Random first impressions can tell us a lot about the place we’re visiting, as well as the one we call home:

• Arrive in Toronto at the airport, and you have to pay for your luggage cart but the washrooms are free.  Arrive in Geneva, your luggage cart is free, but you have to pay for the washrooms.  Either way, you need the right currency (coins) in advance of getting off the plane.

•  Buy a train ticket in Geneva as a tourist, and you might be recommended to go"first class."  Especially for single women traveling alone, this way is considered safer.  (The graffiti alongside the train tracks hints at the wild personalities that sometimes hang around trains and train stations.)

• Look at graffiti in Switzerland, and you’re looking at art.  It’s clear to see that a lot of thought and effort has gone into some of the designs and colors that form the words.  In Canada, graffiti is usually shear vandalism.  Reverence for the arts appears eclipsed by funding cutbacks and the consequences can have a domino effect.

• French is one of Canada’s official languages.  However, most anglophones aren’t anxious to speak it (just as most francophones don’t like having to speak English).  In Switzerland, there’s French, German, Italian, English, and various local dialects, as well as as an openness to switching between them.  Politics and laziness don’t seem to get in the way.

• Out and about in Geneva, pass someone in the street, or answer their question, and they’ll address you more formally, adding "Madame" (if you look/act like an adult).  They’ll also say "bonjour" even if they don’t know you.  Out and about in Toronto, there’s usually less formality/manners—as well as casual interactions with strangers.

• In Switzerland, there’s obvious appreciation for the little things in life (with smaller scale streets, cars, food portions, clothes, homes, stores, etc.).  Individuality and uniqueness are still favored over mass production and sameness.  In Canada, sometimes, bigger and more become "have-to-haves" which are mistaken for better (just like in the US).

• En route to the airport in Toronto, there’s a billboard with Madonna modeling a plain little black dress she’s designed.  It’s 55 Canadian dollars.  On the way from the airport in Geneva, there’s a similar billboard with Madonna modeling another little black dress she’s designed, this time with off-white silk detailing.  It’s 85 Swiss francs.  With Canadian tax, they work out to roughly the same final price.  Except, for the Canadian version, the taxman might be seen to be getting a better deal than the consumer.

Canada is often compared to Switzerland.  But these quick observations indicate that there may be more differences than similarities… Spotting differences, no matter how subtle, turns travel opportunities into illuminating experiences.