Today was a very full day! I got up at 2:30am in order to make it to the airport by 3:50. I needn’t have worried about it as check-in was very fast, I was done in five minutes and then had to wait until 4:30 when TSA opened up. That was fine with me as I took a few laps around the international terminal knowing I was going to be sitting for five or six hours. Security went smoothly and there was a comfortable lounge to wait in before we departed. Air Transat had a good system for getting everyone on the plane having seven different zones, depending on where you were seated in the plane. Because I managed to get a seat in row six I was in the last boarding group and was able to easily stow my carryons. The flight was uneventful. Air Transat is a budget airline, they had a good price for the ticket and it was the only nonstop flight between San Francisco and Montreal. But the only thing that was free on the flight were non-alcoholic drinks, there weren’t any free snacks of any kind, even a little bag of pretzels. They did have food and snacks available for purchase, but it was pretty expensive and I’d brought plenty of snacks with me. The flight was not full, which was a treat after my flights to and from Burbank being packed to the gills. I had an aisle seat and in the middle seat was empty. I noticed there were fewer security precautions than on American flights. You could stand toward the front of the plane while you waited to use the bathroom up there. I overhead the guy sitting across from me say he was flying from SF to Montréal to go back to college in New York, as Montréal was the closest airport.
When I arrived in Montréal I was very glad that I had filled out my advanced arrival information online before I left. Instead of being in a big long Disneyland line to get through Canadian customs, I went in a much shorter line and zipped through very quickly. The thing that took the longest was waiting for my bag, though it was amazing how uncrowded it was at baggage claim. Almost everybody hung back until they saw their bag and then stepped forward, grabbed it and moved out of the way. Americans could definitely learn from the Canadians about this type of courtesy! When I got to the baggage carousel, there weren’t any security personnel, in fact a couple of kids were lifting up the flaps and looking inside so they could see if their luggage was coming.
After getting my bag, I headed out to find where I could buy a ticket for the bus to get me into downtown Montreal to the main bus terminal. I got that all worked out relatively easily. I am glad that I have some basic French language skills as many things were only in French, security information and some directions were in English, but a lot of things seemed to be only in French. But Canadians were so helpful and friendly, and definitely quieter than Americans. When I came out to the arrivals hall it was jampacked with people, but all I could hear was kind of a low murmur through the crowd. Not the same kind of loud voices and yelling that I’ve often heard in American airports at arrivals. I found my way to the bus, got my bag stowed by the helpful driver and stood for the first half of the 45 minute trip as the bus was completely packed. Eventually I was able to get a seat and chatted with the young woman today next to me who was traveling with her husband and 2 year old son. I found out they were from Vancouver and visiting Montreal for the first time. She’s a kindergarten/first grade teacher and it’s the end of her summer holidays, so they decided to check out Montreal. They had originally been considering San Francisco, but given the current exchange rate with the strong US dollar and the expensive of vacationing in San Francisco, they decided it be better to stay in country. There was a sign on the bus saying that after a certain time in the evening women could ask the driver to stop between bus stops so they wouldn’t have to walk as far in the dark. What a great idea!
I got off the bus at my stop and walked two blocks to the bus terminal where I purchased a ticket for the bus to Sherbrooke. While I waited for the bus I exchanged a bit of my American money for Canadien dollars, then bought a yummy panini that had 3 types of cheese and tomatoes, it was very filling and only $7.50 US including tip! We passed over several rivers on the bus trip from Montréal to Sherbrooke. Love how green everything is-so many trees! I was also happy to see that the WiFi and electric outlets both worked on the bus (the plane had neither even though there was supposed to be WiFi)
I got picked up by Jean-François, and instead of driving directly to the farm, we headed to a small plaza at one of the universities in town where is son and a group of friends were folk dancing. When he first told me where we were going I misunderstood with my rusty French and thought he said his son was participating in some kind of music rehearsal – lol! But when we got there I realized this was a weekly folk dancing group and they invited me to dance with them! I had, of course, no idea what I was doing, but they were all very friendly and good-natured and taught me the moves the best they could. It was such a fun group of men and women mainly in their 20s who all loved folk dancing. We danced for two hours! Well, they danced for two hours, I danced for about half the time, I didn’t want to let my two left feet and lack of knowledge of the dances get in the way all the time, plus I was pretty tired. It was as much fun to watch the dancers it was to participate.
We left around 10 PM -it was a half hour drive to their farm outside of a small town called Martinville population 430. Jean-Francois’s 24 year old son and I conversed in a combination of French and English – I can’t remember his name right now. He complimented me on my French language skills, especially that I wasn’t just translating directly from English into French but actually trying to speak in a proper French style (Merci, Monsieur Schwartzbart!). That made me feel good especially since I couldn’t understand a good amount of what people were saying, they speak so fast and the words seem to blend together. But it’s my first day and I’m still adapting so I feel good just have I got this far. I got settled into my room in the 150-year-old farmhouse and called it a day. What a day it was!