A Day of Two Halves

Friday June 10th 2011

Our last morning in New York and we finally had pancakes for breakfast 🙂 we found a cheap bagel place just off Times Square that did this stack of pancakes for something like $4. If I do go back I’m eating here every morning!

We stayed close to Times Square and got some souvenirs to take home.

A trouble free run back to the airport and we were ready to take off for Montreal. Bad weather causing planes to be in wrong places meant we were delayed a bit but nothing like our friends who were flying the night before in those thunderstorms. Their delays were that severe that they ended up hiring a car and driving through the night to Montreal! Amazing how time makes you forget bad experiences, I remember having issues with the airline (American Airlines) and vowing never to fly with them again, but I can’t remember for the life of me why I was so angry!

I couldn’t believe it when I saw our plane when we finally boarded – it was a tiny tiny jet! About 15 rows long and 3 seats I’ve never been on a plane that small. I have also not experienced fear when flying like it – I was convinced we were going to die! I have no idea why a small plane freaked me out so much, you could hear every noise and I think that put me off. If you’re going to be so illogical that you think your plane is going to fall out of the sky, then why was I perfectly fine on the huge monster of a jumbo jet that we flew over the Atlantic in? 8 hours in the sky in all those tonnes of metal was alright by me, but 1 hour at the most in a lighter, more nimble plane was almost too much. If I could have got them to turn the plane around I would have!

Anyway, I stuck my Robbie playlist on loud, turned the volume up a bit, closed my eyes and clutched the seat arms as if my life depended on it! An hour was soon over and we were landing in Montreal. There is a cheap bus from the airport to the city so we found that easy enough and were soon on our way. My nerves hadn’t quite recovered from the flight, so a bus hurtling along raised, curved motorways with bridges seemed to be the scariest bus journey I’ve been on – I was definitely glad to get to our hotel! And I definitely don’t want to be on the race team at work!

I’d spent ages looking for somewhere to stay in Montreal, and eventually plumped for a private room with en-suite in a hostel near to metro station, Berri-UQAM that is only a stop or two from the track. This proved to be a good idea as it meant we knew where to get off the bus from the airport and gave us an easy way to get our bearings. Montreal Centrale was a good choice – our room was much bigger than a normal hotel room, and cost the same for the 3 nights as a normal hotel would do for 1! Although not the most modern or stylish room, we had everything we wanted and needed. Thankfully the hostel wasn’t too noisy, although it was busy.

We were also lucky that the staff were understanding – it took us ages to check in as I discovered I’d left my purse with my cards in the safe in the hotel in New York! So I had no way of paying and Jay didn’t have enough in his account for the one card he had with him. Expensive mobile phone calls to New York to check they had my purse followed, along with frantic transferring of money online into the account Jay had a card for, and eventually we were sorted!

Also an added bonus of the hostel was that they organised plenty of events for the people staying there – including a free BBQ on a friday night! So we had some food there seeing as it was free, before heading out to explore a bit.  The city had a real party atmosphere, and we hadn’t even made it to Crescent St which seems to be the main party street.

You can’t really tell in this next photo but I am wearing a strappy vest top whilst Jay has a hoody on – this summed up the weather in Montreal. I was just right and Jay was freezing, he definitely preferred the heat of New York!