March 2026: Let the Good Times Roll in...Montreal?: Day 2

Day 2: Saturday March 28, 2026

After a night of ok enough sleep, we got up and started getting ready for the day. Once we were ready for breakfast, we headed out to the car, which needed defrost time, because the temperature had dropped dramatically overnight. When we could see out the windshield, we headed kind of across the street to Burlington Bagel for breakfast. Nick had a breakfast sandwich on an asiago pepper bagel and a dirty chai (that he tricked me into trying even though I HATE espresso), and I had…a bagel with cream cheese. Burlington Bagel has some of the best bagels in New England, so it was a great breakfast and we loved that there was a location right by our hotel. Well worth skipping the free hotel breakfast for!

After breakfast we headed back to the hotel, where we finished packing and checked out around 9. We made a quick stop for fuel, because even though Vermont gas is more expensive than NH gas, it’s a LOT cheaper than Canadian gas, and by filling up here, we would make it back into the States before we needed to fill up again, and then we hopped back onto I-89.

Less than an hour later, and straight up I-89, we were at Canadian customs, answering rapid fire questions as to why we were going to Canada. But, we passed the quiz, and were on our way again, driving through farm land, and expressing embarrassment that this was our first trip to Montreal, when Canada really was so close. About an hour (and really just a few roads) later, we were pulling up to our hotel, the Courtyard Montreal Downtown. Yeah, we live 4 hours from Montreal and have never been.

I left Nick in the car and headed inside to ask about parking and luggage storage since we were very early for check-in (it wasn’t even 11:00 am yet). I was greeted enthusiastically and told that I was not too early and they would find us a ready room. And they sure did. Keys in hand, and directions on how to enter their parking garage, I headed back out to the car to tell Nick the good news that we were already checked in. We both were pleasantly surprised.

We parked in the underground garage easily, and then found our way to our room, 712. We were immediately impressed with the room. It was immaculate and absolutely huge for a city (or, honestly, any standard hotel room).

 

We settled in a bit, put on all the warm gear, and then headed out to explore Old Montreal. Our hotel was a couple blocks from the “start” of Old Montreal, so while we took a more circuitous route initially than we later discovered was necessary, it wasn’t a bad walk. We spent some time just walking around, taking in all the sites. We certainly have old cities in the States (Boston…), but this really was unique compared to what we’re used to.

 
Eventually we decided it was time for lunch, and by some miracle, since offline Google Maps was not working as I had hoped, and public wifi is not nearly as prevalent in Old Montreal as it is in Ireland, we found the Pinnacle Wagyu Deli, which is exactly where I’d been hoping we would be able to have lunch. This is a small order at the counter place, known for their steak and their smash burgers. I got the smashburger and Nick got the steak frites. Both were amazing. You could cut the steak with the disposable wooden fork and knife we were given. Seriously, this was a great lunch stop. Prices were fair too, especially once the Canadian dollar was converted to American!

After lunch, we worked our way to the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History. This museum had a lot to offer in terms of history but had the most confusing layout I’ve experienced in any museum. So…mixed feelings about this museum, but it did provide us the opportunity to warm up, some wifi, and because of where in Old Montreal it is, allowed us to figure out the most direct route between the hotel and Old Montreal.

Museum explored we headed back to the hotel room to warm up, take a break from miles of walking uphill on cobblestones, and figure out where we wanted to have dinner.

In the end, we chose the nearby food hall for dinner, so when we were ready, we walked a few blocks over to Le Central. Here we both decided on pasta dishes. Nick had carbonara. I had bolognese. Nick also found us some cocktails while I watched them cook our pasta from our seats. I think my cocktail was a strawberry shortcake cocktail and his was something tropical with beer in it. Both cocktails were very good, and both pasta dishes were some of the best we’ve had. Le Central was very loud and chaotic, but I’d happily go back.

Dinner eaten, we walked back to the hotel, where we took in the nighttime view and crashed early.

March 2026: Let the Good Times Roll in...Montreal?: Day 1

Day 1: Friday March 27, 2026

Today was actually a fairly typical, chaotic day at work. When the work day ended, I headed home, maybe a few minutes early, packed up the dogs, and brought them to the friendly local pet resort, where I learned that Gizmo perhaps enjoys his time there a little TOO much.

 
Dogs dropped off, I headed home to pack the car and finish getting ready to leave. Once Nick was home from work, we had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and then hit the road.

It was an uneventful 2 hour drive to tonight’s hotel, the Towneplace Suites Williston, in Williston, VT. We arrived shortly after 8. Check in was quick, and pretty soon we were checking out the room a free night certificate had scored us. Decent digs in a convenient location for free. Zero complaints.

 
We settled in and crashed pretty quickly. It’s Friday and I’m an educator. And honestly, it had been a crazy week.

March 2026: Let the Good Times Roll in...Montreal?: Pretrip

Pre-trip

Cast of characters:

Me: 39, Disney nerd, vacation planner, school SLP

Nick: hubby, soon to turn 39, the passenger prince

As with any good pre-trip, this one has some plot twists. We did not start out planning a trip to Montreal in March. NH is cold enough in March, we don’t need to go north, thank you very much.

No, this trip actually started as a trip to New Orleans, planned for Nick’s birthday (well, the weekend before it) when he realized he had rolled more PTO than he’d expected, and I’d managed to find decent airfare and hotel availability on points. We planned this trip in early January and had it perfectly planned.

Then the partial government shut down happened, and with a couple weeks to go before the trip, the New Orleans airport was making headlines, leading the nation in TSA wait times. Several hours to clear TSA? Cool. Looking forward to it. I got hesitant about the trip, but Nick was pretty determined to still go. I think he was thinking this would turn out like my birthday weekend trip, with a lot of drama, and then things resolving just before the trip.

Well…plot twist! Literally a week before departure, I got an email saying that the hotel we booked (the Eliza Jane, which we had loved when we stayed two years ago) would be abruptly leaving the Hyatt family, and effective just 3 days later, they would no longer be honoring reservations booked on Hyatt points. Our hotel reservation would be cancelled.

The scramble began. In the end, we decided against trying to book the (more expensive) Hyatt property that still had availability for our weekend and canceled our plane tickets. We then started looking at what was available within a reasonable driving distance. We narrowed the choices to Montreal or Portland, Maine. In the end, Nick picked Montreal. I booked us at the Hyatt Place Downtown Montreal and started researching what to do in the city in March, while also trying to write progress reports for the second trimester.

Partway through the week, I dug deep and realized that the parking situation for the Hyatt downtown was a no-go. Their parking garage couldn’t fit my very average size SUV. Living in NH, I’m well aware that Montreal has a significant car theft issue, so no way was I going to try to find some random parking garage or lot to park in. I did some research and found a shockingly inexpensive Marriott Courtyard with absolutely stellar reviews, in what appeared to be a better location, with a parking garage that would fit my car. I’ll just use those Hyatt points for some other trip later.

Hotel change made, I finished the progress reports, got as much trip planning done as possible, picked up Canadian currency from AAA, booked us for Friday night in Vermont on a free night certificate to split the drive, and started packing. Ready or not, we’re going to Canada!

February 2026: A Solo South Florida Trip: Day 6: The End

Day 6: Friday February 27, 2026

I was awake pretty early again, and once again decided to skip driving over to the beach for sunrise. Instead I got up, had a Bobo for breakfast, watched the news (FL man had been stealing fishing poles) and finished packing.

Packed up, I think I headed out a little after 8. Checkout was quick, and then I hopped in the car and headed to a gas station. Unbeknownst to me, gas prices in south Florida were a sign of things to come, but I managed to find a gas station with a pre-Iran situation acceptable to me price, filled up the tank, and then legitimately got on the road.

I got to Flamingo Gardens around 9:45, after a reasonably uneventful drive down the Florida Turnpike. My flight tonight wasn’t until evening, but I’d paid attention to traffic patterns, and driving down to Fort Lauderdale midday was not high on my priority list. Morning traffic was surprisingly doable. Afternoon looked like hell. So I’d picked a tourist spot to visit that was close to the airport.

Flamingo Gardens was…fine. It was big, but a little confusing, with a few flamingos and a lot of free-range peacocks. There were some other animals there too. Definitely an old Florida roadside attraction.

 
After thoroughly exploring Flamingo Gardens, I headed back to the car and drove a pretty short distance to the Sawgrass Mills area. Here, I grabbed Chick-fil-A for lunch, which I enjoyed as usual. Then it was off to the Sawgrass Mills mall…after seemingly circling for a bit trying to find non-valet parking. But, once parked, it was into the mall.

This place was HUGE. I had come for two things: the Character Warehouse and my first Primark experience. I ended up spending a couple hours just exploring the different store options. And then I spent a little more time just killing time in the food court, because it was air conditioned and why not. I was very impressed with this mall. Also, I’m so not in NH anymore. I’d never seen such a big mall.

As I was getting ready to leave for the airport, I got the text from JetBlue that my flight would be delayed about half an hour. Cool. I did some searching, found out that the inbound flight was delayed…more than half an hour, but was on the way, texted Nick both the official update and my interpretation of the update, and then headed for the car.

I headed for the airport which involved a fair amount of traffic and some absolutely crazy drivers, plus a stop at a gas station I wasn’t sure I’d ever actually get to leave, thanks to the previously mentioned traffic, but I and the rental car made it back to FLL in one piece. Return was easy, and pretty soon I was joining the line for the shuttle bus to terminal 3.

The line was pretty long, so I had to wait for the second bus, but with a delayed flight, no biggie. A second bus came along surprisingly quickly too. While boarding the bus was easy for me, others had a lot of luggage, so that took awhile. Then we got stuck in the departure area traffic. And then we all realized that the air conditioning on the bus really wasn’t working. It was clear that most of us were headed to the northeast, so we weren’t exactly used to the heat. But most of us also recognized that the driver who was stuck on this bus had it way worse than those of us that would get off the bus when we arrived at the terminal. There was one guy though that was downright obnoxious about it, and he wasn’t exactly discouraged by his family. Needless to say, when we finally arrived at the terminal, there was basically a stampede off the bus, and I was happy to sit and wait to allow the obnoxious family to pass.

Getting off the bus definitely brought relief, it was significantly cooler on the sidewalk where the bus dropped us off than it was on the bus. And then I headed inside to air conditioning that was functional.

There was minimal wait to check luggage with JetBlue (although the people in front of me had clearly never flown before), so within just a few minutes of stepping off the bus, my suitcase was checked and I was headed for security, where I found no wait at Pre-check. So, security was also fast. I then spent some time debating what to do about food, finally settling on Pollo Tropical. The food options are not spectacular in this terminal. I got a chicken and rice bowl and sat down to eat with a view of the city and the tarmac. Dinner actually was pretty decent, so I’ll keep this spot in mind for future airport trips.

After eating, I headed for my gate, which was all the way at the end of the terminal, in an area designed for 2 gates max, but that actually held 4 gates. Needless to say, it was chaos, with 4 delayed flights in this area. I wandered in the general vicinity of the gate (no seats available) until it was clear that my plane had arrived, and then I headed to the bathroom to change into jeans for the flight home. It was still in the upper 80s here but would not be warm at all when I arrived in Manchester.

As I emerged from the restrooms, I saw a familiar face that was just as surprised to see me as I was to see her: one of the special ed administrators from my school district. We chatted for a few minutes, and then headed to our respective gates.

I returned to…continued chaos. And it only went downhill from there. They were actively boarding a couple flights in my gate cluster. Meanwhile, my flight was waiting on a flight attendant “but they’re making their way here from another gate”... Oh I’ve heard that line from JetBlue before.

Sure enough, it was probably half an hour before that final flight attendant arrived. No joke, the gate area started clapping when he appeared. And then we continued to wait. A solid 10 minutes later, the gate agent announced that maintenance was onboard the plane and she’d been asked to hold boarding. Uh oh.

About the time I started searching for seats on a flight to Boston, the gate agent re-appeared and announced boarding was beginning. She called another colleague over and they set up dueling lines to scan us on to the plane. There was just a couple minutes between each group being called. They were clearly on a mission to get us out of there.

I honestly have no idea when we pushed back from the gate, but it was well after our scheduled time. However, once we pushed back, it was pretty close to full speed ahead. I think we were about 3rd in line for departure when we reached the runway, which for a late night flight isn’t bad. Captain Ryan was also determined to be a leadfoot and ATC got their act together for our route, so we were told flying time would be 2 hours and 38 minutes. That’s shorter than most flights between MHT and MCO, and FLL is further south than MCO!

Upon take-off, I had a beautiful view of one of the next Disney Cruise ships I will be on. Those funnels sure are distinct at night! It was pretty awesome to see!

Once airborne, the flight was pretty uneventful. I texted and social mediaed and chatted with the girl sitting next to me, who is in school to become a special ed teacher.

Arrival in Manchester was uneventful. We pulled into gate 7 and were directed to the baggage claim area that I had forgotten existed. As is JetBlue’s MO in every airport I’ve flown to with them, baggage took its sweet time, but once the carousel started spitting out luggage, mine emerged fairly quickly. I headed outside, found an open patch of curb, and Nick pulled up a minute later. We loaded my suitcase in his car and headed home, where Gizmo greeted me like I’d been gone forever, and was even clearly trying to tell Nick I had come home, even though Nick and I had come through the door together.


Final thoughts:

I enjoyed this trip more than I expected. The Jupiter/Juno/West Palm area really are great.

I ate very well on this trip.

I did miss Disney.

Flying was not for the faint of heart this trip. I can’t believe how lucky I was with my flights!

Traffic in the Fort Lauderdale area is not for the faint of heart and has me thinking hard about my travel strategy for next April’s cruise…or rather…the days after it.

It was another great trip!

February 2026: A Solo South Florida Trip: Day 5

Day 5: Thursday February 26, 2026

Today my alarm went off early. But it was the first night I’d slept legitimately well in months, and I was groggy, so I quickly turned the alarm off, decided that good sleep was more valuable right now than seeing the sunrise over the ocean, and went back to sleep for a bit.

Eventually I got up and moving. Once I was ready, I headed out and walked to breakfast at the Juno Beach Cafe. This was right next to the Thirsty Turtle, so it was an easy walk from the hotel. When I got here, I was seated right away on their covered, mostly enclosed patio.

Breakfast here was decent. I had cinnamon roll french toast. It was more french toasty than when I’ve had the same thing elsewhere, but it was still really good. Service was very good too. A good start to the day, and really nice to not have to drive anywhere. Taking a left out of my hotel was…not the easiest.

 
After breakfast I walked back to the hotel and finished getting ready for the day. Once places were actually opening up for the day, I hopped in the car and made the pretty easy drive to Loggerhead Marine Center.

Loggerhead Marine Center is a turtle rehabilitation facility. They have a few other sea creatures there too, but turtles are their big thing. They rehab sick and injured turtles, and have different tanks for turtles based on where the turtle is at in its rehab process. It’s a mostly open-air set-up for visitors. I had a great time watching the turtles and listening to the various volunteers and staff talk about the individual turtles and their needs. And, surprisingly, I saw a whole bunch of turtles that had been rescued from Cape Cod, when they’d become cold-stunned at the start of winter. Apparently there’s an adolescent age-range where this tends to happen, and Loggerhead Marine Center gets a bunch of these turtles from the Cape every winter.

 
After a really worthwhile visit here, I hopped in the car and headed to my next destination, the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum. Emphasis on museum for me, because I can’t do spiral staircases. Regardless, this was a beautiful property, with some great small museums, and great docents working there. I enjoyed my visit here a lot.

 
Lighthouse explored, it was time to go to the beach! I really wanted to capture just how blue that water is midday. Also, it had made it into the mid 70s so why wouldn’t this New Englander want a bit more time in the sun?! I parked at the pier parking lot again (still a decent amount of open spaces midday!), but walked over to the next beach entrance down from the pier. I did some picture taking, and just enjoyed sitting in the sand taking it all in.

While on the beach, I did some thinking about how I wanted the rest of my last day of vacation to go. When I was ready, I hopped in the car and headed out for an early dinner. My intent was to go back to Square Grouper, because that had been so good and the weather was so nice, but the parking lot was totally full, so I switched it up, parked in a nearby lot, and walked over to Guanabanas.

Guanabanas was not a mistake. This is an all outdoor restaurant. With guidance from the hostesses, I grabbed a high-top table and had a very enjoyable early dinner. I had a coconut mojito (with more than the happy hour cost of the drink in mint) and a bbq chicken sandwich that involved plantains. It was all excellent. The atmosphere was enjoyable. And the service was decent. It was a perfect end of vacation dinner spot.

 
Dinner eaten, I headed back to the hotel, where I read on my balcony until the sun went down, then packed my suitcase. This last full day of vacation had been a great one!