Welcome to ‘Day 1’ of our BIG Holiday of 2025 – a 21-day experience! We’re with great mates, Ralph and Karen, taking in Canada, Greenland and Iceland.
Day 1 – Saturday, 2nd August
Montreal
Before boarding the good ship Azamara Quest on Tuesday, we’ve got a few days in Montreal to soak up the sights. But first, we needed to get to Canada, some 3000 miles away. 👍
Hello Heathrow!
David and Valerie were kind enough to ferry us to Kettering Station for the first leg of our journey to catch the 12.48. Next stop St Pancras International.
Once in the capital, we battled the crowds on the Tube as we took the short hop to Farringdon.
Gosh, the Tube was busy! It felt like rush-hour ‘back in the day’! 😲
Terminal 5 was busy too, but it’s a spacious area and we were soon wheeling our cases across the -concourse heading for the quieter environment of BA’s ‘First’ check-in.
With our passports in our hand, we finally arrived at this much quieter area around 3.45, almost three hours since we stood at Kettering Station. To me, it had felt a much longer journey than it actually was, and I already knew I’d improved my muscle tone having wheeled the kitchen sink halfway across the capital! 😲
As we passed through Security in record time (that part felt very relaxed!), we took our seats in the nearby BA Lounge and toasted hoourliday-to-come 🥂🥂
We then headed for the food and sampled their wares – delicious! A glass of Fizz, some food and a sit down! It felt like the holiday had really begun!!! They called our flight at 4.50 and we took the short wander to the Gate, ready for the 7-hour 10-minute flight westwards.
We were soon on-board flight BA0095 heading Trudeau Airport. Or were we? In all our years of travelling, the worst airline for us has always been BA in terms of the actual air-travel experience. Maybe we’re just unlucky, but tonight, they maintained that tradition! ☹️.
So, it wasn’t a great start as the issues kept piling up. We were almost an hour late taking off, the multimedia system was broken throughout the plane and needed fixing before we left Heathrow. Then they announced there was no wi-fi available. ☹️😡
Well, at least the food was better than usual and the staff were very attentive, polite and helpful throughout.
Finally, they got the TVs working on the plane, although Ralph’s did ‘throw a wobble’ later. In happier news, our pilot made up a little time on the way there and arrived just half an hour later than the original schedule.
Bonsoir Canada
We were nearly there. With our French featured phrases echoing around our head, we were ready for Montreal – but was it ready for us? 🤔
Once we were inside the Terminal, it all went very smoothly for us. It was now the equivalent of 2.15 am, back home (9.15pm here), the fewer the challenges, the better at this stage. The eGates worked perfectly with our passports and after answering a few screens-worth of our questions, we got our printed receipt sporting a photo of us – and we were almost officially in Canada – bit not quite! After a little more queuing, a short, but polite interrogation from the Security Staff (in French, of course) because this is the French-speaking part of Canada, we were soon ‘bonsoiring’ our way through Security. After a short walk we joined the rather long queue for taxis, but it was a well-oiled operation and within 10 minutes were on our way to the Hotel.
Boy, it was warm!👍. Apparently around 24 degrees! I wasn’t expecting that!
Next stop? The rather posh Renaissance Montreal Downtown Hotel.
Twenty-minutes later, our driver (who had clearly been taught by Lewis Hamilton) arrived at the Hotel. After a mild scolding from him because we didn’t tip him for loading our bags, we were soon checking in. They put us on the 8th floor – room 808 – and it’s a nice room! 👏👍😊.
For language fans out there, we noticed that although WE used ‘Bonsoir’, everyone we’d interacted with so far – Security, Taxi and the Hotel – used ‘Bonjour’ instead. I wonder if that’s ‘a thing’. However, it was probably a bit late in the day, to debate ‘language evolution!’ 😲. Nadine, (Ann’s excellent French Teacher) if you’re reading this, let us know. 👍
It was now 11pm local time (4am on Sunday back in the UK) so having been up for almost 24 hours, we turned in.
Tomorrow…
We begin our sightseeing tour of this fine City! See you tomorrow. But for now, it’s simply 💤💤💤💤
I got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for the art of writing seemed to be the perfect combination to contribute a few words to the online community. But I’m no Samuel Pepys! If you’re looking for deep and meaningful comments on a variety of subjects, then you’ve arrived at the wrong site! I only pen for pleasure! On average, my posts appear about twice per month, covering family & friends, cinema visits, eating out, holiday experiences and techy stuff. Oh, and as this is my hobby, there are no sponsored links nor adverts here – it’s all done with love!
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