salary of everyone within a province and then assign a cap to the tax paid based on that. So if you make the average salary you pay the normal tax, if you make less you pay less tax but if you make more you are not further tax simply because your paid more. This also brings more money into the communities and back in the the salaries of the workers. To me this is a equal system but in Canada if you happen to make a high salary you are heavily taxed and shockingly instead of paying less tax the more you make it is the opposite the more you make the more you are taxed. Anyways I am very happy to be back in Canada and will happily pay my taxes where required, but I just think the system is a little strange.
Other then stressing on the taxes I am stressing on finding a place to live as I have now contacted about 200 people that had a place for rent and seen a number of them. But there has only been one place that is interesting and there is an offer currently on it so if it is accepted then I am out of luck. But wish me luck as it’s a beautiful 3 story house that has 7 bedrooms, 5 washrooms and even a room for a theater, my only problem will be trying to furnish 7 bedrooms (hehehe anyone want to rent a room).
Saturday, April 7
Apartment/House Hunting in GuelphExpand this Post: Apartment/House Hunting in Guelph |
This weekend I started seeing places for rent but had no luck so far. I did find a nice place was on 13 acres of land and was a very nice house. Would have loved to call it home but the strangest problem it was a little out of the city and it doesn’t get mobile phone coverage. I guess it was just a little too much into the country area and without cell phone coverage it wasn’t something I could accept.
I am also having a tough time finding a place due to the abundance of student style housing. One place I saw was very run down and I felt bad as the house itself could be such a nice place if the landlord actually kept up the place.
If anyone reading this has/knows of a place in Guelph either a detached house or nice apartment please let me know. I have a few requirements the only one worth mentioning is that it needs to have underground parking or an attached garage. Also ideally I like to have a nice apartment but if there are no executive style apartments then a nice detached house is my backup plan.
Wish me luck on finding a place as it has been a week in the hotel and I am looking forward to moving out into a real home.
Tip Top Tailors, Stone Road MallExpand this Post: Tip Top Tailors, Stone Road Mall |
While tailors in Asia are common there are no branded tailor shops so it is nice to see that in Guelph they have the Tip Top Tailors stores. I went in and some great service with some amazing low prices, actually the prices of pants and shirts are cheaper then in Singapore. I think this is due to the volume aspect combined with the lack of greed as the quality is the same if not better.
Tip Top Tailors in the Stone Road Mall is a good sized store and has a lot of options. It even rents tuxes but on my visit I just picked up some new shirts and a nice heavy woven long sleeve top. Cost wise I paid only $20 a shirt and the sales lady was helpful enough that she steamed my shirts and then gave them to me in a shirt bag with hangers. I will be happy to shop there again and recommend to others check them out next time you are looking for a new shirt or pants.
Thursday, April 5
White Sandy Beaches in GuelphExpand this Post: White Sandy Beaches in Guelph |
Today I awoke to what for the last few years is normally a good thing, white substance on the round outside of my hotel room. But unlike in Asia this wasn’t nice white sand it was cold, cold snow. So much for my hopes in avoiding snow till this coming winter and they say that the snow might stay around for the next week or so, darn that trip to Florida is looking better.
For all you in Singapore you can play spot the Google with the photo of my X5 and for the rest of you spot the Google was something that my co-workers used to do with my photos as a lot of my photos seem to have a Google logo in them.
To get an idea of how cold it was in Guelph, the door to my X5 once opened didn’t want to close and when I finally did get it closed it refused to open again. This meant me climbing out the passenger side door, but luckily in the afternoon the ice melted enough that I could open and close my doors. But as I type this I can feel the coldness in my fingers, it doesn’t feel good and about now I am really missing the warm lifestyle in Asia.
Tonight I am off to a night out with people from work so should be interesting to meet more of the fellow staff. Will let you know how that all goes later on this weekend.
Wednesday, April 4
Snowing in GuelphExpand this Post: Snowing in Guelph |
It has been a long time since I have seen snow, in fact I stopped in the middle of a little meeting I was in and pointed out of the window and said look it is snowing. The others looked at me strangely and I think they then remembered that to me this is something new, but to them they’ve probably just spent the last 4 or 5 months looking at snow and where not at all impressed.
So its getting colder here in Guelph and the snow is still falling. If it lasts till morning I will take a photo of it as that would look nice as at the moment there is just little layer of snow on everything.
I have already started to call real estate agents and have a few other locations in mind to live. As that house I mentioned before it great, but it’s a little out of the city and I would like to see if I can get myself a nice condo within the core of the city. The place I am really interested in is called Riverside residence on the Park, so if anyone of my readers knows of anyone selling, leasing or renting a unit out of that building please do let me know. Otherwise if you know of any locations with a great view, underground parking and 3+ bedrooms feel free to let me know as I am defiantly interested.
Work is going good and today I was asked to fly to Florida next week for a couple days to help review some business ventures there, but in a twist of luck the people that I needed to speak with are in New York all next week. So I’ll be staying put for the week, which is good as I think 2 weeks in one location is the longest I’ve stayed still this year.
My trip back to Asia in May is looking to be around the 19th to 27th as we have a public holiday on the 21st and SES is on the 25/26 so it is great timing. So hope that I can get my buddy Gurp to come out with me to Thailand and maybe even get my English pal Mark to take some time off school and head out for a little reunion, we’ll see.
Ok I hoping tonight I get a full night sleep as not feeling overly tired and its 9:30 so it’s a good sign that I might be able to stay awake till 11 and sleep the whole night, wish me luck and hope tomorrow I can post some nice snow photos.
Monday, April 2
First Day Working in GuelphExpand this Post: First Day Working in Guelph |
Very happy to report that I had a great first day and my fellow co-workers turning out to be even more enjoyable then I had hoped. Funny thing was a couple of the staff members are readers of my blog and my cubical buddy Steve is also a blogger, he runs Angry in the Great White North.
Today along with me there where 11 new people joining the company, which even included an ex-NHL player who will be heading the Hockey.com website development. It looks like the company is growing very quickly, so much so that the parking lots can’t handle all the cars and they have to run mini-shuttle buses to the offices from larger parking lots.
I spent some of my day trying to setup my computer and desk, its fun to have a desk and co-workers again. For a computer they gave me an IBM T60, while it is really heavy it does have an amazing 15.4-inch widescreen and it makes my x60 look like a pocket pc. A nice surprise is they’ll be giving a company Blackberry phone for me to use, which is nice as I miss having Internet access on the go.
Still having a tough time with the time change and I didn’t get a good sleep last night but I hoping tonight I get a full nights sleep, wish me luck. This weekend I checked and there aren’t any Club Meds in Cuba so while it is possible to go, I will wait to go to Cuba when I have someone to go with me. So this weekend I will maybe get a chance to see a few apartments and also get some more shopping in as it will be another 6 weeks till the rest of my bags arrive and I released I forgot to pack enough shirts.
Sunday, April 1
Day One in GuelphExpand this Post: Day One in Guelph |
I arrived last night and took a quick city tour and was really amazed as the city was so much prettier then I had thought. The city has so many old style buildings in brink and stone, something I haven’t seen for along time. I arrived Saturday night so there where a few people out downtown, but to my delight nothing too crazy happening downtown and the local nightlife seems really interesting.
Today I drove around the city and checked out a couple apartments and the house I was looking at renting, so many options really looking forward to getting a place here. I also got over to the Stone Road Mall, where I checked out the Sony Store, Flight Centre and I setup a local phone number with Fido. The Stone Road Mall is small but a good size that it’s a nice way to spend a couple hours shopping.
Weather wise its cold here and it rained today, but at least there isn’t snow on the ground. It is nice to be driving again, but had to fill up my tank today and wow it was $100 to fill up, so maybe I should stop driving around randomly. I figure the novelty of being able to drive will ware off in a few weeks.
My body right now doesn’t seem to have a big issue with the coldness and a funny thing is my hotel room heater only goes to 25.5 C so even at full heat its cold in my room. The biggest problem my body has right now is trying to stay awake and also trying to stay asleep. Last night woke up at 5am and couldn’t get back to sleep and now it is almost 8pm and I am fighting to keep my eyes open.
Tomorrow is my first day on the job, really looking forward to it. Scoped out the offices today and while not a high profile office/company they sure seem to be big with tons of cubicles/office space. Will do my best to post back on my first day at work and will try to figure out how to post my new phone number to my friends without the whole world knowing my number.
Tuesday, March 20
Differences between Singapore & GuelphExpand this Post: Differences between Singapore & Guelph |
Some of my friends back here in Asia don’t really understand how big the difference to life in Singapore is compared to life in Guelph and to tell you the truth I don’t know how much different it will end up being either. But what I do know is some of the statistical differences, such as:
Population
Singapore 4,492,150
Guelph 127,009 (138,183 including the surrounding township)
So Guelph has the population size of around 3% of Singapore's, but this is probably higher then actual as in Singapore there are hundreds of thousands of illegal workers and tourists that are not included in the official population.
Land Size/Area
Singapore 699.4 km²
Guelph 86.66 km² (378.45 km² including the surrounding township)
Amazing that Guelph is about half the size of Singapore but with 3% of the number of people. To give you anouther aspect to land/people ratio, here is the home I am looking at getting in Guelph: http://www.virtualproperties.ca/r5007/photogallery.htm this land use would be something that only the president of Singapore would be able to acquire, but in Guelph its just another house on the block.
Weather
Current Temperature in Singapore 32 °C / 89 °F
Current Temperature in Guelph -5.6 °C / 21.9 °F
While I did find an average temperature for Guelph, it is somewhat useless as the temperature range in Guelph goes from -11.0 °C to plus 25.7 °C depending on the time of year, but anyways the average temperature in Guelph is between 1.8 °C and 11.6 °C.
Where as in Singapore there is a constant temperature year around, which ranges from 24 °C and 30 °C, even on some of Guelph’s warmest days it won’t reach the average temperature I’m used to in Singapore, oh boy…
That is why after living in Asia for nearly 6 years my biggest fear is how my body will adjust back to not only colder temperatures but also variation in temperatures. One thing I do know is that I will have a much larger wardrobe in Guelph, which will include lots of long johns and parkas.
Housing/Rental
3 Bedroom Condo in Singapore $1,450 CAD / $1,900 SGD
3 Bedroom House in Guelph $1,200 CAD / $1,550 SGD
There is no point trying to compare renting a house in Singapore to renting a house in Guelph as in Singapore you can expect to pay at least $4,000 SGD / $3,000 CAD for a house. The Singapore prices are not higher due to western style of living this is the actual average cost of a place in Singapore. If you wanted western style living you can expect to pay at least $2,500 to $4,000 a month for a condo.
Cars / Automobiles
Singapore entry level 2007 Honda Civic: $56,250 CAD / $73,000 SGD
Singapore fully loaded 2007 Honda Civic: $62,400 CAD / $81,000 SGD
Canada entry level 2007 Honda Civic: $16,980 CAD / $22,000 SGD
Canada fully loaded 2007 Honda Civic: $23,630 CAD / $30,650 SGD
In Singapore a combination of government corruption and local dealership greed has made owning a vehicle almost impossible. As the price of the same car in Singapore can buy you 3 in Canada, not to mention that in Singapore you are only allowed to own the car for 10 years. After 10 years you have to re-buy your car from the government otherwise it becomes scrap metal.
Me being a car nut this has really been one of my biggest problems living in Singapore as sadly to say I haven’t owned a car during my life in Singapore, but I can assure you I will own one (maybe even two or three) when I am in Guelph.
Food / Mc Donald’s
Big Mac in Singapore $3.00 CAD / $3.85 SGD
Big Mac in Guelph $3.76 / $4.90 SGD
Ok right now all those who know me in Asia are probably laughing and can add to that list the lady who answered the phone at the Gordon Street Mc Donald’s in Guelph, but I had to compare the cost of a Big Mac. So it looks like its going to cost me $1.05 SGD more to bite into a Big Mac, maybe I should have held out for a bigger salary or maybe I should just buy more shares in Mc Donald’s. (The price was updated as someone mentioned to me that the Tower Street Mc Donald's originally used in the quote was in Fergus)
Those are the current differences I could find, but will add more once I am in Guelph. Hope to make note on the taxi cost, bus fare, silly things like power costs as I know my friends back in Bangkok are always talking about how much power costs them, as well as anything else I come across that would make a good comparison.
Saturday, March 17
Blog Guelph - blogguelph.comExpand this Post: Blog Guelph - blogguelph.com |
Sue Richards over at Blog Guelph has really been busy over the last year posting hundreds of posts and photos related to Guelph. While the navigation is a little hard you will find enough great photos and content right on the homepage.
I really think Sue should start putting some of her stuff on Getty Images as some of the photos she have really give a nice showcase of Guelph. Maybe in future years she'll add a Guelph calendar in addition to her "Breasts of Canada" calendar.
One of my favorite photos from Blog Guelph is this one. It looks so peacefull and really reminds me the value of actually having seasons. When I look at this photo I can just imagine in spring the leaves budding, summer with the trees in full color and then in fall when the leafs are falling to the ground. Its going to be so nice to have seasons again.
If you are looking for some great photos from Guelph I highly recommend taking a look at Blog Guelph.
Visit Blog Guelph at http://www.blogguelph.com/
GuelphCAM - guelphcam.comExpand this Post: GuelphCAM - guelphcam.com |
This is one of the websites based in Guelph that I usually visit everyday. I find the live stream of video and the still photos really entertaining and it really gives me a good idea on the weather conditions in Guelph.
Kev the website owner really looks after his cams as they’re never down and that’s something rare in the webcam business, but his consistent uptime is probably due to his understanding of computers and system administration.
I really look forward to meeting up with Kev when I arrive in Guelph and hope that I can get myself a nice enough view and add on to his website with some more camera angles.
GuelphCam is a great if you would like to get an idea on Guelph’s weather or if you are just looking to waste a few hours watching the cars.
If anyone else has a Guelph web camera please add a comment here and I will be sure to review it and add a link to your website.
Visit GuelphCAM at http://www.guelphcam.com/
Thursday, March 15
Hampton Inn & Suites GuelphExpand this Post: Hampton Inn & Suites Guelph |
The Hampton Inn & Suites Guelph (operated by the Hilton chain) is where I will call home for my first month of life in Guelph. I called several of the hotels in Guelph and ended up selecting this hotel as not only was Naushad Ismail the general manager very personable he was also very persistent. In the end I went with the two room suite as I didn’t feel like being stuck to a single room for a month.
Some of the other hotels I considered where the Travel Lodge Inn & Suites, while the rate was a lot better they seem to have less of a business theme and their location I was told by others is above a local pub, but I can’t confirm that.
Another two hotels I considered where the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, yup that’s right they have both in this small city and it confused me as when the don’t seem to share much information between the two. But I will say that the Holiday Inn has one thing that the Hampton Inn & Suites is missing and that would be a restaurant on site.
While all the hotels offer free breakfast and free Internet access the only one to have a restaurant on site is the Holiday Inn, but Mr. Ismail from the Hampton Inn & Suites assured me that there were plenty of great restaurants beside their hotel and some offer delivery, which I guess can be as good as room service. I often forget about delivery as in Asia it is very uncommon to have any nice actually cooked food delivered so while I travel in Asia I really rely on room service.
As for the Hampton Inn & Suites in Guelph they are located at 725 Imperial Road North, please don’t rely on the current Google Maps data for this hotel as for some reason this hotel is coming up as being located at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites address. This might be due to the fact that the same owner operates both properties and someone made a mistake or that someone has gone and spammed Google Maps, but either way I am sure I can help them correct this problem over the next month.
The Hampton Inn & Suites has both suites and normal rooms, with some of their rooms having nice whirlpool tubs, too bad my room doesn’t. Also all rooms have a fridge, microwave and sink to make longer stays easier. A nice touch of style in the rooms is the use of large LCD TVs, which gives the room more space and at the same time gives is a very fresh/new feeling.
I have attached actual photos of the rooms and once I check in I will update this post with more relevant information. If you would like more information on the Hampton Inn & Suites Guelph you can visit their official homepage here.
It is only 16 more days and I will be officially starting my life in Guelph, I really need to start packing...
