How familiar are Toronto urbanists with the GTA's suburbs?

[Fritter]

I'm from the Durham Region, and I'm quite familiar with Scarborough and Downtown Toronto, however I know very little of the city west of Young St.

 

[boldpreza]

I have been lucky when I look back at it. I have lived in Scarborough as a child, then Ajax for my teen years and early 20's, Downtown(well Downtown adjacent at King and Dufferin) and now back to Scarborough though in a different part. I have worked in Markham, Ajax, North York and Etobicoke, though now as a Realtor I find myself exploring more of the GTA and its surrounding areas.

There are parts I enjoy in all of them and parts I greatly disliked but I do have to say, The East End does feel more like home to me. As much as I am drawn to the lifestyle of living Downtown, I like having my own front door and not worrying about my parking situation.

 

[Tuscani01]

I grew up in the western GTA and my family rarely ventured outside Mississauga/Halton, maybe a couple trips to downtown each year, and the occasionally trip to Canada's Wonderland, and that's it.

Same here. I was born and raised in Toronto for a few years before my family settled in Mississauga. Despite living in Mississauga, I still went to school in Toronto while my grandparents lived here. (I was registered using their address, and my mom would drop me off in the morning and pick me up on her way home from work)

When the grandparents eventually followed my parents, the rest of the family made the same move. For about 10 years of my life, we had no reason to leave Mississauga. A trip to Toronto was rare, and never involved downtown. We had everything we needed in Mississauga.

That being said, my dad does work in Vaughan and I worked with him for a few years and got to know Maple quite well. Because of this, I don't think I have the same aversion to Vaughan as many do. Strangely, I feel comfortable there. Same with Oakville, Burlington, and Brampton. Ask me how I feel about the East end though and it's a completely different feeling. No connection, no understanding, no draw to it at all.

I moved back to Toronto about 10 years ago and always find it interesting when I meet people who have very little experience of the outer burbs.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Since changing jobs in Sept 2015 from Markham Rd. and 14th Ave, I rarely go north of the 401, and almost never above the 407 unless I'm heading to cottage country.

 

[christiesplits]

I realized last weekend at the age of 28, born and raised in Toronto, that it was my first time every setting foot in Brampton. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[stanko]

I've only ever driven through Brampton maybe once or twice and the closest I have to setting foot there is in Malton. I've also never been to Richmond Hill, I think I was only in Markham once and that was at Pacific Mall, and I've never set foot anywhere in the Durham Region