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!
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